Why the 2024-25 Bee Die-Off Matters—and How We Can Help
This year’s news has been overwhelming, and it’s challenging to keep up with everything. Here’s one headline, though, that should not be missed: the winter of 2024-25 brought one of the worst losses of honeybees on record.
Why does it matter?
Bees pollinate one in every three bites of food we eat. As Zac Browning, a fourth-generation beekeeper and Board Chair of Project Apis m., says: “Honeybees are the backbone of our food system. If we continue to see losses at this rate, we simply won’t be able to sustain current food production levels.”
Project Hive Pet Company is in business to save bees. To understand the crisis, we looked into what happened—and what we can do to help.
What happened this past winter?
Chris Hiatt past president of the American Honey Producers Association, shared on Mann Lake Bee & Ag Supply's Bee Love Beekeeping Podcast that losses were widespread, severely affecting beekeepers in North and South Dakota, Texas, and Washington. While a few beekeepers reported better-than-average winters, the majority faced significant losses. The survey referenced from Project Apis m. reported staggering numbers:
- 1.1 million colonies lost nationwide (June 2024–Feb 2025)
- 51% average loss for hobbyist beekeepers
- 62% average loss for commercial beekeepers
- $600M+ in beekeeper losses, not including reduced crop production from fewer bees doing the job of pollination (valued at $17B in the U.S.)
Why are bees dying?
This is not the first time bee colonies have died off. While the headlines focus on honeybees, it's worth noting that native bees—and there are about 4,000 species of native bees—are essential to our ecosystem and are also at risk, for many of the same reasons. Generally, it’s caused by an interrelated mix of problems, according to Project Apis m:
- Parasites: Varroa mites kill bee colonies if not treated properly.
- Pathogens: Mites are a ‘dirty needle’ that spread deadly viruses.
- Pesticides: Crop chemicals damage bees.
- Poor nutrition: As populations urbanize and monoculture agriculture grows, floral resources diminish. This results in less bee pasture and stressed bee hives.
In June of 2025, Science.org published this article identifying the culprit: “all the dead colonies tested positive for bee viruses spread by parasitic mites. Alarmingly, every single one of the mites the researchers screened was resistant to amitraz, the only viable mite-specific pesticide—or miticide—of its kind left in humans’ arsenal.”
So, how can we help?
By focusing on nutrition. The Science article goes on to explain that “although mite-borne viruses probably dealt many colonies a killing blow, other factors such as pesticide exposure or inadequate nutrition could have made bees more susceptible to disease.”
According to this Project Apis m. article written by Seeds for Bees® Manager Stetcyn Maldonado, “Adequate nutrition is critical for honey bees and wild pollinators, yet pollinator forage scarcity persists across much of the United States. Poor nutrition leaves bees more vulnerable to diseases, pesticides, and parasites, contributing to alarming losses like the 62% colony die-off observed during the 2024/2025 pollination season.”
Yes, bees, like all living things, need adequate nutrition—like carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, minerals, and water. This helps ward off and recover from illnesses. Where do bees naturally get their nutrients? From the nectar and pollen of flowers, ideally from a wide variety of species.
That’s why, in its mission to save the bees, Project Hive gives 1% of its top line sales to plant healthy wildflower habitat. In the United States, we achieve this through our partnership with The Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund. (We also partner in Canada, the Canadian Honey Council.) To date, we’ve funded the planting of over 35 million square feet of habitat.
What does habitat look like in action?
While we have seen photos of beautiful habitats, we wanted to see for ourselves where and how our company's support is being used. So last month, we visited one of The Bee & Butterfly Habitat Fund projects: the Boho Café, located in Holdingford, Minnesota—about an hour and a half northwest of the Twin Cities and next to the 65-mile Lake Wobegon Trail.
We met with The Bee & Butterfly Habitat Fund’s crew: Elsa Gallagher, Sara Brown, and Haylee Hall, who showed us around the acreage, pointing out some of their favorite flowers. We also had the opportunity to meet Gregory Konsor, the owner and visionary of Boho Café, who shared with us how it all came to be.
Greg Konsor grew up near Holdingford but moved away for much of his adult life. In 2016, while visiting, he saw a sign for 40 acres for sale near the bicycle trail. Inspired by the idea of combining nature, art, and bicycling—a "three-legged stool" for a gathering space—Greg envisioned a business that would help people relax and enjoy life. After some deliberation, he convinced his wife, retired from his corporate job, and began building the Boho Café in 2019. The café opened in 2020 (just in time for COVID). His wife developed the menu, made her famous scones, then moved to Minnesota full-time in 2022. The food brings people there; the art exhibits and events, acres of wildflowers, and bicycle paths keep them coming back.
Greg found out about obtaining free wildflower seeds for his land through the Stearns County MN Pollinator Habitat program, which partners with The Bee & Butterfly Habitat Fund to implement their Seed a Legacy program. Landowners with two acres or more can apply to get free seeds of wildflowers, tailored to their specific geographic region. As long as the landowner commits to planting the seeds and maintaining the pollinator gardens for at least five years, the program also includes free technical guidance. The plantings include native grasses and wildflowers that bloom from early spring to late fall, providing nutrition to bees (honeybees and native bees), butterflies, birds, and other insects all season.
The land he bought had been part of a corn and soybean rotation before he planted wildflower and native grass seeds in 2020. When asked what motivated him, shared a broader perspective.
“Nature needs all the help it can get. We push the limits on the land that we farm. Habitat for nature gets smaller and smaller, and the chemicals can be harmful. I wanted to create a space for people to feel good, and for it to be educational.” What’s been the most challenging? “Thistle.” They try to mow it before it goes to seed, but it still spreads. I asked him if he noticed more insects. "Between June 15 and July 10, the land was full of pink flowers and buzzing bees. It smelled heavenly. We hope more folks can visit and enjoy this.”
It's how we treat the land.
The simple truth is that we need bees for our livelihood, so we need to provide them with the necessary nutrition. We're not just talking about honeybees. Native bees need our help too. The fact that their nutrition comes from flowers makes the solution so much more compelling: healthy habitat also feeds birds, butterflies, and other insects, enhances biodiversity and sequesters carbon. And it nourishes people—bringing beauty, joy, and relaxation.
#BuildtheHive
So, we continue to build the Hive. If you’ve replaced part of your lawn with native or adaptive perennial wildflowers, you’re already making a difference (and you’ve joined our Hive, whether you knew it or not)! But you can make an even bigger impact: join the Hive community by planting wildflowers in your neighborhood, spreading the word about pollinator habitats to friends and family, and choosing Project Hive’s pet products. Every action directly helps save more bees, which safeguards our food supply. Let’s make our planet thrive—one happy dog and countless bees at a time.
