1. United States
2. Mass.
3. Letter

The USDA’s Beltsville Agricultural Research Center has been the go-to resource for American beekeepers for over a century. When 1.6 million bee colonies collapsed between June 2024 and March 2025, scientists there worked quickly to find out why. Six months later, they had an answer it was a viruses spread by pesticide-resistant mites. The Trump administration announced it was closing the lab. Their reasoning is the facility is “underutilized and redundant.” Bees pollinate roughly 80% of U.S. crops fruits, nuts, vegetables, cotton. The research happening at Beltsville isn’t “underutilized and redundant.” It’s what stands between a bad season and a food supply crisis. And the administration just shut it down right after it proved exactly why it exists. Members of Maryland’s congressional delegation say the closure may be illegal without congressional approval. Farm groups are pushing back. But the administration is moving forward anyway. This isn’t about budget efficiency. It’s about dismantling the federal science infrastructure that protects American agriculture one “redundant” lab at a time just like the Trump administration claimed about the forest service! You must stop this now!