# How many beekeepers in USA?



## pascopol (Apr 23, 2009)

I guess one can obtain the closest figures checking individual States registration records.

Are they any States not requiring bees registration?


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## Beethinking (Jun 2, 2008)

In Oregon and I'm sure many other states one doesn't need to register with the Department of Agriculture until they have 5 or more colonies. Even then many don't register.

Cheers,
Matt


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Not as many as there used to be.

Just take Long Island for instance. When I Inspected the two Counties making up the island there were two notebooks, each more than an inch thick, of all the known apiaries in Suffolk and Nassau Counties. Now both counties together wouldn't be an inch thick stack of papers. Each page could have had 6 or 8 apiaries listed.


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

Kansas = no registration


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## notaclue (Jun 30, 2005)

Arkansas yard only registration. Number of hives is not tracked.


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## Ted Kretschmann (Feb 2, 2011)

How many beekeepers in the USA-not enough. Not enough Queen and bee suppliers to supply a struggling hobby industry with bees let alone the commercial side of the industry. Not enough commercial pollinators to supply adequate numbers of healthy colonies to do the job for agriculture. Not enough honey producers to supply the American market with wholesome produced in America honey....... WE as a nation have lost 3,000,000 colonies of bees and 7500 commercial operations in the last 30 years. And the losses of bees and beekeepers continues to flow like blood in the street. Beekeepers are considered an "oddity" by the general population in the USA. Sadly plauges like CCD have only in the past few years awakened the general public and educated them to the fact that "oddity" is a necessity. Developing nations such as Ukraine have 1 person out of every 98 is a beekeeper. Here in the USA 1 person out of every 10000 is a beekeeper. We need to work on that. TED


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

I have heard the number of commercial beekeepers reported as 1400 in the nation, 50 in Wisconsin? Can't remember where, and I could be wrong.

Hobbiest and sideliners? no guess.



Crazy Roland


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## EastSideBuzz (Apr 12, 2009)

OK. Lets start a count. 

One.

Maybe someone could count these dots. http://agr.mt.gov/crops/Bees/apiarySites09.pdf

Also I have 100 hives.


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## lazy shooter (Jun 3, 2011)

EastSideBuzz said:


> OK. Lets start a count.
> 
> One.
> 
> ...


Now that was funny. Two.


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## Mtn. Bee (Nov 10, 2009)

3 and 200+ and plan on 1,000 in the near future!


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## Ted Kretschmann (Feb 2, 2011)

Roland that is about right-1400. You have fifty in Wisconsin and only one in Alabama-me. TED


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## valleyman (Nov 24, 2009)

3, and 3 neighbors. That makes 6. But I'm not a hobbiest. You can't spend this much time and money on a hobby. So I'm a SIDELINER!!!


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## hpm08161947 (May 16, 2009)

I doubt I can count more than 10 in the state of NC. 1400 in the USA? Must be some huge numbers in a few states. Guess CA has big number... but where are the rest?


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

FL during the winter. CA in Feb.


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## Adam Foster Collins (Nov 4, 2009)

Well, for perspective, there were 6,728 people managing almost 600,000 colonies for the purpose of "commercial beekeeping practices" in Canada in 2009, according to the Canadian Honey Council. So you've got substantially more than that...

Adam


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## hpm08161947 (May 16, 2009)

Do they use a different Definition of Commercial Beekeepers in Canada? Your numbers only average about 90 hives per operation.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/Hone/Hone-02-25-2011_new_format.pdf
2498000 colonies.


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## JohnAllen (Jul 2, 2010)

Acebird said:


> 2498000 colonies.


That was the colony estimate for 2009. The number for 2010 is 2684000 so the USDA says that the numbers are increasing. They are only counting producers with five or more colonies and count them twice if they produce honey in more than one state. This doesn't address the original question which was how many *beekeepers* with two or more colonies.

Seven.


