On an unseasonably warm February afternoon, Kevin Langley leads the way to two rows of hives in a grassy lot tucked behind the Tam Bao Meditation Center, one of the state’s largest and oldest Buddhist temples. In the grassy lot slated to become a flower-laden walking path for meditation among the bees, he tends to about a dozen hives he has rescued from trees and homes across the Capital Region. These buzzing boxes fulfill a promise he made to himself—and bees—20 years ago.

At the time, he was the global chairman of a worldwide organization. While in Geneva giving a presentation about economic development in developing countries, his wife called to inform him that a swarm of bees now called their back door home, and he advised her to call a pest control company. He winces, recalling seeing the powdered pesticides all over the door where their triplets, who were toddlers at the time, often crawled. Right there, with the economic impact of bees fresh in his mind, he silently vowed to learn all he could and help anyone who needed assistance relocating bees. Six months later, a swarm arrived in a tree next door, and he officially became a beekeeper.

“There is an absolute crisis right now in the bee industry. If something doesn’t happen, it is on the brink of a disaster.”       

—Josh Janway, owner of Janway’s Raw Honey

Since then, Langley has made it his mission to support beekeepers at every level, from backyard hobbyists to commercial operators. As the Capital Area Beekeepers Association president and the state association vice president, his work typically centers on education, fostering community in the industry and consulting with commercial beekeepers and scientists on best practices. But this year, he is searching for answers.

Across the country, beekeepers are reporting devastating losses, echoing the colony collapse disorder crisis that rattled the industry around 2008. Scientists have yet to pinpoint the cause of these die-offs, but the consequences could be dire for the industry and our food supply.

“There is an absolute crisis right now in the bee industry,” Josh Janway, owner of Janway’s Raw Honey, says. “If something doesn’t happen, it is on the brink of a disaster. Exports coming into the United States are lowering U.S. honey costs while our operational costs are going through the roof. On top of that, we’re losing bees—and we don’t know why we’re losing bees.”

A national survey shows that commercial beekeepers report about a 28% hive loss in a typical season, Langley explains. Early data indicates 50 to 75% losses in commercial hives this year. “It’s off the charts,” he says, his voice tinged with unease. These losses threaten not only the bee and honey industry but dinner tables across the world.

Pollinators, particularly bees, are responsible for one-third of Americans’ food, including 80% of flowering plants and 87 of the 115 leading food crops worldwide. Without bees, we stand to lose 130 types of fruits, nuts and vegetables. Grocery stores would become desolate and unrecognizable.

Bees are so critical to the almond industry alone that most insurers will not cover significant crop loss if a farmer fails to bring bees for pollination. For local operators like Janway, migratory beekeeping offers a cushion to the honey business while providing an essential service to farmers. Each year around February, Janway loads millions of bees into semi-trucks, and they begin a nearly 2,000-mile journey to almond orchards in California.

There, they will help pollinate approximately 420,000 acres of almond trees as part of the largest managed pollination event in the world before returning to Louisiana around April. Janway’s are part of the 2.7 million colonies in the migratory beekeeping industry, which pollinate agricultural crops nationwide. “Our U.S. food security, to some degree, is dependent upon these 2.7 million bee colonies,” Langley reiterates. Finding answers to the mass colony die-offs being reported this year is not just in the interest of the bee business—it’s for the sake of America’s food security.

Scientists at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Unit, known as the Honey Bee Lab, in Baton Rouge are at the forefront of the fight to find answers.

For 95 years, scientists at the Honey Bee Lab have studied how various factors impact bee health to mitigate the effects of disease and climate change on our food supply, while also breeding honeybee stocks for improved resilience to threatening pests, pathogens and environmental toxins. “We have some of the best researchers in the world here in Baton Rouge studying bees,” Langley says.

Now, more than ever, their work is critical. As colony losses have increased in recent years, and early reports this year are grim, scientists at the Honey Bee Lab continue to work closely with federal partners, stakeholders and beekeepers to find answers.

The world’s best and brightest are on the case of the mystery crisis impacting colonies across the country, and the work they’re doing in Baton Rouge’s backyard just might save the bees—and the world, too. As for Langley, he plans to keep making good on his promise, one hive at a time.