California bees got busy last year, producing 35 percent more honey than they did in 2007, according to an article in the Sacramento Bee over the weekend. The bee story cited USDA figures.

Despite the good news, the nation's beekeepers aren't out of the woods. Cases of what has been called Colony Collaspe Disorder are still reported, "but in most cases, here (in California), things are better," the story quoted UC Davis entomologist Eric Mussen.

Researchers are still trying to figure out what caused bees to abandon hives en masse two years ago, when honey production fell to its lowest point in 20 years.

Another factor that boosted honey production in 2008 was a strong market for honey - with the price up 37 percent to $1.41 a pound in California. The market likely drove some beekeepers to focus on honey production rather than hiring their hives out to farmers to pollinate crops, wrote Bee reporter Jim Downing.