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## Solomon Parker (Dec 21, 2002)

Four, and I have eleven currently. I know three other beekeepers at my church, and I know of one whose hives I have seen locally. I also know of a guy down in town who took ill recently and gave all his hives away to someone around here. I don't know of any commercial scale beekeepers within 100 miles.


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

All we need to do is divide 2,684,000 by the average number of colonies per producer. 

I think the 1400 producers is low beacuse that would mean almost 2000 colonies per producer.


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## JohnAllen (Jul 2, 2010)

A search of the USDA database comes up with 16,905 "operations with production" for 2007.

http://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/results/620AF653-5F63-36AB-8812-03F3917B480A


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## Solomon Parker (Dec 21, 2002)

2.7 million colonies, 3.7 million square miles, 900 million acres farmland, kinda puts things in perspective.


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## Adam Foster Collins (Nov 4, 2009)

hpm08161947 said:


> Do they use a different Definition of Commercial Beekeepers in Canada? Your numbers only average about 90 hives per operation.


I think that's pretty much anyone who claims any income from beekeeping. There are lots of those with a dozen colonies or less. On the other hand, there's one operation that runs 15,000 colonies here. So it's a wide range.

Adam


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Nabber86 said:


> All we need to do is divide 2,684,000 by the average number of colonies per producer.
> 
> I think the 1400 producers is low beacuse that would mean almost 2000 colonies per producer.


But the study included those w/ 5 colonies or more, or something like that. So, doing the math is futile. There is no indication of how many beekeepers there are in the US or how many answered the survey.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

JohnAllen said:


> A search of the USDA database comes up with 16,905 "operations with production" for 2007.
> 
> http://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/results/620AF653-5F63-36AB-8812-03F3917B480A


I didn't get that from what I could see in the report. The 16,905 number is under the heading titled "Value". Which means what? $16,905.00 value or $16,905,000.00 value or what?

Or is there more data illustrated than I know how to get to in that report?


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

sqkcrk said:


> But the study included those w/ 5 colonies or more, or something like that. So, doing the math is futile. There is no indication of how many beekeepers there are in the US or how many answered the survey.


True, but Ace, for the first time ever, provided what looks to be a decent reference that is actually pertinent the question at hand (bless his heart). I was just wondering if we can do anything with the 2,684,000 total colony number.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

I don't think we can accurately extrapolate the number of beekeepers from that number alone. Not enuf data.

Not to mention all of the rogue beekeeper who fly below the Radar.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Ok there are over 2 million colonies so there must be a million give or take a few beekeepers to make up for the rogue beekeepers flying under the radar.


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## JohnAllen (Jul 2, 2010)

Acebird said:


> Ok there are over 2 million colonies so there must be a million give or take a few beekeepers to make up for the rogue beekeepers flying under the radar.


You are saying that the average beekeeper has 2 colonies?


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## JohnAllen (Jul 2, 2010)

sqkcrk said:


> Or is there more data illustrated than I know how to get to in that report?


Perhaps - the value is 16,905 and it matches with data item "HONEY - OPERATIONS WITH PRODUCTION". I take that to mean the number of honey producers being counted.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Yeah, that's probably right. I went back and looked again. Somewhat a confusing report, to me.


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## endless brook bees (Mar 30, 2010)

I'm in 3


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## JohnAllen (Jul 2, 2010)

Maybe a little confusing but I think it is a cool web site. You can look up statistics for lots of agricultural products from buttermilk to manure. Honey production is available by state, county or zip code.

http://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/


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## Ted Kretschmann (Feb 2, 2011)

Parker, you must have horse blinders on. Bobby Coy is not too far from you and operates all over Arkansas, Lousianna, and Mississippi. The Coys operate around 10,000 colonies of Bees and are members of Sioux in good standing. So if Parker has overlooked a large commercial operation in his area almost in his backyard, then there might be more beekeepers out there then are realized. BUT there are still not enough beekeepers especially Commercial beekeepers to do the job. TED


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## Ted Kretschmann (Feb 2, 2011)

16000 odd beekeeping operations. But the USDA counts any one producing honey that has 5 hives or more. The number of commercial operators is still around 1400 down from 3000 that existed 15 years ago. TED


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## Solomon Parker (Dec 21, 2002)

Ted Kretschmann said:


> Parker, you must have horse blinders on. Bobby Coy is not too far from you and operates all over Arkansas, Lousianna, and Mississippi. The Coys operate around 10,000 colonies of Bees and are members of Sioux in good standing. So if Parker has overlooked a large commercial operation in his area almost in his backyard


I spoke with one of the Coys this morning via email, and they do not in fact operate in this area. I hope from this point that you will stop claiming that they do.


