Two pending endangered species listings for pollinators can have major impacts on the almond industry as many almond growers have added pollinator forage such as blooming cover crops, hedgerows and floral strips to add value to their operation. Josette Lewis, Almond Board of California chief scientific officer, said 2023 will be a decisive year for the endangered listing of the monarch butterfly and native bees in California, which leads to questions for growers. However, work is underway to protect producers if this happens and Lewis took some time to answer those questions.

Q – What is the status of the monarch butterfly being listed as an endangered species?

Lewis – A couple of years ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made the decision that monarch butterflies were warranted as an endangered species, but they had other priorities at the time. So, while it was not going to be listed, they are required by law to revisit that decision by the end of this calendar year.

Q – If they do get listed as endangered, what does that mean for an almond grower? 

Lewis – It means a couple of things:

The first is that a lot of almond growers have stepped up and added pollinator forage, flower resources and habitat to their farms and land around their farms. We’ve seen a great response in terms of the number of growers who have registered as Bee Friendly Farms, who are putting in flowering cover crops, and working with organizations like Monarch Joint Venture to specifically put in monarch habitat around their ranches. Several handlers are working with growers on pollinator habitat too, as it has value to some almond buyers.

For those growers who have stepped up, we want to make sure that they are protected if the monarch is listed as an endangered species. So, if they accidentally harm the caterpillars or the butterflies themselves, we want to make sure that they are not breaking the law because they’ve done such a good job of adding that forage into their operation.

The other issue, on an industry level, is that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – who has to approve every crop production product our industry can use – was also mandated by law to increase their review of the potential negative impacts of pesticides on endangered species.

We know that if the monarch is listed, some of the products we use when they come up for re-registration, or any new products that are developed and need to be registered, will have extra scrutiny for their potential impact and could involve more restrictions on the use of those products.

Q – So it sounds like this could be a legal concern for growers and a bigger concern of more regulation on certain products if the monarch gets listed as endangered. What is ABC doing to address these two concerns? 

Lewis – We’ve been working with the Almond Alliance of California, other California agricultural interest groups, and some conservation groups who have been valuable partners of the California almond industry to negotiate a conservation agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that would protect growers who have monarch habitat if they accidentally harm any of those monarch butterflies or larvae.

The way those agreements work is that we have to show that there’s a net benefit to the pollinators. Things like adding flowers and habitat for monarch butterflies, and in exchange for doing those good things, in this agreement you’re then protected if you accidentally harm monarchs.

Also, as part of those negotiations, we are including the kind of practices that reduce risks of crop protection products and try to demonstrate that we can use those safely and still have a net benefit to monarch butterflies.

Q – “Net benefit” seems like the important term in this conversation. ABC grower-funded research has already been completed in this realm and showed pollinator gains from increased habitat outweighs the risk. Can you explain that?  

Lewis – That’s right. ABC funded research with a native bee expert at UC Davis, which was published last year, showed that when farmers add floral strips – such as wildflower strips, part of a hedge row or just wildflowers near the outside the orchard – the added food for native bees helps protect those bees from the impacts of pesticide exposure. So, there is a net benefit to those native bees.

This research provides good, peer-reviewed and science-based evidence that shows these kinds of activities we have seen many growers in our industry do have a net benefit.

Q – ABC and partners are already addressing these concerns, which is good because more and more growers and handlers are utilizing this practice, right?

Lewis – A lot of growers have been looking at cover crop and adding that into their orchard management. This year in particular, I heard a grower who planted cover crops talk about how the water didn’t stay standing in their orchards back in early spring when we had so much rain, rather that the water infiltrated and drained much more quickly.

