90% of NY Beehives Had Varroa Mites in 2016

Cornell University’s NYS Beekeeper Tech Team released a report showing that the state of the New York’s beekeepers are being overwhelmed by varroa mites in 2016. A full 90% of colonies sampled had the parasitic pests. The sample group is estimated to represent a third of statewide honey production, or 19,000 colonies, which produced 1.2 million pounds of honey, the researchers say.“Varroa mites are extremely common in NY and were not well controlled in fall 2016,” the report states. “Ninety percent of colonies sampled had mites, and 78% of operations had one or more colonies that exceeded the economic threshold for Varroa.”