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## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

Ted seems not to know about Glenn Fowler up in Dogtown near Ft. Payne Alabama. Glenn keeps bees for honey and he also produces queens. He is past president of the American Bee Breeders Association. It is not as big an operation as he once had, but would still qualify as small commercial.

DarJones


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## Ted Kretschmann (Feb 2, 2011)

I have known Glenn Fowler for years. I am surprised the old guy is still alive. He has about 30 hives of bees in Cherokee county. I would not call that "small commercial". TED


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## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

Glenn is not in very good health. He is about 85 the best I recall. But his grandson is helping with the bees. He was talking about running 100 colonies a few months ago and was moving 40 of them to a location that yields a flow from cotton. Not saying that I know how many he has, just saying that he has more than 30. Or maybe his grandson has more than 40.

What happened to David Griffith aka Doc Griffith the dentist in Dadeville. He was a beekeeper several years ago. He must be over 100 by now.

DarJones


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## Virginia Bee (May 20, 2010)

I have seven and plan on building up to 20. Sad thing is for the last 9 years where I have lived, until I installed my hives last spring, I never saw a honey bee in my yard...all 25 acres.

Now, I do. Thank God.


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## Ted Kretschmann (Feb 2, 2011)

Passed away a few years back, David Williams, Docs partner in the business let the operation rot. He sold the rest to another wannabee, who tried to rebuild and then that operation collapsed, with bee equipment scattered all over the hills and hollows providing termites with lots of food. All that was about fifteen years ago when that operation passed into history. I have lived to see alot of operations collapse and wannabees come and go. TED


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## EastSideBuzz (Apr 12, 2009)

What about contacting Mann Lake, Dadant etc, and ask for total customer count. Then average it. WA has a registration I am sure other states do also. That would give you the legal number. Then there are all those that don't register. WA is a range of hives so that wont tell you the exact amount. What if we added this as a category in the census. "How many girls live on the property that can sting me?".


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## pascopol (Apr 23, 2009)

Most of beekeepers buys their stuff from more than one company. Also there is a bunch of Dadant retail stores in US. I do not see how they can keep track on cash paying customers.

Can the supermarket chains tell how many customers they have? They can tell how many sales they made but customers number can be estimated but without much of degree of accuracy.

As far as beekeeping is concerned since not all States require registration, and likely there is some beeks who keep bees "illegally", so I do not believe the number of beekeepers can be credibly estimated. 

If one says "We have 5000 - 7000 thousand beekeepers in US" (just an example not trying to speculate on any numbers) that will be perhaps as close as it gets.


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## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

About 3 years ago Walter Kelley shipped out catalogs and they happened to bundle all the catalogs in this area into one package wrapped in string. The post office saw that the address on the bottom of the stack was for me so they sent me the entire stack. There were 9 catalogs besides mine in the group. Only 2 of them are registered beekeepers. This is a community of roughly 10,000 people.

Alabama as a state has 4.8 million people. Of those, roughly 3 million live in cities and are highly unlikely to keep honeybees. Of the 1.8 million rural residents, roughly 1 in 1000 keeps bees. This infers that there are 1800 beekeepers in Alabama but that at least 2/3 of them are not officially registered.

I know this is a stretch but it does bring up some things to speculate about.