There are agronomic benefits from the practice that are worth considering, in addition to benefits to pollinators. And adding more permanent habitat outside the orchard is another area where a number of our handlers in the industry have seen a market value. Buyers want to know that they have a supply chain of almonds that allows biodiversity and a healthy ecosystem on the farm. Some handlers have really leaned in with their growers and are encouraging those kinds of practices, and that’s added certain value to both growers and handlers.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Pending Endangered Listings: What Growers Need to Know (almonds.com)

Harvest 2023 expected to be down 3 percent from last year after a stormy bloom.

MODESTO, Calif. – The 2023 California Almond Subjective Forecast published Friday by the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA-NASS) estimates that the crop harvested in 2023 will come in at 2.50 billion pounds, 3 percent below last year’s 2.57 billion pounds.

Forecasted yield is 1,810 pounds per acre, down 90 pounds from 2022 and the lowest since 2005.

“A lower crop estimate was not unexpected considering all that growers dealt with last year and during this year’s bloom,” said Richard Waycott, president and CEO of the Almond Board of California (ABC). “The cold, wet weather kept bees in their hives and reduced the hours they could pollinate orchards. In the past three years, growers have faced high costs, shipping issues, drought and more. But the water picture is better, at least for this year, shipping continues at record levels and global demand continues to grow. California’s almond farmers are prepared to meet that global demand.”

The report said: “Record rainfall and unprecedented stormy conditions impacted pollination. Limited bee flight hours were reported in all growing regions. There were reports of downed trees due to high winds and oversaturated soil. Yields are expected to be the lowest in years, with variation observed across varieties and orchard locations. Colder than normal temperatures continued through March and April, resulting in a delayed crop.”

The Subjective Forecast is the first of two production reports from USDA-NASS for the coming crop year. It is an estimate based on opinions from a survey conducted from April 19 to May 6 of 500 randomly selected California almond growers. The sample of growers, which changes every year, is spread across regions and different sized operations, and they had the option to report their data by mail, online or phone.

On July 7, USDA-NASS will release its second production estimate, the 2023 California Almond Objective Report, which is based on actual almond counts in nearly 1,000 orchards using a more statistically rigorous methodology to determine yield.

This Subjective Forecast comes two weeks after USDA-NASS released the 2022 California Almond Acreage Report which found total almond acreage had dropped in 2022 to 1.63 million, 1.2 percent down from 1.65 million in 2021. It also estimated 1.38 million bearing acres in 2023, up from 2022’s estimate of 1.35 million bearing acres.

USDA-NASS conducts the annual Subjective Forecast, Objective Report and Acreage Report to provide the California almond industry with the data needed to make informed business decisions. These reports are the official industry crop estimates.

For More Information

Rick Kushman
Media Relations Manager
Almond Board of California
rkushman@almondboard.com
(916) 716-9900

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: USDA Forecasts Smaller Almond Crop (almonds.com)

Beekeepers Larry Gresham, Chris Willis and David Donovan of Strachan Apiaries in Sutter County check on bee boxes placed in an almond orchard in Colusa County. Honeybees from all over the country are used to pollinate the state’s 1.64 million acres of almond trees. (Courtesy) By CHING LEE | AgAlert

Even after a bruising year of lower earnings, crop losses and soaring production costs, California almond growers may not be willing to cut corners pollinating their trees this season.

That’s good news for beekeepers who rent their hives to pollinate crops and whose insects rely on blossoming almond trees as the winter’s first major source of pollen to build their colonies.

About 90% of all U.S. honeybees are in California this time of year pollinating the nuts, according to UC Davis. The pollinators come from all over the country, as there are not enough local bees to cover the state’s 1.64 million acres of almond trees. Farmers usually use about two colonies per acre.

But with state almond acreage down for the first time in 25 years and some 60,400 acres removed as of last summer, “there was a lot of talk” about whether there would be an oversupply of bees this season and whether beekeepers would need to lower prices, said Philip Russell of Strachan Apiaries in Sutter County.

Market prices for almonds have been largely unprofitable for growers during the past three years as exports fell due to shipping challenges and inflation pushed production costs to record levels. Water shortages due to the multiyear drought added to growers’ problems, with some abandoning orchards and ripping out trees.

