Introduction
Honey is a natural product created by honeybees, a crucial species that pollinate plants by collecting nectar from millions of blossoms. Bees instinctively produce more honey than their colony requires, which beekeepers harvest for consumption. This traditional practice is mutually beneficial for bees and successful beekeeping businesses (Bush, 2020). After learning about the decline in the honeybee population, I wanted to take a deeper look into honey production in the U.S. Through my visualizations, I want to answer the following questions:
- How has honey production in the United States changed over time?
- Which states produce the most honey?
- What is the relationship between price and production?
Materials
Dataset
I used the U.S. Honey Production dataset from Kaggle. This dataset shows the honey production data from National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA) from 1991-2021.
Software
To visualize this data, I used Microsoft Excel to clean up my data and Tableau Public to create the data visualizations.
Methods
I selected the dataset for U.S. Honey Production because I found that it had multiple data columns with interesting variables such as the number of colonies, Stocks, production rate & value. I dataset was downloaded in CSV format from Kaggle and then further processed through Microsoft Excel to clean and refine the data.
Visualization 1: A line graph was created to how honey production in the United States has changed over time with the “Year” on the X-Axis and “Production in Millions” on the Y-Axis. The colors that were chosen for this visualization show that Deep Blue signifies the highest production rate.
Visualization 2: A map was created to show which state produced the most honey. The colors that were chosen for this visualization Brown and Burnt Orange show the states with the highest honey production rate.
Visualization 3: A dual-line graph was created to visualize the relationship between the price and the production of honey. A dual-line graph was chosen for representing the relationship between the price and the production of honey because it allows for the simultaneous display of two related variables on the same graph, making it easier to identify patterns and trends in the data. The color Blue signifies “Price”, and Orange signifies “Production”. The “Year” is on the X-Axis.
Results
The 1st visualization shows that honey production in the United States has been decreasing over time. The Y-axis indicates the honey production in millions, and it can be observed that the peak production was around 2000-2001 at approximately 240 million pounds. After this peak, there has been a general decline in honey production over time, with fluctuations from year to year. The decline in honey production could be attributed to various factors such as climate change, disease, and loss of habitat for honeybees.
The 2nd visualization shows the top honey-producing states in the United States. According to the visualization, North Dakota is the top honey-producing state, followed by South Dakota and California.
The 3rd visualization shows that there is a somewhat inverse relationship between the price and production of honey over the years. In other words, when the production of honey is high, the price tends to be lower and vice versa. This is shown by the way the two lines move in opposite directions over time.
Reflection
I found working with the honey production dataset to be an interesting and educational experience. It gave me an opportunity to analyze and visualize the trends and patterns of honey production over time, as well as the differences in honey production among different states in the U.S.
Using tools such as Tableau Public, helped me create interactive visualizations that allowed me to easily communicate the key findings of the dataset to a broad audience. Tableau’s user-friendly interface and interactive features make it easy to create and modify visualizations, allowing for a more dynamic and engaging presentation of data. Additionally, I also liked that sharing visualizations on Tableau Public is a great way to expand the reach of the insights, as the platform allows for easy sharing and embedding of visualizations across multiple platforms.
Based on the feedback I received, it seems that there were some areas of improvement in the 1st visualization. Regarding the line graph showing the changes in honey production over time, the feedback I received advised me to consider using a gradient to show a decrease over time. Originally the visualization didn’t have a gradient, but I feel after changing it became easier for viewers to distinguish the data by showing the decrease in honey production over time more clearly.
If I were to continue working on this project some potential areas to explore would be to investigate the impact of weather and climate on honey production and examine honey production in relation to other agricultural and economic indicators.
References
Bush, G. (2020, March 23). How you can keep bees from becoming endangered. The Ohio State University. Retrieved February 12, 2023, from https://www.osu.edu/impact/research-and-innovation/bee-population
Poudel, M. (2022, November 19). US Honey Production 1995-2021. Kaggle. Retrieved February 12, 2023, from https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/mohitpoudel/us-honey-production-19952021
Public.tableau.com. (n.d.). Retrieved February 26, 2023, from https://public.tableau.com/app/discover
Yahoo! (n.d.). The internet is officially obsessed with pictures of bumblebee butts. Yahoo! Retrieved February 12, 2023, from https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/internet-officially-obsessed-pictures-bumblebee-172711214.html