South Dakota’s honey production jumped 156% in a single year — from 7.2 million pounds in 2022 to 18.4 million pounds in 2023, worth $37.3 million — vaulting the state to the No. 2 spot nationally, right behind neighboring North…
North Dakota produces more honey than any other state in the country — 38.3 million pounds worth over $67.8 million in 2023 alone — and its beekeeping law reflects an industry built at genuine commercial scale, not backyard hobbyists. Every…
New Hampshire is one of the few states that gives beekeeping and maple syrup the same chapter of law — RSA 429, “Beekeeping and Maple and Honey Products” — reflecting how closely the state treats its small-scale bee and syrup…
Mississippi doesn’t require beekeepers to register their apiaries — one of the few states where registration is entirely voluntary — but the state runs one of the most detailed inspection-certificate systems in the country for anyone moving bees across its…
Arkansas is one of the only states where registering an apiary comes with a genuine territorial right attached: once you’ve registered a location, state law bars anyone else from placing bees within 3 miles of it without your written permission.…
First discovered in August 2025 and officially confirmed that September, Alaska recorded its first-ever detection of the small hive beetle — a pest that had never before established itself in the state — traced directly to an apiary that imported…
Montana is one of the very few states where selling home-produced honey requires no license, no permit, and no inspection at all — a direct result of the state’s 2021 Local Food Choice Act, one of the most permissive “food…
Hawaii has the toughest bee-smuggling penalty in the country — illegally importing honey bees, queen bees, or used beekeeping equipment is a class C felony carrying fines of up to $200,000. That’s not a typo or a bureaucratic maximum nobody…
Delaware’s honey bee industry is small but genuinely valuable — roughly 7,200 colonies, worth about $350 each, contribute to nearly $30 million in fruit and vegetable production every year. Protecting that pollination value is exactly why Delaware requires every single…
The National Weather Service’s average tornado warning lead time runs roughly 8 to 10 minutes for all tornadoes (rising to 12-15 minutes for EF2-and-stronger tornadoes) — nowhere near enough time to run out and strap down hives once a warning…
A genuinely good beekeeping book can do what a lecture about pollinators never will — turn a child’s fear of stinging insects into fascination. Whether you’re a beekeeping family looking for a book that helps a preschooler understand what’s happening…
Kenya has tried three separate times since 2021 to pass a national law requiring beekeepers to register their apiaries — and as of 2026, none of those attempts has actually become law. The 2021 version was withdrawn after beekeeper backlash,…
India has committed roughly ₹500 crore (about $60 million) to a national beekeeping program explicitly named for the goal it’s chasing: a “Sweet Revolution.” The National Beekeeping and Honey Mission has already registered over 10,000 beekeepers and beekeeping firms representing…
In Mexico, stealing bees is legally prosecuted the same way as cattle rustling. That isn’t a figure of speech — Mexico’s Federal Beekeeping Law (Ley Federal Apícola) explicitly elevates bees to the same legal status as livestock, which means bee…
South Africa requires every beekeeper and bee remover to register for 24 months under control measures R.858, bars moving bees across the Cape bee line without approval, and sets import, honey-label and city by-law rules.
Germany assigns every registered beekeeper a distinctive twelve-digit registration number — built from the official municipality code plus a four-digit operation number — and enforces one of the strictest American foulbrood quarantine regimes covered anywhere on this site. Before an…
Wyoming sorts every apiary into one of three specific license classes — hobbyist, landowner, or general — and publishes the location, hive count, and owner details of every registered apiary on a public statewide map. Commercial (“general”) apiaries must also…
Vermont doesn’t just require beekeepers to register — it requires them to submit an annual report that includes a current varroa mite and pest mitigation plan for every single registered apiary, a level of active disease-management documentation most states don’t…
Rhode Island requires every apiary to be registered with DEM each year under R.I. Gen. Laws § 4-12-12. This guide covers deadlines, inspections, import permits, Providence and East Providence hive rules, and honey sales.
Nebraska’s Apiary Act defines beekeeping itself as “an agricultural pursuit” — a specific legal classification that matters well beyond semantics, since it shapes how beekeeping interacts with the state’s broader agricultural exemptions and protections. That classification doesn’t override local zoning,…
Maine maintains a public directory of nearly 300 volunteer swarm collectors, searchable by town, so anyone who finds a swarm on their property can find local help — a genuinely distinctive public-service feature most states don’t offer. That same Apiary…
Idaho hobbyists with 50 or fewer colonies owe no state registration fee or honey tax, while commercial beekeepers register with ISDA by July 1. This guide covers fees, inspections, moving bees, Boise, Idaho Falls and Hailey hive rules, and selling honey under the 2026 Direct-to-Consumer Commerce Act.
Louisiana runs a dual-track permit system most states don’t have: Class A permits for Louisiana-domiciled beekeepers, priced as low as $0 for a small operation, and Class B permits for out-of-state beekeepers, priced roughly four times higher at every colony…
Contrary to what dozens of beekeeping blogs will tell you, Minnesota does not currently require beekeepers to register with the state. A mandatory registration and inspection-fee system did exist in Minnesota law for decades — but the state’s entire apiary…
Washington law gives counties a specific statutory tool most states don’t offer: the power to hold a public hearing and establish a legally binding “apiary coordinated area” that sets the maximum hives per site, minimum distance between sites, and minimum…