Growers are looking for ways to cut costs, Russell said, and some may be shopping around for lower-priced bees. But he noted his operation didn’t lose any accounts this year and has gotten inquiries from growers looking for bees.

“I don’t think much has changed. I think the demand is still there,” said Russell, who serves as president of the California State Beekeepers Association.

The season may have started out with extra bees, said Imperial County beekeeper Brock Ashurst, but the surplus appears to have evaporated. He said he gets calls “every day from someone looking for bees.” He said some colonies may not have been as robust as first thought, and now some growers are scrambling to add bees to shore up orchards with weaker hives.

Ashurst noted his operation is down by about a thousand colonies this year. Even with orchard removals, he said other trees are coming into production, and that has held up overall demand for bees.

Because of the symbiotic relationship they have with almond growers, beekeepers say they are aware of the economic challenges their clients face. For this reason, Ashurst said he decided to keep his prices the same as last year—at $195 per hive. He noted beekeepers he knows also have not raised prices, even though their own expenses have gone up, with fuel and labor being two of the highest.

“I think everyone understands the pressure that the almond growers are going through right now,” Ashurst said. “We depend on them a lot, so we understand what they’re facing.”

Though there has been “very little” tree removal among his clients, Tulare County beekeeper Steve Godlin said he did lose business in a few orchards this year, but his growers have maintained their bee stocking rate. All his bees have been rented, with 14,000 hives sitting in orchards since before Valentine’s Day. Almond pollination is expected to wrap up around March 15.

Godlin started the season with about a $32,000 loss after 84 of his hives were stolen. He lamented how bee thefts have now become a yearly problem for beekeepers. Even though he uses GPS trackers in his equipment, there’s not nearly enough to cover all of it. He estimated he’s lost some 600 hives to theft in 46 years in business.

“People are trying to be on the lookout, but it’s like a needle in a haystack with that many acres of trees all up and down the state,” Godlin said.

With the winter rains the state has received, Godlin said he’s hopeful there will be enough forage and wildflowers to make a decent honey crop this year. He said he’s also hoping the price of honey will stay up, as a good crop and higher prices would help offset his “sky high” input costs.

Due to the current economics of almonds and ongoing water restrictions, Greg Meyers, who farms in western Fresno County, said he sees “lots and lots of acres” around him that are being removed or have been removed. He said growers in his area are definitely cutting back on bees this year, among other costs. He himself has been removing older blocks of almonds since 2020, and this year he’s letting another 300 acres go by not putting out any bees.

“Looking at the market, why farm to lose money?” he said.

Despite water-allocation improvements announced by government water officials last week, Meyers said the 35% of contracted water supplies is still “not nearly enough to farm a crop on.” He noted buying water on the open market last year cost almost $2,000 an acre-foot, which was unaffordable when he was earning $1.20 per pound for his almonds.

He said he’s trying to cut costs, and one area where he’s managed to save some money is in orchards where he planted Shasta almonds, a self-pollinating variety that requires fewer bees. He said he still places one to one-and-a-half hives per acre on those blocks, as “you get one shot at pollination.” On his traditional varieties, he typically uses three hives per acre, but he reduced them this year to two-and-a-half hives on older blocks.

Fresno County grower Jamie Bledsoe, who farms in Riverdale, said he has not yet had to cut back on water because his farm has good access to groundwater. His biggest problem, he said, is with almond prices, which have dropped to “below profitable levels.”

He said he’s “doing the bare minimum to get by” on inputs, but he has continued the practice of using two to two-and-a-half hives per acre for pollination. After losing 8% to 12% of his crop last year from the freeze, he said he’s trying to protect yields as much as he can, including applying fungicide before the rain last week.

“Everything looks really good right now, so we’ve just got to see how the bloom goes and how well the bees fly,” he said. “We’ll know in a month or so.”

