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WAXAHACHIE, Texas—Mark Brady has 320 million reasons to be concerned about colony collapse disorder.

With 8,000 beehives and 40,000 bees in each hive, the sudden disappearance of an alarming number of America’s honeybees has him concerned.

A lifelong resident of Waxahachie, Brady’s one of Texas’ top commercial beekeepers and president of the American Honey Producers Association.

“A few years ago, beekeepers all over the U.S. started losing more bees than they would normally lose. Every year, a 10-15 percent loss—that’s pretty normal,” he said.

“Some of these guys all of a sudden started losing 40 percent or 50 percent—some even higher than that. As it got more widespread all over the U.S., we realized we had some new problem we hadn’t had in the past,” Brady said.

His theory is that the disorder is actually a combination of things—a sort of Bermuda Triangle of conditions: diseases bees have had for years, like virus strains, and the Veroa mite that attaches itself like a tick and is said to be building up resistance to treatments that once worked like a charm. Add stress from being shuttled cross-country for work and pesticides that keep the plants pest-free, and maybe something’s got to give.

“I believe it has just become too much for the bees. You hear the bees just disappear—I don’t believe they’re disappearing. I believe the adult bees aren’t living as long as they used to. Their lifespan is being shortened and they die off when they’re in flight. They’re not getting back,” he said.

Average U.S. honey production has been about 200 million pounds in recent years. The year before last, that dropped to 155 million and, in 2007, it was 143 million, he said.

The drop cannot entirely be attributed to colony collapse disorder, Brady said. Drought plays a factor as well.

Last year, Brady was joined by others in the industry in Washington, where they testified before a House and Senate subcommittee.

“They asked us questions about what we thought was going on and what they could do to help,” he said.

The House Appropriations Committee approved $780,000 for research on colony collapse disorder and $10 million for bee research.

About 50 percent of Brady’s company’s income comes from renting the bees out for pollination service—and the other half from selling about a million pounds of honey to companies like Burleson Honey.

“There are 90 different crops in U.S. that have to be pollinated by bees or we don’t have that food,” Brady said.

Right now, some of his hives are in Nebraska and the rest are in the Houston area, gathering honey. In the winter, he will ship all his bees to California for almond pollination.

“We’ve got a loop we run,” he said.