Burning Questions
Fellowship Award Winners

Maggie Shanahan

Location: Mexico
Primary academic field: Entomology
Award category: PhD Holder

Guidance Memo

• Title: Building resilient beekeeping systems: Actionable insights from Chiapas, Mexico.
• How to cite: Maggie Shanahan. Building resilient beekeeping systems: Actionable insights from Chiapas, Mexico. Tiny Beam Fund, 5 August 2025, https://doi.org/10.15868/socialsector.45027.
• What We Learned From It: In order to support honey bee health, stop escalating honey bee colony loss worsened by industrialization, and find alternatives to industrial beekeeping, beekeepers must work collectively to build resilient beekeeping practices as well as systems. Chiapas provides an example of beekeepers opting out of inputs-intensive practices which lead to industrialization.
  • Industrial beekeeping harms honey bee health and resilience. It also spreads pathogens that jeopardize wild bees and native ecosystems. Industrialization of beekeeping and agriculture is a key contributor to recent rapid escalation of bee colony loss.
  • Beekeeping industrialization takes place when inputs-intensive practices are applied at scale. Gargantuan beekeeping operations are not the only ones responsible for industrial beekeeping. Small-scale beekeepers can also play a role in industrialization when they focus on input-intensive practices.
  • It is very important to understand that a beekeeping system is comprised of a huge and extensive network of bees and beekeepers who are highly connected to - and deeply impact - each other. Honey bee colonies are closely linked together. That is why it is not enough to only improve practices of individual beekeepers. A systems approach is required in order to build true resilience and make a real difference.
  • When a beekeeping system is resilient, bee colonies do not have to always rely on interventions from beekeepers in order to survive.
  • Building resilient beekeeping systems in Mexico is critical now. Bee colonies in some parts of Mexico are beginning to see colony losses similar to the alarming rates in the U.S., and input-intensive practices are becoming more common.
  • But there are also many beekeepers in Chiapas that opt-out of inputs-intensive practices and resist pressures to industrialize. They can offer valuable insights. And they are not alone. "Alternatives to industrial beekeeping have always existed and continue to prosper in many parts of the world."

Links

• Read the Guidance Memo
• Read the Annotated Bibliography

Some of the Things We Really Liked when We Read the Application:

• The focus on honey bees reminds one that the industrial system /model of farming animals to produce food for humans extends beyond the common species such as pigs and chickens.
• The applicant has over a decade of actual on-farm beekeeping experience in the U.S. and Mexico, and is aware first-hand of the expansion of beekeeping industrialization in Mexico.