Beekeeper Steve Rumph with Honeytown Apiary holds a frame containing honey bees from a hive during a demonstration project in May 2022 on the property of Casey and Melanie Ritz near Cortland.
Tribune file photo | Aubrey Woods
Indiana honey production for 2022 totaled 567,000 pounds, up 9% from 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Statistics Service Great Lakes Region.
This estimate included honey from producers with five or more colonies. Yields from Indiana’s 9,000 honey producing colonies averaged 63 pounds in 2022, up 11 pounds from the previous year.
Indiana honey price averaged $5.11 per pound, up $1.02 per pound from last year. Value of production totaled $2.90 million, up 36% from 2021. Honey stocks totaled 261,000 pounds, up 47% from 2021.
Nationally, honey production in 2022 totaled 125 million pounds, down 1% from 2021. There were 2.67 million colonies producing honey in 2022, down 1% from 2021. Yield per colony averaged 47 pounds, unchanged from 2021.
Colonies that produced honey in more than one state were counted in each state where the honey was produced. Therefore, at the national level, yield per colony may be understated, but total production would not be impacted. Colonies were not included if honey was not harvested.
Producer honey stocks were 23.3 million pounds on Dec. 15, 2022, down 1% from a year earlier. Stocks held by producers exclude those held under the commodity loan program.
Nationally, honey prices increased 12% during 2022 to $2.96 per pound, compared to $2.65 per pound in 2021. National- and state-level prices reflect the portions of honey sold through cooperatives, private and retail channels.
Prices for each color class are derived by weighing the quantities sold for each marketing channel. Prices for the 2021 crop reflect honey sold in 2021 and 2022. Some 2021 crop honey was sold in 2022, which caused some revisions to the 2021 crop prices.