Ray Henriques, farming manager for Stewart and Jasper Orchards, an almond grower and processor in Stanislaus County, said the company also has not changed its approach to pollination and is sticking with the recommended two hives per acre.

“Yield is the key,” he said. “Our first responsibility is to produce as many almonds as we can.”

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Almond farmers not skimping on bees – Daily Democrat

Almond production is a prime example of the critical role pollinators play in our fragile food system. California’s Central Valley produces 80% of the world’s almonds and growers are dependent on honeybees to provide pollination for this important crop.  Bees are shipped from all over the country to provide pollination services, valued at an estimated $25 million annually.

For the first time in 25 years, orchard space actually decreased but in spite of a reduction of approximately 60,000 acres, a shortage of bees during bloom will certainly impact crop yield in 2023.  Predictions earlier this year indicated the acreage reduction could lead to an surplus of bees, causing prices to drop for hive rentals. Instead, it seems that beekeepers continue to struggle with significant losses and are struggling to keep up with demand even at a reduced level.  Low-level chronic exposure to pesticides is linked to bee decline, and in the early spring, these weakened colonies are more susceptible to pathogens and parasites as they struggle to regain vigor and health after overwintering.  Although there is a significant body of scientific evidence proving that neonicotinoids are responsible for pollinator losses, regulatory agencies continue to permit their use, creating a more fragile food system and causing food insecurity.

As beekeeper Dave Hackenberg explains, “Looking at bees all across the country, it’s not just a problem with the bees that overwintered in Florida or Texas or California, it’s not just a problem for bees out of controlled climate winter storage facilities. It’s a nationwide problem that goes back to what they were exposed to over the summer, with nearly 200 million acres planted in corn, cotton, and soybeans which are big users of systemic chemicals. Last summer the bees were stressed by exposure to pesticides, they carried it into the colony where they continued to be contaminated by it and were weakened over the winter.  We put them in almonds where they needed to grow fast and build numbers but their bodies were in bad shape.  A week or so after placing them in orchards, the bees just stopped flying. Calls started pouring in, folks looking for replacement bees but there were none.”

Liz Blossom

Source: Altayb / Getty Images

1. Almonds
> Annual production:4 billion pounds (US)

The almond is not actually a nut but a drupe, a fleshy fruit with thin skin that usually contains a seed like a peach or an olive. It is valued around the world for its nutritive value. The United States leads the world in almond production, with California the only state that grows almonds for commercial production.

Almond trees need to be cross-pollinated to produce, and bees provide this service — a lot of bees, since each almond requires up to a dozen visits to the almond flower.

Source: aluxum / Getty Images

2. Apples
> Annual production:240 million bushels (US)

Apples are an iconic staple of the American diet. According to the U.S. Apple Association, apple production is a $4 billion a year industry that creates an additional $15 billion in economic activity. In the United States, 7,500 farmers on 322,000 acres of land produce 240 million bushels of apples a year.

Though apple growing is heavily dependent on honey bee management, scientists have shown that the presence of wild bees increases production, underscoring the benefits of biodiversity in agriculture.

Source: Professor25 / Getty Images

3. Apricots
> Annual production:129.8 million pounds (US)

Apricots are mainly grown in Turkey and Iran where they are extremely popular. American apricots are produced primarily in California and are ready for harvest in early summer. Because they are delicate and do not travel well, they are less popular than their stone fruit cousins — peaches, nectarines, and plums.

Like other stone fruits, apricots are self-pollinating but are much more productive with cross-pollination and the help of bees. Because apricots bloom early in spring, bees may not be as available for pollination due to weather and lack of forage. Apricot trees then either rely on self-pollination or the intervention of other pollinators — flies, butterflies, wasps, and birds.

Source: SEE D JAN / Getty Images

4. Avocado
> Annual production:440 million pounds (US)

The United States is second only to Mexico in the production of avocados, with 90% grown in California, and the remainder mainly in Florida and Hawaii. Every year, about 400 million pounds are grown in California by 5,000 farmers.

