Larry Rulison reports for the Albany Times Union that New York Senator Chuck Schumer was in Albany July 22 to protest the federal government's recent decision to stop collecting data on honey bees. New York farms sold $8.66 million in honey in 2017, Schumer said, so the United States Department of Agriculture's cost-cutting decision to stop collecting honey bee data and cancel an annual honey bee report used by farmers and others to gauge the health of the honey bee population doesn't make sense, he said. "They can't tell what's happened to the hives," Schumer said of New York farmers. "We all know many of our hives have been collapsing." Rene St. Jacques, assistant director for public policy for the New York Farm Bureau, said, "These losses not only impact honey bee producers and their livelihoods but the overall agricultural economy, as well as the sustainability of the New York state food system." Read more about this story in the Albany Times Union.