Honey Production In Maine Up Sharply

USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service is reporting that Maine honey production increased 25-percent in 2015. 

Maine state officials say the number of licensed beekeepers has almost tripled in the last decade. Most are members of the Maine State Beekeepers Association. Registered hive counts have jumped from 5,000 to more than 10,000.

And despite a harsh winter in 2015, favorable seasonable weather conditions resulted in the increase in honey production.

According to the records of State Apiarist Tony Jadczak, 975 resident beekeepers registered 9,789 hives in 2015, and 76,058 hives entered the state for crop pollination.

Jadczak says the increase in hobby beekeepers has contributed to the number of licensed beekeepers and the increase in honey production.

Gary Keough, State Statistician of the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, New England Field Office. says honey production in 2015 from Maine producers with five or more colonies totaled 470,000 pounds, up 25-percent from 2014

There were 10,000 colonies producing honey in 2015, up 25-percent from 2014.
Yield per colony averaged 47 pounds, unchanged from 2014.

Honey prices increased during 2015 to $5.51 per pound, up 10-percent from $4.99 per pound in 2014.

Producer honey stocks were 47,000 at year's end, up 15-percent from a year earlier.

Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Commisioner Walt Whitcomb says Maine Maple Sunday is this weekend, "But with the transition to a new season, it is also important to note that Maine produces another all-natural sweetener, honey.”