This year's honey harvest is shaping up to be the worst in 70 years. Farmers say that due to a mild winter and an invasion of stink bugs, there ___25___ so few flowers this spring that bees are producing only ___26___ of last year's harvest. The shortage is so severe that it's forced the cancellation of Taiwan's largest honey-tasting event. A hive full of bees usually means a sweet treat is ___27___. Not this year. Honey production has been so low this season that Taiwan's biggest honey tasting event has been canceled. “I've ___28___ bees for 30 or 40 years. This year is the first time we haven't had the competition, and it's due to the bad harvest,” said a bee farmer. According to Council of Agriculture (COA), 2017 had held the record for Taiwan's worst honey harvest, with production at just over 6,000 metric tons. 2019 is shaping up to be much worse, with the annual harvest on track to reach only 1,000 metric tons. Warm temperatures this winter have disrupted the flowering cycle of lychee and longan plants, leaving bees ___29___ to find nectar. A second blow from an invasion of pests has pushed up honey prices to a record high. For the first time, the COA will pay farmers to feed their bees sugar water. ___30___ will be given for the sugar that's fed to the bees. It's a short-term solution, and it may not bring honey prices down for long.