Bees, both commercially managed honey bees and wild unmanaged bees, among many other types of insect pollinators, play an important role in global food production. Given the importance of bees and other types of pollinators to food production, many have expressed concern about whether a "pollinator crisis" has been occurring in recent decades. In the United States, honey bee colony losses due to bee pests, parasites, pathogens, and disease are not uncommon. This situation gained increased attention in 2006 as some commercial beekeepers began reporting sharp declines in their honey bee colonies. Because of the severity and unusual circumstances of these colony declines, scientists named this phenomenon colony collapse disorder (CCD). 110-246 ). Since 2006, USDA estimates that overwinter colony losses have averaged more than 30% annually. To date, the precise reasons for honey bee colony losses are still unknown. Reasons cited for honey bee population losses include a wide range of possible factors. Potential identified causes include bee pests and disease, diet and nutrition, genetics, habitat loss and other environmental stressors, agricultural pesticides, and beekeeping management issues, as well as the possibility that bees are being negatively affected by cumulative, multiple exposures and/or the interactive effects of several of these factors. Importance of Bee Pollination

Worldwide, the contribution of bees and other insects to worldwide crop production for human food is valued at about $190 billion each year. In the United States alone, the value of insect pollination to U.S. agricultural production is estimated at $16 billion annually, of which about three-fourths of the value is attributable to honey bees. However, bee colonies have continued to "dwindle away" each year for reasons not solely attributable to CCD, which is characterized by colony populations that are suddenly lost. The U.S. Factors Affecting Bee Health

Among the factors that are thought to be harming bee health are (listed in no particular order): 
parasites , pathogens , and diseases (for a detailed listing, see text box); bee genetics including lack of genetic diversity and lineage of bees, and increased susceptibility and lowered disease resistance; miticide resistance ; diet and nutrition including poor nutrition due to apiary overcrowding, pollination of crops with low nutritional value, and pollen or nectar scarcity associated with invasive plants; bee management issues including transportation stress from migratory beekeeping, overcrowding, feeding practices, chemicals used by beekeepers to control mites (antibiotics and miticides), confinement and temperature fluctuations, susceptibility to disease, potential for cumulative exposure to diseases and parasites, use of bees for honey production versus pollination, chemical residue or contamination in the wax, and reliability of the queen source; habitat loss, and other environmental or biological stressors including loss of foraging area, interspecific competition between honey bees and native bees, pathogen spillover effects, and climate change; pesticides including acute or cumulative exposure to new types or combinations of agricultural pesticides through a variety of media including dust, water droplets, pollen, and nectar; other agricultural practices including the use of genetically incorporated pesticides in seeds or treated seeds, such as with bioengineered crops; and potential cumulative and interactive effects of each of these factors. However, CCD may not be the single leading cause of honey bee colony losses in recent years. USDA-EPA Joint Report

In 2013, USDA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a USDA-EPA Joint report, National Stakeholders Conference on Honey Bee Health . Issues for Congress

Following concerns over honey bee colony losses in 2006-2007, Congress provided for increased funding for bee research, among other types of farm program support to protect pollinators, as part of the 2008 farm bill. 113-79 , H.Rept. The 2014 farm bill reauthorized and expanded many of the 2008 farm bill provisions that address honey bees and pollinators as part of the law's research, conservation, specialty crop, and miscellaneous title provisions. Overall, regarding managed honey bees and native pollinators, the 2014 farm bill: 
extends through 2018 various USDA research and conservation provisions directed at protecting pollinators, enacted in the 2008 farm bill (see " Research Provisions " and " Conservation Provisions ," below, for more information); expands annual reporting requirements on CCD along with other health disorders; requires USDA to publish guidance on enhancing long-term pollinator health and long term viability of pollinators, including addressing habitat and forage needs for native pollinators and managed honey bees; and requires USDA to assess federal efforts to mitigate pollinator losses and threats to the U.S. commercial beekeeping industry, and to recommend how to better coordinate federal agency efforts to address the decline of managed honey bees and native pollinators. The bill would promote conservation practices on 17 million acres of highway "rights-of-ways" (managed by state Departments of Transportation or state DOTs), and would promote native plantings that provide improved habitat, forage, and migratory corridors for pollinators, ground nesting birds, and other small wildlife, as well as encourage reduced mowing and overall maintenance costs to state DOTs. The bill would suspend registrations of neonicotinoids and ban new registrations of any pesticide for use on "bee attractive plants, trees, and cereals" until the EPA determines that the insecticide will not cause "unreasonable adverse effects" on pollinators, including native bees, honey bees, and other beneficial insects, as well as birds and bats.
Bees, both commercially managed honey bees and wild bees, play an important role in global food production. In the United States alone, the value of insect pollination to U.S. agricultural production is estimated at $16 billion annually, of which about three-fourths is attributable to honey bees. Worldwide, the contribution of bees and other insects to global crop production for human food is valued at about $190 billion. Given the importance of honey bees and other bee species to food production, many have expressed concern about whether a "pollinator crisis" has been occurring in recent decades.
Over the past few decades there has been heightened concern about the plight of honey bees as well as other bee and pollinator species. Although honey bee colony losses due to bee pests, parasites, and disease are not uncommon, there is the perception that bee health has been declining at a faster rate both in the United States and globally in recent years. This situation gained increased attention in 2006 as some commercial beekeepers began reporting sharp declines in their honey bee colonies. Because of the severity and unusual circumstances of these colony declines, scientists named this phenomenon colony collapse disorder (CCD). Since then, honey bee colonies have continued to dwindle each year, for reasons not solely attributable to CCD. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that CCD may not be the only or even the major cause of bee colony losses in recent years. In the United States, USDA estimates of overwinter colony losses from all causes have averaged more than 30% annually since 2006.
To date, the precise reasons for bee colony losses are not yet known. Reasons cited for bee declines include a wide range of possible factors thought to be affecting pollinator species. These include bee pests and disease, diet and nutrition, genetics, habitat loss and other environmental stressors, agricultural pesticides, and beekeeping management issues, as well as the possibility that bees are being affected by cumulative, multiple exposures and/or the interactive effects of several of these factors.
USDA continues to research possible causes of bee colony losses, and has published a series of reports detailing the agency's progress in this area. In 2013, USDA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a joint report, National Stakeholders Conference on Honey Bee Health. Both USDA and the NAS report conclude that many factors contribute to pollinator declines in North America. A 2007 report by the National Research Council, Status of Pollinators in North America, also provides a detailed scientific context concerning bee health.
Following heightened concern over honey bee colony losses in 2006-2007, Congress provided for increased funding for bee research, among other types of farm program support to protect pollinators, as part of the 2008 farm bill (P.L. 110-246). The 2014 farm bill (P.L. 113-79) reauthorized and expanded many of these provisions, addressing managed honey bees and native pollinators as part of the law's research, conservation, specialty crop, and miscellaneous title provisions. In addition, outside the farm bill, H.R. 4790 would promote conservation practices on millions of acres of highway rights-of-way by encouraging states to reduce mowing and plant for pollinators, providing improved habitat for pollinators and other small wildlife. Also, H.R. 2692 would suspend registrations of neonicotinoids and prohibit new registrations of any pesticide for use unless EPA determines the insecticide would not cause unreasonable adverse effects on pollinators, including honey bees and native bees as well as other pollinators. Another bill, H.R. 5447, would amend U.S. pesticide laws to provide for expedited registration of pesticides that improve bee health, including managing resistance to some parasitic pests.