Apiculture is a federal insurance product that provides a safety net for beekeepers’ primary income sources.

The Risk Management Agency’s (RMA) Apiculture Pilot Insurance Program (API) provides a safety net for beekeepers’ primary income sources: honey, pollen collection, wax, and breeding stock. Apiculture systems consist of different types of plants or crops and often contain mixtures of different species, each with different growth habits and seasons, precipitation requirements, and other climate conditions necessary to maintain plant growth over extended periods of time. API was designed to provide maximum flexibility to cover these diverse situations.

The Rainfall Index uses National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Prediction Center (NOAA CPC) data, which utilizes a grid system. Each grid is 0.25 degrees in latitude by 0.25 degrees in longitude, which translates to approximately 17 by 17 miles at the equator. Colonies will be assigned to one or more grids based on the location to be insured. The program is available in the 48 contiguous states, with the exception of grids that cross any international borders.

Apiculture coverage is based on your selection of coverage level, index intervals, and productivity factor. Each index interval represents a two-month period. Coverage levels available range from 70 to 90 percent, and productivity factor values can be established between 60 and 150 percent of the county base value. The county base value is based on honey production and uses a five year rolling average of USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). The yield data is based off the NASS state average, and the price is the national average honey price for a given year.