MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — While the nationwide honeybee population reached a record high three years ago, scientists are concerned in 2025.

A study by Washington State University predicted a 60-70% loss in population due to issues like nutrition deficiencies, mite infestations, and viral diseases.

Locally, the bee population has dealt with its own set of challenges — most notably last year’s storms and a dry spring.

Allison Davis and her husband, Matthew, founded Noble Nectar in 2016.

“It’s amazing. I wouldn’t want to do anything else. We get to work outside, we get to work with nature. It’s kind of calming,” Allison said.

But after last year’s hurricanes, half of their bee hives were under water. All the bees in those hives died.

Allison says the road to recovery has been challenging.

“Hurricanes come through, they wipe out all the resources, like food supply for the bees. It changes a lot. So it takes a while to build back up,” she said.

But the losses didn’t end there. Allison said there were other environmental conditions this year that led to a reduction in their bee population.

She says they have lost more bees than in any previous year.

“I think for us, it’s mostly been changes in the overall weather patterns and the seasons this year. We had a really dry spring,” she said.

Typical losses over the last decade have been only 40 to 50%, according to the WSU study.

Allison says the increase might be because of mites.

“There are two new viruses that mites, which are a pest that invades hives, carry. These viruses end up infecting the hives, essentially killing them off,” she said.

She says while her beehives aren’t suffering from mites right now, she is worried about it.

“It’s not something that we’re immune to, that’s for sure. I know that a lot of the big commercial beekeepers are finding that it’s more of a problem for them at this point,” she said.

Noble Nectar also does bee removal jobs, but co-owner Matthew Davis said that volume of activity has been affected, too.

"And I feel like this year the amount of those calls has really declined," he said. I think that has a lot to do with the two hurricanes that came through. And then there were some massive losses over the wintertime from starvation."

For now, Allison says they’ll have to continue to monitor their hives for any problems.

“If there’s a decline in bees, that also means there’s going to be a decline in food that can be produced, because honeybees pollinate about 80% of the world’s crops,” she said.

Allison and Matthew understand the significance of honeybees, and they are doing their part to make sure their population can thrive.