Tag Beekeeper Licensing

Photo of a tasting flight of mead glasses from a licensed commercial meadery

How to License a Meadery: TTB Bonded Winery Permits

Selling mead commercially requires a federal TTB Bonded Winery permit, since mead is legally regulated as wine. Real forms, bond thresholds, costs, and state-licensing steps most guides skip.

How to Start Selling Honey Legally: A Beginner’s Guide

Get started with selling honey legally. Our beginner's guide covers the necessary laws, licenses, and best practices for beekeepers.

Photo of a building at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center campus

The 2026 USDA Beltsville Bee Lab Closure and What It Means for Beekeepers

USDA plans to close the Beltsville Bee Research Laboratory as part of a wider research-center shutdown, an active, disputed 2026 policy story, not settled history.

September 13, 2026

A scanning electron microscope image of a Varroa destructor mite attached to a honeybee host

USDA Scientists Found a New Way to Beat Varroa’s Amitraz Resistance

USDA ARS researcher Julia Fine found a compound that restores amitraz's killing power against Varroa mites that have evolved resistance to it.

September 13, 2026

A yellow-legged Asian hornet, Vespa velutina, on a leaf

How Spanish Researchers Became the First to Eradicate Asian Hornets in Europe

A University of the Balearic Islands team achieved Europe's first confirmed eradication of an established Asian hornet population, earning the 2026 Golden Bee Award.

September 13, 2026

Beehives partially covered in winter snow

The 2025-2026 US Colony Loss Survey: What Beekeepers Actually Reported

US beekeepers reported losing 39.9% of managed colonies between April 2025 and April 2026, per the annual Auburn University-led national survey.

September 13, 2026

Colorful European bee-eater bird holding a cicada in its beak on a perch

Bee-Eaters: The Colorful Bird Beekeepers Around the World Contend With

The colorful European bee-eater specializes in catching bees on the wing, and in some regions honeybees make up nearly half its diet. Here's what the research actually shows about the impact on apiaries.

September 12, 2026

Greenhouse tomato plants in flower, the crop where commercial robotic pollination technology has seen its clearest real-world success

Can Robots Pollinate Crops Instead of Bees? The Real State of the Tech

Robotic pollination already works commercially for greenhouse tomatoes, but it's nowhere near replacing what bees do across open-field crops at scale.

September 12, 2026