DarJones


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## Ted Kretschmann (Feb 2, 2011)

It may be a stretch--------------but those beekeepers registered and unregistered only own 2.8 colonies per beekeeper in the State of Alabama. That is after you take out the number I own. If you take out the other small part time commercial beekeepers such as Janet Parket and David Kelton-the number is even less. Six people own the majority of the honeybees in the state of Alabama. TED


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Ted, are you the only beekeeper for all your bees?


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## pascopol (Apr 23, 2009)

Ted Kretschmann said:


> It may be a stretch--------------but those beekeepers registered and unregistered only own 2.8 colonies per beekeeper in the State of Alabama. That is after you take out the number I own. If you take out the other small part time commercial beekeepers such as Janet Parket and David Kelton-the number is even less. Six people own the majority of the honeybees in the state of Alabama. TED


So if it fruitless to speculate of beekeeping numbers of beekeepers in a single state here (AL) 

Why would one try of argue and waste the time, energy and resources to estimate number of beekeepers in other 49 states of the Union? LOL

That's a job of Government Beuaroucrats paid by your tax money, and they never do it right.

Isin't it it just your waste of time as well ???

Wouldn't it be better for every beek to focus energy and preserve your testosterone on issues like saving the bees, improving personal beekeeping etc. etc ???

Who cares how many beekeepers are there if general bee population is in decline?

If the general bee population is in decline that means we need MORE beekeepers and BETTER management methods don't we?

Anybody cares how many dog or cat owners we have in US ?
Or do the all levels of Government care?

All they care is to have they fat paychecks coming in and to keep imposing their self rithteous 
regulations and unconstitutional rules on a fellow citizen to perpetuate their corrupted power on general population.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Acebird said:


> Ted, are you the only beekeeper for all your bees?


Seriously? The person who owns the beehives is the beekeeper. Maybe I don't understand the question?


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## Mbeck (Apr 27, 2011)

I wonder how many commercial operations keep hives " off the books"?

I've heard some don't like the hassle of inspection and there seems to be plenty of opportunities to deal in cash. Beekeeper often seem a odd and independent type the answer to how many hive might depend who's asking and why?


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## hpm08161947 (May 16, 2009)

Mbeck said:


> . Beekeeper often seem a odd and independent type the answer to how many hive might depend who's asking and why?


Guess there is truth in what you are saying. Suppose I fit well into that group... odd and independent... yup.. that's me.


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## Ted Kretschmann (Feb 2, 2011)

I own all the hives I have, I have one full time and one part time employees. I hire extra help during the honey harvest. My operation is also pretty well mechanized. Maybe that answered Ace's question. Mark,l did not fully understand it either. TED


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

What books? I don't know any tax or fee or anything which is levied against a beekeeper based on the number of hives of bees a beekeeper says they own.

I also do not know any commercial beekeeper who knows how many live colonies they own, at any one day or time.


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## Ted Kretschmann (Feb 2, 2011)

I do know for disaster purposes a count is required. I registered a little over two thousand colonies in the fall of 2010. Dennis Barclift the state Apiarist, who is a word I will not mention because there might be little children and women on the forum, did not believe me. So during the snowstorm of feb. 2011, I was out with John Mynard, bee inspector counting beehives. When we got up to 1978 hives of bees, I told John I was not playing Dennis's little game any more so take me home! All because I had recieved a Elap payment for previous years. TED PS, a commercial beekeeper has to take the greatest number of colonies that were in production for the year and then figure the crop yield. There is just too much "No Till" in beekeeping anymore for a consistent count of colonies owned. You just do not know till you get out there.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

sqkcrk said:


> Seriously? The person who owns the beehives is the beekeeper. Maybe I don't understand the question?


So all the schleps that work the hives are just hired help and me not knowing a thing about keeping hives is a beekeeper because I own two hives? Got to love it.


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## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

http://apfo.usda.gov/FSA/newsReleas...=detail&item=pf_20100401_distr_en_hone10.html

just to shed light on ELAP.

