Every beekeeping operation — from a two-hive backyard setup to a 2,000-colony pollination business — carries a mix of biological, financial and operational hazards. A standard way to prioritise them is a risk matrix: plot each hazard by how likely it is to occur (1–5) against how severe the consequences would be (1–5). Risk score is simply likelihood × severity, and it sorts hazards into low (green), medium (amber) and high (red) bands so limited time and money go where they matter most.
Many beekeeping associations and insurers use exactly this 5×5 scoring approach in their apiary risk-assessment templates, because it turns a vague worry ("varroa is scary") into a comparable number that can be tracked before and after a mitigation plan is put in place.
An interactive 3D risk matrix that scores real beekeeping-operation hazards — disease, colony loss, theft, weather, liability and market price — by likelihood and severity, then shows how mitigation spending shrinks residual risk.
Risk score equals likelihood × severity, plotted on a 5×5 grid and colour-banded green/amber/red. Mitigation investment reduces effective likelihood, visualised as a translucent ghost bar shrinking toward the low-risk zone.
Pick a risk factor, drag its likelihood and severity sliders to reposition and resize its bar, then increase mitigation investment to watch the residual-risk ghost bar shrink. Toggle "Show all risk factors" to compare the whole apiary's risk profile.
Apiary risk-assessment templates used by beekeeping associations and insurers typically score hazards on this same 1–5 × 1–5 scale, turning vague worries into numbers that can be tracked before and after a mitigation plan.