https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/06/politics/honeybees-study-usda-donald-trump-budget-cuts/index.html Honeybees hit by Trump budget cuts Washington (CNN)The US Department of Agriculture has suspended data collection for its annual Honey Bee Colonies report, citing cost cuts -- a move that robs researchers and the honeybee industry of a critical tool for understanding honeybee population declines, and comes as the USDA is curtailing other research programs. It's also another step toward undoing President Barack Obama's government-wide focus on protecting pollinators, including bees and butterflies, whose populations have plummeted in recent years. The annual survey, which started in 2015, gathers data on the number of honeybees per state by quarter, including those being lost with symptoms of colony collapse disorder, an issue that's made honeybees a darling of environmentalists and climate activists. It is at least the third bee-related dataset to be suspended under the current administration. "The decision to suspend data collection was not made lightly, but was necessary given available fiscal and program resources," according to a notice posted by the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Survey. The USDA would not provide a figure for how much the agency was saving by discontinuing the survey. The suspension is "temporary," according to a USDA spokesperson, who did not say when or if it would be resumed. This year's report, scheduled to be released in August, will only include part-year data. Outside groups that have been critical of the administration see the move as another way to undermine federal research. "This is yet another example of the Trump administration systematically undermining federal research on food safety, farm productivity, and the public interest writ large," said Rebecca Boehm, an economist at the Union of Concerned Scientists. The USDA recently announced plans to relocate key research units from Washington, DC, to Kansas City over the objections of employee unions, who say the changes are triggering an exodus of experts from the agency. The move covers bee industry researchers. The union that represents one of the research units says employees must decide by July 15 whether to relocate.