The Vermont honeybee population is up 43% since 2016, due in part to the care, cultivation and collaboration of beekeepers and officials in the Green Mountain State.

The Apiary Program within the Division of Public Health and Agricultural Resource Management of the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM) registers, inspects, and provides education and training to Vermont’s beekeepers. Beekeepers are required to register their apiary locations and report the number of colonies (hives) they maintain. For the 2023 registration, they reported the highest number of colonies on record, 17,145. In 2016, for comparison, Vermont’s number of registered colonies was 9,715, representing a 43% increase over the seven-year period.

The increase in colony numbers is a testament to the hard work and dedication of Vermont’s beekeepers, VAAFM officials said.

Beekeepers, like all agricultural producers, face many challenges while producing high quality food. Challenges include weather, starvation, bear predation, Varroa mite infestation, and other factors, including periodic exposure to insecticides applied to protect crops.

One important function of the Apiary Program is to prevent the spread of diseases that can affect bee health. One such serious disease is American Foul Brood, which is an extremely contagious disease. VAAFM inspectors prioritize inspections and responses to the incidence of this disease. Fortunately, the number of cases declined to zero in 2023, from a high of 49 cases in 2020.