Honey bee medicine study finds training gap for veterinarians: full analysis

Version 2 — Full analysis

A new JAVMA study points to a practical bottleneck in honey bee medicine: veterinarians interested in the field most often say they lack the knowledge, education, skills, and training to take it on confidently. That finding matters because honey bees aren’t a fringe species in regulatory or agricultural terms. In the U.S., they’re considered food-producing animals for purposes of antimicrobial oversight, placing veterinarians in a formal role when beekeepers need access to certain approved antibiotics. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

That role has been growing for years. FDA says medically important antimicrobials used in bees must be used by or on the order of a licensed veterinarian, either through a prescription or a Veterinary Feed Directive, depending on the product. To issue a lawful VFD, the veterinarian must be working within a valid VCPR and comply with applicable state and federal requirements. In other words, the profession has legal responsibility here, even though bee medicine has historically had a limited footprint in traditional veterinary curricula. (fda.gov)

The training gap described in the study also fits with what outside organizations have been saying. The Honey Bee Veterinary Consortium states that most veterinarians in the U.S. and Canada have not been trained in honey bee veterinary medicine, and it has built a certification pathway around that need. Its CertHbV program requires 150 continuing education credits across topics including husbandry, anatomy and physiology, pathobiology, diagnostics and treatment, client communication, and hands-on clinical experience with colonies. (hbvc.org)

Universities and extension-linked groups are also trying to fill the gap with practical instruction. Cornell maintains a directory of veterinarians trained to work with honey bees and points veterinarians toward annual workshops. The University of Wisconsin-Madison offers a honey bee medicine field day that includes hands-on husbandry, pest and disease familiarity, and the ability to write a veterinary feed directive for beekeepers. The University of Georgia has also described building a honey bee veterinary program with an apiary and fourth-year clinical rotation, underscoring that experiential training, not just lectures, is becoming a priority. (cals.cornell.edu)

The broader industry backdrop makes the workforce issue more urgent. USDA APHIS says pollination adds more than $18 billion in crop revenue in the U.S., and its national honey bee surveys track pests, diseases, and risk factors affecting colony health. Meanwhile, the latest national beekeeper survey reported annual colony losses of 51.4% for backyard operations and 56.2% for commercial operations in 2024–2025, with winter losses for commercial beekeepers running well above their long-term average. Those figures don’t prove that more veterinarians alone would solve colony losses, but they do suggest that better access to trained veterinary support could matter in a sector under sustained biological and economic pressure. (aphis.usda.gov)

Expert and industry commentary around bee medicine has been consistent on one point: veterinarians need species-specific preparation. FDA’s beekeeper guidance emphasizes diagnosis, treatment oversight, and compliance. Professional education groups are framing certification as a way to signal competency to both veterinarians and beekeepers. Earlier literature has also stressed that veterinarians can contribute beyond antibiotic access, including diagnostics, residue avoidance, biosecurity, and colony-level management advice. Taken together, the reaction is less about expanding a niche and more about building a functioning care infrastructure for a regulated food-animal species that many practitioners were never taught to handle. (fda.gov)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, this is a capacity story as much as a honey bee story. If veterinarians are expected to participate in antimicrobial stewardship, establish VCPRs with beekeepers, and advise on disease and husbandry, then education has to catch up with policy. Practices with food-animal, mixed-animal, public health, or rural service lines may be especially well positioned to add bee work, but only if they can access credible CE, hands-on exposure, and clear state-level guidance on prescribing and VFD compliance. (fda.gov)

What to watch: The next phase is likely to center on whether certification programs, university rotations, and extension-style field training can expand fast enough to meet beekeeper demand, especially as regulators, researchers, and industry groups keep focusing on colony health, disease surveillance, and antimicrobial oversight. (hbvc.org)