The 2026 Bee Crisis: What's Happening and How You Can Help

Beekeepers across the United States reported losing more than 48% of their managed colonies in the most recent annual survey — a figure that would have been unthinkable twenty years ago. That's not a one-year anomaly. Colony loss rates have hovered between 30% and 50% for more than a decade, and wild bee populations are declining even faster than managed ones. We are in the middle of a bee crisis, and it's accelerating.

The stakes are direct and measurable. Bees — both honeybees and the 4,000-plus species of native bees in North America — pollinate roughly one-third of the food we eat. Almonds, apples, blueberries, avocados, and most vegetables depend on bee pollination. The USDA estimates the economic value of bee pollination at over $15 billion annually in the United States alone. Lose the bees, and the agricultural system as we know it collapses.

What Is Driving the Bee Decline?

No single cause explains the crisis. The science is clear that multiple stressors interact and compound each other — a colony weakened by pesticide exposure is far more vulnerable to disease, and a colony that's been moved across the country for commercial pollination has less resilience against either. Here are the four major drivers.

Pesticides — Especially Neonicotinoids

Neonicotinoids are a class of systemic insecticides that are absorbed by plants and expressed in pollen and nectar. Bees that forage on treated plants don't die immediately, but they experience neurological disruption that impairs navigation, memory, and immune function. Sub-lethal exposure makes them worse at finding their way back to the hive, less effective at foraging, and more susceptible to disease. The EU banned outdoor use of three major neonicotinoids in 2018. The U.S. has moved much more slowly.

Habitat Loss and Forage Scarcity

Bees need diverse, continuous forage throughout the growing season. Suburban sprawl, industrial agriculture, and the replacement of wildflower meadows with manicured lawns have eliminated vast stretches of habitat. In the Central Valley alone, monoculture farming has replaced millions of acres of native vegetation. When almond bloom ends in March, honeybees trucked in for pollination face a forage cliff — nothing to eat for weeks until the next crop comes in.

Varroa Destructor and Disease

Varroa mites are parasitic mites that attach to honeybees and their larvae, feeding on fat bodies and transmitting viruses. First detected in the U.S. in 1987, varroa is now present in virtually every managed colony in the country. Without treatment, a colony typically dies within one to three years. The mite has decimated feral honeybee populations and created an ongoing management burden for beekeepers. Resistance to common miticides is also growing.

Climate Change

Climate change is disrupting the timing relationships that bees and flowering plants evolved together over millions of years. When spring comes three weeks earlier but bees emerge on the same schedule they've followed for generations, they miss the peak bloom. Drought reduces nectar production even in plants that do flower. Extreme heat events directly kill bees and destroy brood. California has seen multiple years of severe drought that have dramatically reduced wildflower abundance in foothills and grasslands.

What Is Being Done to Help Bees?

There is genuine progress alongside the concerning data. Understanding what's working helps direct attention and resources where they'll have the most impact.

• The <a href="https://beeinformed.org/loss-map/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bee Informed Partnership</a> conducts annual colony loss surveys that give researchers and policymakers accurate data on the scale of losses. Before this survey existed, we were essentially guessing.
• Several states have adopted pollinator protection plans that restrict pesticide applications during bloom periods and require buffer zones around apiaries.
• The USDA's Honey Bee Health Coalition has produced practical management guides on varroa control that are reducing mite loads in managed colonies.
• Urban beekeeping and rooftop gardens have expanded forage availability in cities, where bees often do better than in monoculture agricultural landscapes.
• Citizen science programs — including swarm reporting networks like ours — help relocate wild colonies that would otherwise be exterminated, and provide data on wild population distribution.

California passed SB 602 in 2024, which expanded pesticide reporting requirements and created new protections for pollinator habitat on public lands. It's a meaningful step, though advocates argue enforcement remains the weak link.

“The bees don't need us to save them — they need us to stop doing the things that are killing them. That's actually a more solvable problem.”

What Can You Do to Help Bees?

Individual action is meaningful — not because any one yard changes national trends, but because collective behavior at scale does. Here's where your time and money have real leverage.

Plant Native Flowers

Native plants evolved with native bees and provide the pollen and nectar profiles those bees need. California poppies, coyote mint, buckwheat, and native sages are drought-tolerant, low-maintenance, and bloom across multiple seasons. A 100-square-foot native garden can support dozens of native bee species. Even a single large planting of lavender or phacelia in a yard surrounded by concrete provides meaningful forage.

Stop Using Systemic Pesticides

Most common lawn and garden pesticides — including many sold at hardware stores under innocuous brand names — are toxic to bees. Systemic pesticides are particularly dangerous because they persist in plant tissue. If you must treat for pests, choose non-systemic, least-toxic options and apply at dusk when bees are not actively foraging. Avoid treating flowering plants entirely.

Report Swarms Instead of Exterminating Them

A swarm of bees — that cloud of bees temporarily clustered on a tree branch or fence — is a living colony looking for a new home. It is not aggressive. Calling an exterminator costs money and kills bees that could be rehomed. Our free bee removal program relocates swarms to partner apiaries where they contribute to healthy colonies. If you see a swarm in Sacramento or the surrounding area, report it to us and we'll take care of the rest.

Support Pollinator Conservation Organizations

Nonprofits doing on-the-ground work — bee removal, habitat restoration, education — operate on thin margins and depend on community donations. The Xerces Society, Project Apis m., and local organizations like The Bee Conservatory all run programs that directly reduce the pressures driving colony loss. A $25 donation to a local conservation nonprofit typically goes much further than the same amount to a national organization with high overhead.

Talk to Your Neighbors and Local Government

Pesticide use on a neighbor's property doesn't stay on their property — it moves through the soil, water, and foraging routes of every bee in the area. Community conversations about pesticide reduction and native plantings have measurable effects. Many cities have adopted pollinator-friendly landscaping policies for parks and medians when residents asked for them. Sacramento has already planted native flowering strips along several bike corridors in response to community advocacy.

The 2026 bee crisis is real. The data is sobering. But the actions that address it are also clear, and they start at the local level. What happens in your yard, your neighborhood, and your city adds up.