In the Northern Great Plains of the United States, rangelands provide important forage resources for honey bees, while also supporting livestock production and biodiversity. Research conducted in eastern South Dakota in 2021 and 2022 examined how cattle grazing practices influence flowering plant communities and the health and productivity of honey bee colonies. Katya M. Busenitz, Ryan B. Schmid and Jonathan G. Lundgren, from the Ecdysis Foundation, compared regeneratively managed rangelands with continuously grazed pastures, working with 12 ranchers across 16 sites.

Regenerative management involved smaller paddocks, higher stocking densities, shorter grazing periods and longer intervals for vegetation recovery. Researchers monitored flowering plant abundance and species richness, plant biomass, hive weight gain, brood production and Varroa destructor mite infestation. Across the study sites, more than 176,000 flowers representing 142 plant taxa were recorded. Regeneratively managed rangelands supported significantly greater flowering plant species richness, averaging 40.5 species per site compared with 19.7 under continuous grazing. Flower abundance was also higher, while measured plant biomass did not differ significantly between management systems.

Honey bee colonies on regeneratively managed sites gained an average of 26.14 kg over the season, compared with 16.72 kg on continuously grazed sites. Greater minimum flowering plant richness was associated with higher colony weight gain, while greater plant biomass was associated with increased brood production and lower Varroa mite abundance. However, grazing management did not significantly affect brood abundance or mite infestation directly. Published in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems in May 2025, the research highlights the potential of regenerative grazing to support pollinator resources alongside livestock production, while noting that further research is needed to clarify the relationships observed.