A few years ago, the media were abuzz with some bad news: Bees were dying out in record numbers.
Many culprits were suggested. Climate change. Insecticides. A mysterious disease known as "colony collapse disorder" seemingly caused worker bees to spontaneously go on strike, wander off, and die. There was little consensus about what was happening, but the decline was noticeable and worrying.
The trend is now different. According to the most recent Census of Agriculture, the twice-per-decade federal counting of all domestic and farm animals in the United States, the number of bee colonies is up 31 percent since 2007. Due to how the Department of Agriculture collects those data, the bee renaissance may be somewhat less dramatic than reported—private organizations that also track the number of beehives say the recovery has been more gradual. Still, the line is moving in the right direction.
