SPRINGFIELD — Luke Harvey established the Riverview Road Apiary in 2014, perched along the Illinois River in Chillicothe, just across from the home where he grew up north of Peoria. Surrounded by birdsong on the back porch of the house, Harvey recently reflected on his history with bees.
“The love of beekeeping is also about the love of being outside, being closer to nature and being close to the world that we just aren’t really involved in.”
It’s an idyllic scene, one that can make it easy to overlook how challenging beekeeping can be for Harvey and the more than 5,400 other registered beekeepers across Illinois. Nearly 89% of them are hobbyists managing 10 colonies or fewer, according to the fiscal year 2025 Apiary Inspection Annual Report from the Illinois Department of Agriculture released in July.
Losses
Bee loss is a persistent issue throughout the state. It’s not uncommon for beekeepers to lose over half of their colonies each year — primarily during winter — due to disease, competition, poor nutrition or limited resources. That’s a trend mirrored across much of the Midwest and the country.
One long-standing threat is the varroa mite, which feeds on a bee’s hemolymph — a fluid similar to blood — and fat body, a key part of the bee’s immune system. These mites can weaken bees and act as vectors of viruses that can spread rapidly through a hive and beyond.
Many beekeepers indicated that it is difficult to keep colonies healthy. The IDOA’s FY25 report suggests a rise in varroa mite levels in the state, though it cautions that this may partly be because of environmental variables or when and where inspections occurred.
Pollinator expert Brittany Buckles said many of the biological challenges in Illinois are recurring and somewhat predictable but not always completely avoidable or easy to manage.
Buckles has worked with bees for about a decade and holds a master’s degree in entomology, specializing in pollinators. Now based primarily in northern Illinois, she teaches classes through the Chicago Honey Co-Op in addition to her other pollinator-related work.
She reports an annual colony loss rate of around 40% in the hives she’s involved with — lower than many in the state — and partly attributes that to precise, timely treatment and close hive monitoring.
Buckles emphasized the importance of reliable information, recommending the University of Minnesota’s Beekeeping in Northern Climates guide.
Cost
Beyond biology, there are financial hurdles as well. Newcomers often face startup costs between $600 and over $1,000 for a hive and the required equipment.
“Life is already expensive enough,” Harvey said, adding that beekeeping is complex and many first-timers face difficulties managing hives. “People get frustrated.”
Harvey is what the beekeeping community calls a “sideliner,” someone between a hobbyist and a full-time professional. A former engineer and project manager, he has been able to devote more time to the apiary since taking early retirement from Caterpillar Inc. last year.
Even for seasoned beekeepers, scaling up can be a challenge. Harvey has considered expanding beyond 100 hives but said doing so alone would be difficult. Hiring would be costly, especially given how hive numbers can fluctuate.
“I know it’s possible,” he said. “I just haven’t been able to do it yet.”
About 10 miles away, the Urban Acres Gardens project in Peoria also incorporates beekeeping into its broader mission. Founded in 2018, the initiative focuses on providing fresh and affordable produce sourced from local gardens in Peoria’s North Valley.
Andres Diaz, owner of Urban Acres Gardens, has kept bees for six years and acknowledged the steep startup cost. However, he said he has recouped the initial investment through honey sales at the North Valley Farmers Market, where Urban Acres’ produce is sold.
“(Beekeeping) has been both beneficial for our plants and our production,” Diaz said. “It pays for itself after a couple of years if you’re selling the honey.”
He reinvests most of the proceeds into better beekeeping equipment and said the practice also supports a deeper purpose.
“We reap the benefits of being in a community (where) we can do things more naturally and be more connected with our food sources,” he said.
Diaz has seen that first-hand. His teenage son helps bottle honey and wants to start working the hives, while his youngest daughter enjoys taste-testing.
Community
Diaz and others emphasized the value of mentorship in beekeeping. Buckles recommended that aspiring beekeepers shadow an experienced local mentor for a season before starting.
“Just like in any other trade, your mentor and the quality of your mentor can make or break you,” she said.
Many beekeepers credited the longevity of their apiaries to local clubs. Twenty-five local groups are affiliated with the Illinois State Beekeepers Association, offering education and a sense of community
Harvey is now the communications officer with the Heart of Illinois Beekeepers Association, which he said was key to sustaining his decadelong experience with bees.
“I can’t emphasize enough how important a well-run local association is,” he said. “That’s how you get new beekeepers, how you educate new beekeepers and how you educate the public.”
Other pollinators
While honeybees usually get the spotlight in discussions around pollination, promoting nonhoneybee pollinators is crucial for biodiversity and for preserving endangered species like the rusty-patched bumble bee – one of 400 to 500 native bee species in Illinois. Those species are often overshadowed by the honey bee, known as apis mellifera, which was originally imported from Europe in the 17th century.
Since 2021, the Illinois Farm Bureau’s pollinator conservation grant program has committed $145,000 to 55 projects across 28 counties. Most of the support has gone toward pollinator plots – planted areas with species like milkweed, which monarch butterflies rely on for their reproductive cycles.
“It’s kind of a passion project for people,” said Bena Pegg, environmental program manager at the Farm Bureau. “There’s a lot of diversity in the way that individual counties are doing that work.”
Buckles suggested there is currently a lack of substantial data on competition between honey bees and native pollinators in the Midwest. Still, she encouraged maintaining native plants — such as milkweed, New England aster, monarda fistulosa (bee balm) and native goldenrod species — to help support vulnerable pollinators.
“As beekeepers, we all are connected to the environment. We’re not trying to do harm,” she said, adding that more research could spark valuable conversations around conservation in the context of beekeeping.
While keeping honeybees may not directly support native species, Buckles said she believes it can have benefits. The activity connects people to the natural world and deepens their understanding of food systems.
“There is a lot of beauty to beekeeping,” she said. “However, just putting a beehive in your yard isn’t going to help conservation necessarily.”
Looking out at the Illinois River from the back porch of his family home late one afternoon, Harvey reflected on the personal significance of beekeeping.
“It’s a calming experience,” he said. “You get to go through the hives and get away from the screen or being indoors.”
Harvey also values the community around it. In February 2024, he and his mentor Steve Schmidt launched the Beekeeping Buddies podcast, which surpassed 2,600 listens in its first year.
“Which for two guys out in the Midwest is not bad,” he said with a smile.
Harvey acknowledged the concerns about competition between honeybees and native species but stressed the importance of conservation of all pollinators.
“We need to push to be understanding of what our pollinator loss is, and we need to be doing better by them,” he said.
Tom O’Connor is a graduate student in journalism with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, and a fellow in its Medill Illinois News Bureau working in partnership with Capitol News Illinois.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.