ST. PAUL, Minn. — Honey production in Minnesota continues to drop with a drastically declining bee population. The University of Minnesota outstate services coordinator, Rebecca Masterman, said production fell below 7 million pounds last year — off almost two-thirds from 20 million pounds in 1988. Masterman blames a drastic and not fully understood bee die-off. Some commercial beekeepers, she said, are going out of business. It’s the same nationally. Leading U.S honey production in 2024:
> North Dakota: 36.2 million pounds from 450,000 colonies.
> California: 13.3 million pounds from 210,000 colonies.
> South Dakota: 13.2 million pounds from 250,000 colonies.
> Montana: 10.1 million pounds from 142,000 colonies.
> Minnesota: 6.8 million pounds from 127,000 colonies.