Because individual avocado trees produce thousands of both male and female functioning flowers, they are theoretically self-pollinating, but nature has contrived a system that encourages cross fertilization. Male and female flowers open and close at different times, necessitating the intervention of pollinators — mainly bees — for successful propagation.

Source: JulARTe / Getty Images

5. Blueberries
> Annual production:690 million pounds (US)

After strawberries, blueberries are the most popular berry in America, and are native to North America. Blueberries have grown in popularity in recent years perhaps also because of their reputation as one of the so-called “superfoods.” They are nutritious, containing vitamin C, potassium, phosphorus, iron, fiber, and antioxidants.

Blueberry pollination requires a lot of heavy lifting on the part of bees. Each plant can produce thousands of flower buds, and every bud produces 16 flowers, each a potential blueberry with successful pollination. Many types of native bees are up to the task but are usually augmented by honey bees for commercial production.

To see the other Honey Bee Dependent Crops go to;

Crops That Would Be Most Affected If Honey Bees Disappeared – Page 2 – 24/7 Wall St. (247wallst.com)

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Crops That Would Be Most Affected If Honey Bees Disappeared – Page 2 – 24/7 Wall St. (247wallst.com)

The Seeds for Bees enrollment period has officially opened and growers now have an opportunity to apply. Enrollment is open now through August 31, however seed availability is limited so growers are encouraged to apply early. The Almond Board of California (ABC) has been instrumental in funding the program, which has been improved this year to provide even more support to growers.

“If you’re awarded that first-year program, you’re going to get up to $2,500 worth of free seed off of your overall seed purchase,” said Rory Crowley, Director of Habitat Programs at Project Apis m. and manager of the Seeds for Bees Program. “Those second-year awardees will get up to $2,000 worth of free seed of their overall purchase. So, we’re excited about that.”

The Seeds for Bees program provides cover crop mixes to farmers to help develop additional habitat for bees and other pollinators. Almond growers have been especially responsive to the program, accounting for 72 percent of all awardees last year with 143 new almond growers participating. California growers planted more than 12,580 acres of cover crops last year and Crowley said they intend to grow that number further. “We’re trying to get 15,000 cover crop acres planted this year and we think we’re going to be able to do that,” Crowley noted.

There are a total of five cover crop mixes available through the program. Along with providing critical habitat to support pollinators, cover crops can also support better soil health and water infiltration. ABC has resources available such as Best Management Practices for cover crops, to help growers maximize the benefits that can be achieved. Crowley said that the application process for the Seeds for Bees program has been streamlined to make it easier to enroll. Program information along with enrollment applications are available online.

https://agnetwest.com/almond-update-seeds-for-bees-program-providing-additional-support-this-year/

Rabobank’s food and agribusiness research arm suggests that the worst may still be on the horizon.

Todd Fitchette

After years of profitable crops, an oversupply of almonds borne by international tariffs, shipping constraints and enthusiastic planting may be leading the industry to an extended downturn.

The Almond Board of California’s position report from January reveals the bleeding. Rabobank’s food and agribusiness research arm suggests that the worst may still be on the horizon as export numbers year-over-year have fallen by double-digit percentage points.

David Magana, senior analyst for RaboResearch Food and Agribusiness, says if this year’s export numbers don’t turn around, the industry could face a record 900-million-pound carry-out at the end of the marketing year. The Almond Board of California uses an Aug. 1- to-July 31 marketing year, which conveniently coincides with the general start of almond harvest.

This portends a lengthy period of poor producer prices as the industry struggles with shipping constraints beyond its control.

The industry is already dealing with a heavy carry-in of 608 million pounds, or roughly 20% of last year’s production. A 900-million-pound excess of unsold nuts going into the next marketing year could be as much as one-third of California’s annual production. Year-to-date crop receipts are 2.83 billion pounds.

