• BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- Beekeepers in the nation's top honey-producing state are getting help through a product tied to a plant typically associated with beer.
• The federal government is once again allowing North Dakota beekeepers to use Hopguard pesticide -- made from an extract of the hop plant -- to control a pest thought to be connected to colony collapse disorder.
• "Left uncontrolled, varroa mites cause deep and widespread losses in bee colonies," Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring said. "They are the most serious pest problem facing beekeepers."
• Goehring successfully lobbied the federal Environmental Protection Agency to allow the use of Hopguard in North Dakota while the product made by Washington, D.C.-based BetaTec Hop Products is still going through the federal registration process.
• North Dakota has received a Hopguard exemption in each of the past four years. Other honey states also have successfully sought exemptions. South Dakota, another top honey-producing state, has received approval the past three years, according to its Agriculture Department.
• There are no concerns about the safety of the as-yet unregistered Hopguard because it's made from a natural product, said Jim Gray, director of the state Agriculture Department's pesticide and fertilizer division.
• "We requested the (exemption) to give our beekeepers as many tools in the toolbox as we can, in the hopes that they have something to control the mites," Gray said.
• Protecting the health of honeybees has become a prominent issue because of colony collapse disorder, which has caused as much as one-third of the nation's bees to disappear each winter since 2006. A federal report blames a combination of factors including mites, viruses, bacteria, poor nutrition, genetics, habitat loss and pesticides.
• Minot beekeeper Will Nissen said the availability of Hopguard is important to the industry because it is the only pesticide that is legal to use during actual honey production.
• "We've got a tool we can use during the summer," he said. "I think this really helps."
• North Dakota beekeepers last year produced about 34 million pounds of honey from about half a million colonies. The value of the honey crop was estimated at

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