> Colonies with chemical-free management showed reduced survival and honey production compared to those with organic and conventional management. At the beginning of the study there were 96 colonies of each management system and after 3 years only 1 chemical-free colony remained while 29 and 38 conventional and organic colonies survived. 

> Organic and conventional management systems both increased survival by over 180% compared to chemical-free management.  The strongest single predictor of survival was the direct effect of management system (r = 0.36), with organic and conventional treatments associated with increased colony survival compared to chemical-free. 

>  Our results demonstrate that the benefits of miticide treatments outweigh their detrimental effects on honey-producing operations. Indeed, the lack of miticide treatments led to unhealthy colonies that were five times more likely to die than colonies treated for mites. While there is substantial evidence supporting that honey bee populations can persist in unmanaged conditions without Varroa mite treatments, our results demonstrate that the chemical-free system is not suitable for honey-producing beekeeping operations. 

Underwood, R. M., Lawrence, B. L., Turley, N. E., Cambron-Kopco, L. D., Kietzman, P. M., Traver, B. E., & López-Uribe, M. M. (2023). A longitudinal experiment demonstrates that honey bee colonies managed organically are as healthy and productive as those managed conventionally. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 6072.

Open Access Published: 13 April 2023

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