Overview

• Between June 2024 and March 2025, California beekeepers lost about 1.6 million honeybee colonies due to parasitic mites, pesticides, habitat loss and nutritional deficits.
• Varroa mites have become resistant to some treatments, leaving bees vulnerable to viruses that deform their wings and devastate entire hives.
• The state Assembly approved legislation this month to create a Managed Honeybee Health Program that now awaits consideration by the Senate Agriculture Committee.
• Under the proposal, the California Department of Food and Agriculture would partner with stakeholders to distribute grants for research, forage planting, supplementary feed and other hive-protection measures.
• Securing funding for the program could prove challenging as lawmakers contend with a projected $12 billion budget deficit.