Optimal Control Strategies for Beekeepers: Managing Mite Infestations in Honeybee Colonies

D. Adeline Yeh, Xiaoli Fan and Elizabeth Walsh

No 404745, 2026 Annual Meeting, July 26 - 28, 2026, Kansas City, Missouri from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: Honeybee pollination services are essential to U.S. specialty crop production, yet maintaining colony health has become increasingly challenging due to Varroa mite infestations and rising miticide resistance. We develop a long-term bioeconomic model that characterizes a commercial beekeeper’s optimal management strategy while endogenizing the evolution of miticide resistance. Preliminary results indicate that miticide resistance reduces a beekeeper’s lifetime economic value by roughly 19%, and it generates additional social welfare losses that could be mitigated through coordinated policy intervention. This framework advances the economics of pollination markets and pest management by quantifying the private and social costs of resistance. The findings inform ongoing discussions about optimal beekeeper management, the welfare implications of resistance dynamics, and the potential economic benefits of adopting Varroa-resistant honeybee stocks.

Keywords: Resource; /Energy; Economics; and; Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaea26:404745

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.404745

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