Bearish exports

With a 3.35-billion-pound supply of almonds to sell globally this year, the double-digit downfall in shipments does not bode well for the industry, according to David Magana, senior analyst for RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness.

Exports across the Americas are down 15% on average, with shipments to countries like Peru down 75% and Brazil down 67%.

Asia’s large and growing markets are likewise down significantly. Shipments to China, Japan and Hong Kong are down 14% as exports to central Asia, including India, down 23%. Exports to Europe were down 26% in January, year-over-year.

Domestic shipments were flat in January.

This news comes on the tails of a 2020/21 marketing year that saw record exports of over two billion pounds of almonds on total shipments of 2.89 billion pounds

Except for last January, monthly almond exports in the 2020/21 marketing year were higher than ever.

August of this year saw record exports of nearly 141 million pounds, or 10.8% above the same month the previous year.

U.S. almond exports down double-digits (farmprogress.com)

Nature’s Perfect Duo

When almonds trees bloom, bees get their first food source from our orchards’ nutritious pollen. While bees are only with us for two months of the year as they pollinate the crop, we work to support their health for all twelve.

We’ve been leading bee health research efforts since 1995, so farmers can confidently provide safe habitats that allow them to leave stronger to pollinate other crops. In collaboration with partners beyond our industry, our Honey Bee Best Management Practices serve as a guide to all of agriculture for protecting pollinator health on-farm.

What’s more, we’re working with others to solve the complex set of challenges bees’ face because we know by partnering together, we can find real solutions. Because without bees, there would be no almonds.

Almond Trees need cross-pollination, and honey bees help move pollen from tree to tree, setting the crop.

Bee Hives consistently leave almond orchards stronger than when they came in because with natural occurring compounds like amygdalin, almond pollen is very nutritious to bees and is their first natural food source of the year.^{1, 2}

• 33 percent of our global food production relies on pollinators.
• 90 U.S. crops pollinated by commercial honey bees each year.
• 125+ Almond Board-funded honey bee health research projects to date.
• 1995: The year we created the Honey Bee Health Taskforce to specifically to specifically fund research to improve bee health.

Honybee hive(BigBlueStudio)

By ED BOLING / The Packer

California grows 1.5 million acres of almonds, and every spring, all of that acreage must be pollinated.

With almond blossoms being a rich source of food for honeybees, it’s a natural symbiotic relationship. The problem in California is that there aren’t enough bees to pollinate such a large number of almond trees.

To help mitigate this problem, the state imported roughly 2.1 million beehives for the 2021 almond pollination. Assuming each hive contains roughly 20,000 worker bees, this comes out to 42 billion bees. Hive imports will likely increase in 2022, as more almond acreage enters bearing age, according to Jacob Wenger, assistant professor of entomology at California State University, Fresno.

There are several reasons for the gap in honeybees to pollinate almond orchards. One reason has to do with the growth of the almond industry. California’s climate also plays a role, as does crop diversity.

“With the boom in almond planting, demand has skyrocketed and more hives have had to be imported,” Wenger said. “On the flip side, it is challenging to increase hive supply in California due to the state’s Mediterranean climate, which limits the availability of floral resources in the summer and fall. Another issue is increased agricultural intensification, which has led to less crop diversity, again reducing the availability of flowers for honeybees to feed upon.”

That being the case, the number of imported hives the state needs is five times greater than its own hive population.

“It’s recommended to use two hives per acre during pollination. So, for the California almond crop, 3 million beehives are recommended,” said Josette Lewis, chief scientific officer at the California Almond Board.  “Unfortunately, only about half a million beehives exist in California. The rest must be imported.”

Almond trees must be pollinated, and they produce a lot of nectar that feeds the honeybees.

