The honey levy is rising by half a cent a pound in two steps, and of the forty comments against it exactly one came from somebody who pays it

Forty comments opposed the increase. One of them came from somebody who has to pay it.

The Agricultural Marketing Service filed a final rule on Friday morning lifting the assessment that funds the National Honey Board. From 1 September the rate goes from $0.015 to $0.0175 per pound of assessable honey and honey products, and on 1 January 2027 it reaches $0.02. It then stays there until it is modified or terminated.

The levy reaches first handlers and importers moving more than 250,000 pounds a year. Below that line nothing is owed, which is why most beekeepers never see it. AMS made exactly that point in answering the objections, noting that none of the 39 opposing commenters outside the Order indicated they were also a first handler.

The arithmetic

In the 2024 fiscal period, 95 importers and 34 first handlers paid a combined $8.96 million, split 81 percent to importers and 19 percent to handlers. At the full 2 cent rate, AMS estimates the increase adds $2.99 million a year, $2.42 million of it from importers and $567,782 from handlers.

Working the 2024 receipts back through the 1.5 cent rate gives 484.11 million pounds assessed on the import side and 113.56 million on the handler side. AMS took an average import price of $5.34 a pound from Customs entry data and, saying openly that little handler price data exists, used the same figure as a proxy for both. That puts the average assessed importer at $27.21 million of annual receipts and the average handler at $17.83 million, which places every single entity paying this levy under the $34 million Small Business Administration threshold.

Why now, and why Tuesday

The rate has moved once since the programme began in 2008, from a cent to a cent and a half in 2015. AMS puts inflation since then at 36 percent. The board also carries a standing drain on its budget, because certified organic honey is exempt but Customs collects on it regardless, so the board must hold money back to refund importers who claim it, through the fiscal year and 90 days into the next.

The board voted 9 to 1 for the increase on 25 October 2024. The rule publishes on Monday and the first step lands on Tuesday, and that date came from the only neutral comment in the docket. The National Honey Board itself wrote in to propose that if the original 1 June target slipped, the increase should take effect on the first day of the month following publication. AMS agreed and changed the date.