Alabama requires a registration fee based on the number of locations topping out at $60 for 500 or more colonies.

http://www.alabamabeekeepers.com/ has a link with the registration form

DarJones


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## JohnAllen (Jul 2, 2010)

pascopol said:


> If the general bee population is in decline that means we need MORE beekeepers and BETTER management methods don't we?
> .


What evidence is there that the general bee population is in decline? The USDA says that there were more colonies in 2010 than in 2009. Some people don't trust the government and may not want to believe their figures but what evidence is there to the contrary?


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Acebird said:


> So all the schleps that work the hives are just hired help and me not knowing a thing about keeping hives is a beekeeper because I own two hives?


Well, I wouldn't call anyone willing to work bees for a living a schlep. Their job title might be Beekeeper, but more likely Laborer.

Yes Acebird, you own hives, therefore you are a beekeeper. Whether or not you are a beehaver or not remains to be seen.


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

odd and independent!!!!!!

I too resemble that remark.


As for hive counts, from dandelion bloom untill the first frost, I would say our counts are very accurate. So SQKCRK , you may know someone(A German can not help it, especially one that acted as a Machinist). After the first frost, no one knows.

Crazy Roland


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## Ted Kretschmann (Feb 2, 2011)

Ace, being a schlep and working for the other man is how you learn management to become a very good beekeeper. I have been a "schlep" before and worked for the other man also keeping bees. So quit being a "shmuck". TED


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## New Ky Beekeeper (Jun 27, 2011)

sqkcrk said:


> When I Inspected the two Counties making up the island......


How long ago was this inspection?


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

The first time was 1986. The last time was 2000 something. I forget.


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## Riverderwent (May 23, 2013)

beepowers said:


> Can any provide a recent estimate of the number of all types (from 2 to 1,00's of colonies) of honey bee keepers in the USA?


usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/Hone/Hone-03-20-2015.pdf


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

RW, if that was supposed to be a link, it didn't.


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## gmcharlie (May 9, 2009)

The list of commercials in the US is set at 12-1400. That number comes from 3 different bee equipment suppliers independantly so it would seem pretty accurate. Right now the hobby market is established at right around 80,000 people. again, estimates from catalog supliers, and no I won't say who or which ones, just that I talk to them and they share numbers.

As for to few beekeepers, I would disagree. Seems the number is just right. If you want bees, you can get them, if you want honey you can get it. If bees and honey were more plentiful, then they would be worthless. Its a self balancing number.

I also PROMISE if you ask most commercial keepers in GA, FL, CA, MI, ND, ID, WY and to an extent OH, they will tell you there are to many way to many, hives.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Maybe worth less, but never worthless.


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

sqkcrk said:


> RW, if that was supposed to be a link, it didn't.


Tip of the Day, Mark  Highlight the entire non-active link, then right-click and choose "Go To ..." *

Here it is again, _activated_ ...
http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/Hone/Hone-03-20-2015.pdf




* exact wording may vary depending on your device/browser

.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Tried to websearch it and it wouldn't work. Thanks, Graham.

I know I'm slow some times and my reading comprehension ain't that great, but where does that report say how many beekeepers there are in the US?

There are 45 known commercial beekeepers in NY State. There may be another ten unknown, but suspected to exist.


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## Riverderwent (May 23, 2013)

sqkcrk said:


> RW, if that was supposed to be a link, it didn't.


 This may work: www.dadant.com/news/2014-united-states-honey-production-up-19-percent


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Okay, but how many beekeepers are there in the USA?


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## gmcharlie (May 9, 2009)

Well if you do a bit of math it comes out to around 100k give or take. 
If you look at the subscription rates for BC and ABJ you get another Idea, around 20k and 30k repsectivly. so the 100k number sounds reasonable. CSBA attract 3-400 beeks. ABF conference boast 7-900. Haveing been to both and several state meetings, I would be okay with that estimate. For packages the number going to retail is right around 160-200k So that should give you some working numbers.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

I hate estimates.


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## woodsy (Mar 3, 2013)

120,000 as of 2012. Read it on the internet.

http://www.truesourcehoney.com/fast-facts/


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