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North Liberty - Bee populations have been in decline for several years, and it's not just a national trend.

For Dave Laney, beekeeping is not only a hobby, but a family business. His warehouse in New Liberty is stocked with hundreds of bottles of honey.

"Even in these bad economic times, our business is hanging in there because people like good honey," Laney said.

To keep up with demand, Laney counts on the hard-working honey bees more than ever as populations continue to drop.

"We have a product in high demand," said Laney. "We're concerned to be able to get that product."

Laney gave WSBT a tour of his property, which included a series of hives. With veils and gloves handy, he took us to one of his successful hives.

He showed us his efforts to help his bees survive the winter. Last winter, he lost more than half of his colonies.

It's a trend noticed around the region and the country.

"We're all losing bees, lots of bees," said beekeeper Jerry Shaw.

Shaw's collection once topped 600 hives. Now he's down to 200. He suspects Colony Collapse Disorder is responsible for the population decline.

"You'll generally have quite a bit of honey left, but there are no bees," Shaw said.

CCD, as it more commonly referred to, is the title given for the unexplained losses.

"We think the deaths are caused by viruses, parasitic mites, diseases and pesticide residue, or a combination of those things," said Michael Hansen of the Michigan Department of Agriculture. "The big problem is more colonies of bees are dying now than they did 10 or 20 years ago."

Everyone agrees that the losses bring uncertainty.

"It is going to affect long term honey prices, but also the price of fruits and vegetables and things like that,'" Laney said.

Beekeepers say the honey bee is very important to the local farming economy. Bees are used to pollinate apples, cherries, blueberries and a host of locally-grown vegetables.