Chris Hiatt

And them constantly feeding is weakening these honeybees so their longevity is less.

They're not living 40 days, 45 days.

And then as they are biting and sucking, they are passing viruses.

And the viruses are building up and taking out these hives.

You know, my dad in the 60s has said there was no varroa mite.

Now we're treating four, five, six times a year.

And the viruses are mutated and becoming worse and worse.

So that's why we had a record high loss last year for the nation.

Along with habitat and pesticides, some of the DDT and the organophosphates are gone, but there are a lot of the neonics and they persist longer, right?

All these things are death by a thousand cuts.

So these bees are not as strong as they used to be in the 80s.

We rarely get swarms now because the hives are not as strong as they used to be.

I feel like just the cheap imports have taken the spot.

of the lack of production that we can't keep up with.

It's all about price point.

We do know a lot of the honey market goes into the industrial grade.

It's awesome that so many people want it in their cereal and their smoothies and Robitussin cough medicine and honey hams and everything.

But most of the industrial market is cheap imports.

General Mills used to have Florida Sue Bee Honey, the biggest co-op in the United States.

Sue Bee owned by its members, but now it's Vietnam.