WASHINGTON _ It's the last federal report on honeybee populations we'll see _ at least for a while _ and the numbers for California show the number of colonies are still decreasing.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced in July that it would no longer be funding a nationwide annual survey of the honeybee population, citing a need for cost cuts. The survey was started under the administration of former President Barack Obama in 2015.
"The decision to suspend data collection was not made lightly but was necessary given available fiscal and program resources," the USDA said in a notice on its website, though officials have not said how much the survey costs.
