How Regenerative Agriculture Could Play a Role in Preventing Honey Bee Colony Collapse

by CRARS staff member Sheryl Karas. M.A.

The USDA recently released alarming findings about sudden and severe commercial honey bee colony losses starting in January 2025 related to viruses carried by Amitraz-resistant Varroa mites. This happened just as the colonies were being staged for the annual early spring almond pollination season in California, where they play a crucial role. Losses were more than 60% on average, although loss percentages varied tremendously between operations. This triggered an investigation by USDA-ARS researchers who identified the viruses involved and discovered that all the mites tested were resistant to Amitraz, the primary miticide used to control them.

Obviously, other controls will need to be found but the researchers also noted that viruses are usually an end-stage cause of colony collapse. The presence of viruses was significantly higher in the most affected operations as would be expected, but the viral load found in the bees did not differ between pooled samples from weak and strong colonies. That indicates that in addition to the high level of virus exposure, other factors such as nutritional stress and agrochemicals may have contributed significantly to the insects succumbing to these viruses. Pesticide exposure, for example, can be a particularly severe honey bee stressor. Another serious factor could be bees being previously stressed by exposures to viruses at an earlier time. Researchers note that their investigations are currently ongoing. Bees and hives are now being screened for signs of known agrochemicals to try to determine what role, if any, that may have played.

The research already completed concluded that a near-term shift in mite treatment strategies is needed while minimizing additional stressors as much as possible. They recommended a systems approach to protecting and managing honey bees from all threats to secure the viability of this extremely important industry. Patty Sundberg, President of the American Beekeeping Federation responded to this report in the following way: “We can’t continue relying on a single line of defense against Varroa. These mites are evolving quickly, and our management tools must evolve just as fast.”

The Honey Bee Coalition will be updating their Tools for Varroa Management guide later this year. Their current guide (PDF) and their Guide to Varroa Mite Controls for Commercial Beekeeping Operations (PDF) also emphasize a systems approach and included detailed information from Integrated Pest Management.

Regenerative Approaches That Might Assist the Health of Honeybee Populations

Regenerative Agriculture is a systems approach to agricultural and rangeland management that may help protect honey bees from Varroa mite–associated viruses through several interconnected ecological and biological mechanisms. Most studies indicate that the main benefits might be to strengthen bee immune system health and resilience, reduce environmental stressors, and promote a healthier ecosystem. However, at least one recent study in the Journal of Economic Entomology showed that adding a specific species of plants to a landscape might actually reduce Varroa mite infestation in those landscapes. The pollen of sunflower (Helianthus annuus) in this study reduced Varroa mite infestation in both landscapes and pollen-supplemented colonies. Each doubling of the sunflower crop area in a landscape was associated with a 28% reduction in mite infestation. Including sunflowers in a planted cover crop or pollinator habitat, therefore, could have significant benefits on multiple levels. More studies will need to be done to determine what other flowering plants could have this effect. 

In terms of supporting a healthy honeybee population, creating and maintaining pollinator habitat, building biodiversity, and eliminating pesticides whenever possible are key practices. But they frequently work synergistically with the use of cover crops that include flowering plants, compost that improves soil health and reduces the need for agrichemicals, the use of no-till techniques that avoid disrupting bee nesting sites, and even rangeland management techniques. A paper by Katya Busenitz, Ryan Schmid, and Jonathan Lundgren published just this past month showed how regenerative rangeland management can improve honey bee health and production. The greater variety and abundance of flowering species on the regeneratively managed rangeland was associated with colony weight gain and reduced Varroa incidence in adjacent honey bee hives.

Improved bee nutrition from diverse forage is associated with stronger bee immune systems and resilience. Therefore, in California at least, regenerative techniques that provide suitable year-round flowers, provide protected nesting opportunities, and reduce or eliminate exposure to agrochemicals could prove to be a useful tool for supporting the health and sustainability of honeybee colonies.