Steve Levitt

This is Freakonomics Radio, the podcast that explores the hidden side of everything with your guest host, Steve Levitt.

Hi, I'm Steve Levitt.

But there are challenges.

As past president of the American Honey Producers Association, Chris Hyatt has fought on behalf of beekeepers across the country.

And now what made you think that I, as someone who has never thought about honey, would be able to help?

The total amount of honey consumed in the USA has roughly doubled since the year 2000.

On top of that, the retail price of honey has almost tripled even when you account for inflation.

So why is it that beekeepers are struggling?

We can start to answer this question by looking at Hyatt's business.

He runs one of the country's largest honey producing operations.

Though there have been some technological advances over the course of Hyatt's life, the industry still requires a lot of labor, both from the humans and the bees.

How many bees is that total?

By my math, that works out to Hyatt caring for roughly a billion bees during a busy summer.

Those bees don't just make honey.

Like many bees in large commercial hives, they have a second critical job.

They pollinate crops on big commercial farms.

During pollination season, Chris Hyatt has his hives loaded into semi-trucks and driven all across the United States.

So 80 per hive, and you've got 18,000 hives.

So you're talking about almost 1.5 million pounds of honey?

You said your dad used to be able to get 200 and something pounds of honey out of a hive in Alberta.