Food will cost more if no one solves the mystery of the disappearing honeybees — and time is running out.

The situation has gone from bad to worse, Penn State honeybee researcher Maryann Frazier said Thursday.

“Beekeepers are on the edge,” she said. “They’ve done everything they can do for their bees and it’s just about killing them.”

Growers of everything from apples to almonds rent bee colonies to pollinate their crops.

For each of the past three years, about one third of established hives in the United States has inexplicably disappeared, Frazier said, usually in the winter.

Beekeepers respond by cosseting their remaining colonies with supplemental nutrition and extra sucrose to build them up. Then they divide them into new colonies to make up for the losses.

“This,” Frazier said, “is not sustainable in the long term. It’s too costly and labor intensive.”

So far, growers’ needs have been met, but some crops, like cucumbers, weren’t planted because the growers couldn’t be guaranteed the bees, said Penn State entomology professor Diana Cox-Foster.

Three weeks ago, Dave Hackenberg, of Lewisburg, and five colleagues struggled to meet their commitment of 10,000 hives to a major blueberry grower in Maine. They found they were 1,000 hives short and had to scramble for reserves.

“The problem,” said Hackenberg’s cousin and fellow beekeeper Jim Doan of Hamlin, N.Y., “is that at this point next year, there will be no reserves.”

Bob Geary, of Danville, said the loss of hives from November to April was 36 percent from Florida to Maine. Hobbyists, such as himself, haven’t been hit as hard, he said, but he believes the problem is critical because bees are vital to agriculture.

Doan said he has been a beekeeper for 40 years, since he was a kid. Four years ago he had 4,300 hives, he said, but 80 to 90 percent of them were lost to what has come to be known as CCD — Colony Collapse Disorder. No amount of effort could build his bee population back up to an economically viable level. He’s quitting.

In fact, many beekeepers may follow their bees into oblivion, but why will be no mystery at all.

When you have 4,300 hives you have equipment and a work force, Doan said. Now, there are no longer enough bees to justify employing people. What remains is mostly debt. With the high percentage of loss, and no solution in sight, banks aren’t lining up to offer loans, he said. He is trying to sell the business, but a buyer seems unlikely unless there’s a clear fix.

“We are in crisis mode,” said Cox-Foster, the Penn State entomology professor. If the losses keep increasing, there will not be enough bees to pollinate food plants, she said.