After the largest winter die-off of honey bee colonies in U.S. history in 2024, professional beekeepers and hobbyists are not only rebuilding their operations, but also trying to reconnect with each other—and with society. This issue was the focus of an international pollinator conference, which for the first time in 18 years took place in the United States—across the cities of Pullman and Othello in Washington state. The choice of location was deliberate: Eastern Washington is the agricultural heart of the state, unlike Seattle, the major urban hub on the west. Pullman is home to Washington State University (WSU), a leading research center for apiculture and agronomy, while Othello sits right in the middle of apple orchards and alfalfa fields, where the work of commercial beekeepers is most visible. The conference was held here to be closer to the real places where pollination happens and to the research facilities supporting it.
“Most important is practical experience,” explained one of the organizers, Professor Priya Chakrabarti Basur of Washington State University. “Many beekeepers here have no idea what’s going on in New Zealand, Korea, Asia, or South America.” The goal of the conference is to bring specialists together from around the world and close knowledge gaps through discussion of a wide range of topics. Washington State University, the region’s key research institution, works on bee breeding, controlling diseases in hives, studying the effects of pesticides, and improving pollination methods—closely collaborating with farmers and beekeepers to protect pollinators and increase yields, especially for crops such as apples and cherries.
Bee Culture magazine editor Jerry Hayes, who traveled from Ohio, said the industry is catastrophically undervalued both in agriculture and in the public eye. “Bees are an expense just like fertilizer or pesticides. But everyone is fragmented: organizations compete for funding and attention.” Hayes hopes to find a way to connect different levels of food production to increase their strength and value.
A June 11 tour of the apple orchard at Zirkle Fruit Company in Othello was a step toward that kind of dialogue. Washington state is the largest apple producer in the United States, supplying more than half of the nation’s crop; apple orchards bring in billions of dollars each year and create tens of thousands of jobs. Entomologist Zirkle T. Smith guided participants through rows of trees, showing apple blossoms and insect pests—as well as a pollinator garden he recommended. Local plants give bees an additional food source and habitat. At the same time, most apple varieties are not self-pollinating—each apple forms only after pollen is transferred by bees from another variety—so without the large-scale involvement of commercial beekeepers, yields would drop by 80–90%.
Commercial beekeeper Patty Sandberg, from Montana, which keeps about 7,000 colonies, came to learn about proper nutrition for bees. She moves her hives throughout the year following the bloom calendar: first to California for almond pollination (February–March—one of the biggest pollination operations in the world), then to Washington, where apple, pear, and cherry blossoms begin in May and June, and only then back home to harvest honey. This migration allows her to generate income from multiple crops while keeping the bee colonies healthy. “Scientists see a lot in the lab that still needs refinement, but in practice it may turn out to be completely useless,” she says, underscoring the importance of connecting science to real-world work.
Professor of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Zagreb (Croatia) Ivan(a) Tlak Geiger, who was also part of the organizing committee, insists on a common scientific language across countries and on full communication along the entire chain—from “hive to table.” She leads the European program BeSafeBeeHoney, aimed at conserving bees and producing honey. Tlak Geiger noted that in many European countries veterinarians have long worked with beekeepers, while in the United States, since 2017, a doctor’s prescription for antibiotics for bees has been required, but bee veterinary specialization has not yet become widespread. “If diagnostic methods are the same but sampling methods differ, that will create problems,” she warns. It is also crucial that consumers and policymakers understand the complexity of producing safe products.
In July 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that it would close the national bee research and disease diagnosis center—Beltsville Bee Lab in Maryland. Former Ohio state entomologist Barb Blocher said that such a decision, coming at a time of recovery after a record bee die-off, proves the government does not see the value of pollinators. According to Congress, during previous moves of similar labs, up to 75% of experienced staff were laid off. “It’s like cutting off your nose to spite your face,” Blocher said. “By destroying this lab, they will lose much more than they gain.” The Washington conference showed that to save bees and the industry, researchers, beekeepers, veterinarians, farmers, and policymakers must work together—otherwise losses will be impossible to make up.
Based on: World bee experts gather in Eastern WA after largest die-off in history