This is Bob Bragg with the Farm News & Views Report for the week of June 2nd.
Honeybees are in the news again, but not in a good way. According to an ongoing survey by the nonprofit Project Apis m, commercial beekeepers reported that they have lost an average of 62 percent of their bee colonies over the winter. Data for this survey was collected from 702 respondents who are responsible for around 1.84 million colonies. That’s about 68 percent of honey bees in the U.S. According to the results of the survey, respondents lost an estimated $224.8 million in direct colony losses, based on a conservative replacement cost of $200 per colony, which doesn’t account for the value of feed, labor and treatments to maintain the colonies. In a statement, Project Apis m said. “These alarming numbers could significantly impact crop pollination of essential foods and harm the profitability of the nation’s agricultural industry.”
The May Creighton University Rural Mainstreet index shows continuing weakness in the agricultural economy. Indicators include, for the 12th time in the past 13 months, both farmland prices sank below growth neutral and farm equipment sales dropped below growth neutral for the 21st straight month. About 68% of agricultural lenders cited lower agricultural commodity prices as the number one farming threat, while 23.5% of them indicated that higher tariffs were the top risk factor. The index also indicates that according to trade data from the International Trade Association, regional exports of agriculture goods and livestock for the first quarter of 2025, compared to the same 2024 period, fell from $3.4 billion to $2.7 billion in 2025 . That's a decline of over 19%. Mexico was the top destination for regional crop and livestock exports, accounting for almost 51% of this trade. According to Bank CEO s, the economic outlook for 2025 farm income remains weak, with about one in four bankers rating tariff retaliation from trading partners as the top risk factor facing farmers in 2025.
The Colorado departments of Agriculture and Parks and Wildlife have hired, trained and deployed 13 range riders to help ranchers prevent wolf and livestock conflicts this year. According to these agencies, the riders will spend time with livestock to monitor for the presence of gray wolves and to utilize hazing techniques that will deter wolves that pose a threat to domestic animals. Washington and Arizona also offer a range rider program.
According to Politico Weekly Agriculture, the Trump Administration plans to cut funds from most of the USDA major programs, including the Risk Management Agency, Rural Development, the Forest Service and the Office of Civil Rights, and the list goes on. Other programs including the Source Water Protection Program, Dairy Business Innovation initiatives, direct loans for rural single-family housing, conservation technical assistance and the Rural Business-Cooperative Service are also targeted. But wait, there’s more. They hope to cut Farm Service Agency programs that include $372 million from disaster assistance, and take $804 million from the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The Forest Service budget would decrease from $16.8 billion last year to $4 billion next year, since Secretary of Agriculture Rollins intends to transfer wildland fire management appropriations to the Interior Department to create a new agency, the U.S. WildLand Fire Service. One might think that Congress should have some input into making these kinds of fiscal decisions.
Journalist Henry Adams wrote, “Practical politics consists in ignoring facts.”