“The honeybees are only in almond orchards for four to six weeks, although they spend several months in the state. They’re imported in November and December. Beekeepers house the bees so they can adjust to the California climate,” Lewis said. “Then, they are moved to almond orchards around early February when blossom season begins. Finally, once their work is done, many of the honeybees are shipped back across the U.S.”

The return home is still triggered by nature, after the almond bloom is over.

“Most hives will leave shortly after almond petal drop in mid to late March,” Wenger said. “This is because outside of the bloom season, almond orchards are a veritable food desert for honeybees with little to no flowering plants for them to forage on.”

Not all bees return to their home states, though. Some will move north to the state of Washington to assist in the pollination of apples, pears and cherries, according to Buzz Landon, president of the California State Beekeepers Association.

A small number of hives will stay in California for a few months to pollinate other smaller acreage crops, such as stone fruits, cane berries, apples, melons, squash and seed crops, Wenger said.

About 40% of commercial beehives travel to the upper Midwest because of the natural prairie grasses and conservation farms in those states, which provide the honeybees with a variety of forage. Just like humans, honeybees, Lewis said.

As it turns out, the journey also boosts the honeybee population.

“Many beekeepers double their hives during the almond pollination,” Lewis said. “Most hives are less active in winter. They’re not growing as hives. The hives come out stronger from almond blossom.”

• BY JOHN COX jcox@bakersfield.com

Thieves stole 144 bee hives in the Wasco area this weekend, two weeks before the bloom is expected to begin in most of the Central Valley.

• Photo courtesy of Commercial Beekeepers

Bee rustlers are back — just in time for the almond bloom, naturally — and with them have come growing concerns that the annual uptick in stolen hives isn’t improving and may be getting worse.

One hundred forty-four hives were stolen in the Wasco area just this weekend, two full weeks before the bloom is expected to begin in most of the Central Valley. Thieves have since taken 384 more colonies in Mendocino County.

Bee theft happens to some degree every year lately, and it has prompted a new level of coordination among beekeepers. In some cases, they’re insisting almond growers take on some responsibility for protecting bee colonies placed in their orchards.

“It is such a shame that we have to deal with this when facing so many other obstacles in the ag industry,” Associate Director Brooke Palmer of the California State Beekeepers Association said by email Wednesday.

She noted colonies of bees, or hives, are renting for about $190 to $215 each this year ahead of the Central Valley almond pollination expected to start around Feb. 12 and run through the first week in March.

Colonies rented for no more than $40 apiece 20 years ago. Their run-up in prices speaks to factors including drought, colony die-offs and higher bee-feeding costs, not to mention the trend of more almond trees being planted that need pollination.

Beekeeper Ryan Maxwell with T&D Honey, the South Dakota company whose hives were stolen over the weekend near Wasco, said Wednesday the detectives he spoke with about the crime indicated the problem of hive theft is becoming more problematic. But he was optimistic people at the Kern County Sheriff’s Office were on the case.

“They’re doing more than just paperwork, and I appreciate that,” Maxwell said, adding that the 144 hives stolen represent 12 percent of the company’s business.

KCSO Public Information Officer Danielle Kernkamp confirmed the agency is investigating Maxwell’s case. She expressed concern about the rate of thefts reported so far this year.

“It has been a big problem for us already this year around the county,” she said. “If anyone has info on this, please give KCSO a call.”

To read the complete article go to; Hive thefts rise ahead of almond bloom | News | bakersfield.com

Chemical concerns after mass bee kill in Australian Almond Pollination

By Cara Waters

Geelong beekeeper John Edmonds used to take his bee hives up to the Sunraysia region on the Murray River every winter to help pollinate the almond farms.

It’s a well-travelled route for beekeepers, with over 277,000 hives placed on almond orchards across Australia during blossom season from August to September each year.

However, Mr Edmonds has kept his bees at home for the past five years, deterred by the low prices paid by almond farmers to beekeepers and by the impact of the pesticides and fungicides used on the almond farms on his bees.

