Assessing the Impact of the Conservation 

Reserve Program on Honey Bee Health

Prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Farm Service 

Agency, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service

Insect pollinators are critically important for maintaining U.S. food 

production and ecosystem health. The upper Midwest is home to more 

than 40 percent of all U.S. honey bee colonies and is considered by many 

beekeepers to be America’s last beekeeping refuge. Beekeepers come to 

this region because their honey bees require high-quality grassland and 

bee-friendly agricultural crops to make honey and to improve bee health. 

Agricultural grassland, such as those enrolled in the Conservation Reserve 

Program (CRP), support flowers that provide bees with the pollen and 

nectar they need. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 

and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) formed a partnership to assess 

the impact of the CRP on honey bee health and determine how the costeffectiveness of the CRP could be improved to promote pollinator habitat. 

This USGS assessment has generated important findings that could improve 

USDA’s program delivery and demonstrates the importance of the CRP to 

honey bees, beekeepers, agricultural producers, and the public (Otto and 

others, 2017, 2018).

Key Findings (2014–18)

• More than one-sixth of all honey bee yards in North Dakota and South 

Dakota (the top two honey-producing States) meet the key foraging 

requirements of honey bees just based on the existence of CRP grasslands 

alone. Thus, the CRP plays a considerable role in supporting the carrying 

capacity of honey bee colonies in this region (Otto and others, 2018).

• Honey bee colonies in areas surrounded by grassland, such as those 

enrolled in the CRP, are 10–15 percent larger than colonies kept in areas 

surrounded by mostly row crops. A USGS study determined that a bee 

yard surrounded by mostly grassland can yield an extra $4,100 in annual 

revenue to a beekeeper compared to a bee yard surrounded by mostly row 

crop. A beekeeper who manages several hundred bee yards may incur 

sizable economic gains through nearby CRP and other conservation grasslands (Smart and others, 2018).

USGS biologist sampling honey bees and native 

bees on CRP grasslands in North Dakota. 

Photograph by Alessandra Cancalosi, under 

contract to the USGS.

A commercial bee yard on CRP grasslands in North 

Dakota. This bee yard was used as part of a USGS 

pollinator health assessment project in North 

Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota. Photograph 

by Mady Herrmann, under contract to the USGS.

Below left: A honey bee (Apis mellifera) on alfalfa 

(Medicago sativa). Below right: Honey bees (Apis 

mellifera) carrying pollen to the hive. Top: Bees on 

honeycomb. Photographs by Sarah Scott, under 

contract to the USGS.

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2018–3082

February 2019
Key Findings—Continued

• The USGS led the first large-scale assessment of native 

bees on CRP grassland that documented what native bees 

were present on CRP grasslands and what flowers they 

used (Otto and others, 2017).

• The USGS developed a genetic sequencing strategy to 

rapidly quantify pollen grains collected from bees (Smart 

and others, 2017). This novel technique allowed the 

USGS to determine what flowering plants were important bee food. Knowing what flowers constitute good 

bee food is an important step in improving the costeffectiveness of the CRP.

• The USGS launched the “Pollinator Library,” a decisionsupport tool that can be used by USDA staff for evaluating seeding mixes for the CRP (https://www.npwrc.

usgs.gov/pollinator/). This website provides users with 

information on which plants are favored by honey bees 

and native bees. USGS scientists published a paper 

demonstrating how USDA staff can use the Pollinator 

Library to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of CRP seeding 

mixes (Otto and others, 2017).

Top: A honey bee 

(Apis mellifera) visits 

Phacelia (Phacelia 

tanacetifolia).

Center: DNA design 

by Katemangostar, 

Freepik.com.

Bottom: A native 

bee rests on 

woolly paperflower 

(Psilostrophe 

tagetina). Photographs 

by Sarah Scott, under 

contract to the USGS.

Right: A screenshot 

of the online USGS 

Pollinator Library.

Ongoing and Future Projects

Ongoing USGS monitoring has identified periods during the growing season 

when flower availability is limited for honey bees. The goal of this ongoing assessment is to determine what flowering plants would be most cost-effective for including in CRP seeding mixes to provide forage for honey bees during resource-limited 

periods. Here, CRP would be used to fill critical resource gaps for honey bees. 

Filling these floral resource gaps could provide a measurable, positive impact of the 

CRP on bee health.

Collectively, results from the USGS assessment will assist USDA staff in 

developing seeding mixes that are highly beneficial to pollinators and can be 

implemented at a reduced cost.

References Cited

Otto, C.R.V., O’Dell, S., Bryant, R.B., 

Euliss, N.H., Jr., Bush, R.M., and Smart, 

M.D., 2017, Using publicly available 

data to quantify plant-pollinator interactions and evaluate conservation seeding 

mixes in the Northern Great Plains: 

Environmental Entomology, v. 46, 

no. 3, p. 565–578. [Also available at 

https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvx070.]

Otto, C.R.V., Zheng, H., Gallant, A.L., 

Iovanna, R., Carlson, B.L., Smart, 

M.D., and Hyberg, S., 2018, Past role 

and future outlook of the Conservation 

Reserve Program for supporting honey 

bees in the Great Plains: Proceedings of 

the National Academy of Sciences of the 

United States of America, v. 115, no. 29, 

p. 7629–7634. [Also available at https://

doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1800057115.]

Smart, M.D., Cornman, R.S., Iwanowicz, D.D., McDermott-Kubeczko, 

M., Pettis, J.S., Spivak, M.S., and 

Otto, C.R.V., 2017, A comparison 

of honey bee-collected pollen from 

working agricultural lands using light 

microscopy and ITS metabarcoding: 

Environmental Entomology, v. 46, 

no. 1, p. 38–49. [Also available at 

https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvw159.]

Smart, M.D., Otto, C.R.V., Carlson, B.L., 

and Roth, C.L., 2018, The influence of 

spatiotemporally decoupled land use on 

honey bee colony health and pollination service delivery: Environmental 

Research Letters, v. 13, no. 8, 11 p. 

[Also available at https://doi.org/

10.1088/1748-9326/aad4eb.]

A queen bee (center) surrounded by 

a larger drone male honey bee and 

female worker honey bees. Photograph 

by Sarah Scott, under contract to the 

USGS.

For more information, contact:

Northern Prairie Wildlife Research 

Center 

8711 37th St SE, 

Jamestown, ND 58401 

(701) 253–5500

This project was made possible 

with the support and collaboration 

of the U.S. Department of 

Agriculture’s Farm Service 

Agency and Natural Resources 

Conservation Service.

ISSN 2327-6916 (print)

ISSN 2327-6932 (online)

https://doi.org/10.3133/fs20183082