We all wish we could have an endless supply of honey (pouring from a faucet maybe?). But the amount of honey produced in the United States has been declining. This may come as a surprise given honey’s increasing popularity. Honey proves to be a perfect processed sugar replacement since it’s naturally sweet, and it pairs wonderfully with so many different types of food. Honey is a must-have in every kitchen. At Nate’s, we can’t live without our raw and unfiltered honey, which is why we’re committed to taking on this problem head on.

More and more people are discovering how great raw and unfiltered honey is every day, so consumption is steadily rising. We’re glad we get to share the love! But the amount produced in the U.S. is still declining. USDA reports that in 2017, honey production was down 9 percent from the previous year. And in 2016, production was down 14 percent. In 2015, it was down 12 percent. And the trend continues. In fact, honey production is down 49 percent in the last 20 years. So what’s going on?

Changing Nature

Weather conditions have a lot to do with honey production. Since bees rely on crops to pollinate, there must be crops around for them to do their job. And sometimes, droughts or natural disasters can impact the health of crops. Your outdoor plants can probably relate!

For example, in the summer of 2017, North and South Dakota saw a severe drought, which impacted their crops. This posed a problem for the honey world because a significant portion of light honey in the U.S. comes from the Dakotas. Our Nature Nate’s team went to visit our beekeeping partners there and saw firsthand the lack of rainfall and its impact on crops. This meant that very little light honey came out of North and South Dakota last year. Additionally, the hurricanes in Florida and Texas impacted honey production as well. The list goes on.

All About the Bees

There’s no denying that if we want delicious and nutritious honey, we must take care of the bees. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has impacted the health of beehives in the last decade. CCD means that the majority of worker bees abandon the hive. This can happen for many different reasons including pesticide poisoning, mites or poor nutrition.

Bee health isn’t just important to making honey. It is also important to our world at large. Bees sustain our ecosystem and provide us with so many things we need to live happy and healthy lives.

Quality Over Quantity

At Nate’s, we believe that your honey should always be top quality. Regardless of the amount of available honey, we will never sacrifice quality for quantity. We comb through North America and the world looking for trustworthy beekeepers that align with our responsible values. We make sure their honey can pass our rigorous quality tests. To ensure our honey is just pure honey, nothing added, we sample and test our honey for a clean read of antibiotics, pesticides and herbicides. And, we check every single batch. Only the best, purest honey gets an orange label.

In order to maintain our high standards during this honey shortage, we’ve expanded our beekeeping partnerships. We’ve decided to work with some amazing beekeepers just over the North Dakota border into Canada to maintain our delicious honey blend. Since bees don’t know the border, they buzz around pollinating wherever they want. This means that the honey we source from North Dakota is exactly the same as the honey just over the border in southern Canada. We’re so excited to work with these impressive, high-caliber beekeepers!

Protecting the Pollinators

Because of everything bees do for us, we believe in doing our part to keep them healthy. We want to make a positive impact on the future of bee health, which is why we’ve launched Long Live the Bees. Under this campaign, we’ve partnered with established research institutions like University of Georgia, Cornell, and UT Dallas. Partnering with universities allows us to invest in the future of bee health. Research is critical to understand, identify and correct the causes of bee health decline and CCD.

Choosing an orange label means you’re choosing quality honey and healthy bees. Join us in celebrating and caring for our favorite treat and the creatures that make it!