Wisconsin Ag Connection - Wisconsin Honey Output Fell in 2018

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Wisconsin Honey Output Fell in 2018
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 05/17/2019

For the third consecutive year, honey production from producers with five or more colonies in Wisconsin went down compared to the year previous. The state's agriculture department reports that output totaled 2.3 million pounds in 2018, a 23 percent decrease from the 2017 harvest year. According to the USDA, the number of honey producing colonies in the state dropped by 2,000 colonies to 51,000 last year. This number does not include producers with fewer than five colonies or producers who did not harvest a crop.

Yield per colony in the Badger State averaged 45 pounds, down from 56 pounds per colony in 2017. Wisconsin ranked 16th in the U.S. in honey production during the past season.

As of mid-December, producer honey stocks in Wisconsin, excluding stocks under government loan programs, were 711,000 pounds, a four percent increase from 2017. The state's 2018 honey crop was valued at $6.33 million, down 24 percent from the previous year. The average price per pound for all marketing channels in Wisconsin was $2.76, down six-cents from 2017.

Nationally, production from producers with five or more colonies totaled 152 million pounds, up two percent from 2017. There were 2.8 million colonies producing honey in the U.S. last year, which was four percent more than a year earlier.

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