The trend since 1988 has been small honey crops but more colonies of bees in Iowa (see Table below). When you have such a good year as 1988, it appears a lot of people go into beekeeping or increase the size of an existing operation. Unfortunately, those bumper crops do not come along very often.
Year | Honey Producing Colonies | Yield Per Colony | Production | Price Per Pound | Value of Production |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1987 | 44,000 | 103 | 4,532,000 | 0.54 | $2,447,000 |
1988 | 49,000 | 129 | 6,321,000 | 0.47 | $2,971,000 |
1989 | 67,000 | 90 | 6,030,000 | 0.45 | $2,714,000 |
1990 | 70,000 | 54 | 3,780,000 | 0.53 | $2,300,000 |
1991 | 92,000 | 56 | 5,152,000 | 0.55 | $2,834,000 |
This article originally appeared in the April 1, 1992 issue, p. 46.
Links to this article are strongly encouraged, and this article may be republished without further permission if published as written and if credit is given to the author, Horticulture and Home Pest News, and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. If this article is to be used in any other manner, permission from the author is required. This article was originally published on April 1, 1992. The information contained within may not be the most current and accurate depending on when it is accessed.