BROWNSVILLE, Texas (ValleyCentral) – Rio Grande Valley beekeepers are feeling the sting as they try to stay in business after several factors are rising prices in honey at the grocery store.

“It’s very challenging with all the new problems we’ve had from imported pests and diseases,” says Brownsville beekeeper Glenn Simpson of Bay Bees RGV.

The National Honey Board says because of this scarcity, the retail price of honey jumped nearly seven percent from 2022 to 2023.

Mr. Racelis with the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley says the effects reach further than the price of honey alone.

“If bees are less prolific, if they’re less abundant, of course, that’s less honey. And so they’re the ones who probably feel it most immediately, but I think we all feel it because bees are extremely important pollinators. So they pollinate a lot of our fruit crops, for example the Rio Grande Valley.”

Simpson says planting and beekeeping materials are also getting more expensive, and says beekeepers are finding other ways to save and continue making a living.

“It’s been quite difficult for us. One of the main things we do is we tried to conserve our equipment and so we don’t have to re-buy new stuff every year.”

Racelis explains one way to help bees and farmers alike is to help combat habitat loss in your own yard and encourage pollination.

“Plant native trees and native plants in the yard because that helps provide food and refuge for these beloved creatures… also will help them from invading your picnic, and instead going to the food and the flowers they really want to be feeding at.”