President Trump’s proposed budget would end funding of research for America’s bees coordinated by the U.S. Geological Survey Bee Lab. The budget proposal eliminates all $307 million in funding to the Ecosystem Management Area, a division within the USGS that funds biological research, including the Bee Lab.
The USGS Bee Lab is an interagency venture based out of Laurel, Maryland, that funds and conducts native bee research. It is the only agency in the federal government with the expertise to identify the more than 4,000 native bee species in the United States. It plays a vital role in protecting America’s imperiled pollinators.
“How can the administration make good on its promise to make America healthy again while cutting support for the bees that are essential to producing fruits and vegetables?” said Jess Tyler, a staff scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “As pollinator population declines get worse, we need to double down on research and protections for bees to ensure a healthy and affordable food supply.”
Native bees pollinate 75% of flowering plants, including fruit and vegetable crops that are important to a healthy diet. Through crop and wild plant pollination, native bees contribute $3 trillion to the global economy.
The Center says the Trump administration is following a proposal from Project 2025 to eliminate this program within the USGS. The administration states, “The budget eliminates programs that provide grants to universities, duplicate other federal research programs and focus on social agendas (e.g., climate change) to instead focus on achieving dominance in energy and critical minerals.”
“You can’t have an America first agenda if America can’t feed itself,” said Tyler. “I implore the Trump administration to reconsider its slashing of the Bee Lab’s budget. To ensure an abundant supply of food, we have to protect pollinators.”