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AUSTIN (KXAN) – Texas honey production declined slightly in 2021 along with the number of bee colonies, according to an expert for Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.
Molly Keck, an entomologist with AgriLife Extension in Bexar County, said February’s winter storm Uri and drought conditions in early spring had a negative impact on honey production.
“Even when the winter storm hits, I think many regions of Texas were considered arid or arid,” said Keck. “They didn’t have good rain and wildflowers, then we go into winter when nothing blooms, and a month later everything started blooming.”
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Texas A&M surveyed all registered beekeepers in Texas, and about 37% of them said they lost beehives due to the winter storm.
This weather phenomenon caused many beekeepers across Texas to say last year to leave because of the incredibly bad time of year.
“For us, as far as honey production goes, we ended up doing barely a sixth of the total honey production we would have made for the year,” said John Swan, owner of the podcast Wicked Bee and The Hive Jive.
Swan has 46 beehives that distribute honey to local mom and pop stores across Austin. That year he only lost two beehives, but it was the cyclone that happened after that: the lack of food for the bees to pollinate.
“It’s really hard to say, ‘yeah, I can deliver a gallon of honey a week to your restaurant’ when you don’t have a lot of honey,” said Swan.
Keck says the people in South Texas were hit hardest because the area is not used to the freezing.
David Holdman, owner of Holdman Honey in Sequin, says he normally produces 100-140 pounds of honey a year from his 3,000 beehives, but this year he only produced about 27 pounds.
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In Corpus Christi, Bee-Grateful Honey lost several of its beehives.
The normal honey harvest season starts in April. There is hope for a normal season next year, but at the moment local production is scarce by then.
“2022 should be fine, but it will only fill that gap by next summer,” said Swan.
Swan says you can plant native wildflowers in your yard to ensure the bees keep buzzing for the next year.
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