Beekeepers are concerned about the impact of chemicals on almond farms. CREDIT:MADELINE BEGLEY

“When we first used to go up 25 years [ago], the bees would go in and they’d come out quite strong,” he said. “But in recent years they have been using more and more chemicals that are detrimental to the bees. I’d come home and for three months after your bees aren’t very good and I like to produce honey that is clean and green and no chemicals, so I decided it wasn’t worth it.”

The use of chemicals may have resulted in a mass bee kill on two almond farms in the Sunraysia region this blossom season where millions of bees died.

One beekeeper, who did not want to be identified because he has been threatened with legal proceedings by an almond farmer, said he arrived at one of the farms to pick up his bees in September and found most of them were dead.

“There were piles of dead bees when I arrived, I’m not the only one, there are 30 or 40 beekeepers, which means thousands of hives,” he said. “In a world where insects are some of the most important little creatures in pollinating and providing our food, this sort of damage on this monoculture is just not acceptable.”

Agriculture Victoria has collected samples of dead bees found near a hive at an almond orchard in the Sunraysia region which are being tested for a range of pesticides.

A spokeswoman for Agriculture Victoria said an estimated 277,000 beehives were moved to the Sunraysia region for the 2021 almond pollination season and having such high hive density comes with some biosecurity disease risk.

“As the matter is currently under investigation it is inappropriate to make further comment,” the spokeswoman said. “All complaints received by the department are taken seriously and investigated as appropriate and in accordance with departmental procedures.”

Maximum penalties for chemical misuse offences can be more than $72,000 for a corporation, or $36,000 in any other case

What’s happened in Sunraysia is a familiar story around the world.

In the United States, beekeepers who send their hives to the almond farms have seen their bees die in record numbers with The Guardian reporting 50 billion bees – more than seven times the world’s human population – wiped out in a few months during winter 2018-19.

Beekeepers attribute the high mortality rate to pesticide exposure, diseases from parasites and habitat loss, but environmentalists and organic beekeepers are concerned about the almond industry’s mechanization of one of nature’s most delicate natural processes.

Australia’s $1.8 billion almond industry is booming driven by our thirst for almond milk and the growth in plant-based eating and non-dairy alternatives.

Almonds have grown from a harvest of 10,000 tonnes in 2003 to one of 120,000 tonnes last year, and Australia is the second biggest producer of the nuts in the world.

To read the complete article go to;

Chemical concerns after mass bee kill (theage.com.au)

Ag values decline in Stanislaus Co. in the face of pandemic challenges except Almond Pollination

By PAWAN NAIDU

Stanislaus County agriculture had to deal with the ramifications of the pandemic last year and it was reflected in the annual agricultural report for 2020. The county experienced a slow down in the farming economy.

The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors were presented with the Agricultural Report for 2020 on Tuesday, which showed that the value of agricultural commodities produced here last year decreased three percent from 2019 to 2020, going from $3,598,404,000 to $3,476,093,000. According to Agriculture Commission Kamaljit Bagri office, this past year brought unprecedented challenges to the agriculture industry.

“This year’s report reflects a historic pandemic year that changed markets suddenly and dramatically and created numerous challenges along the entire production chain. As lockdown orders went into effect, consumers changed eating habits as schools and restaurants closed.” Bagri said, “Locally, after emerging from a dry winter, the summer dragged into a historic fire season that burned significant rangeland on the Westside of the county in the 47-day SCU Lightning Complex fire. Additionally, we experienced a dry fall that saw little rain into mid-December.”

The report however, did point out some bright spots during the year.

“A few bright spots emerged despite these factors, such as the increase in value of livestock products including eggs and dairy, and increases in yield and value of freestone peaches, cherries and sweet potatoes. Mirroring statewide trends were decreases in dairy cattle numbers, as well as lessened field crop, processing tomato and wine grape acreage,” the report said.

Almonds remained the No. 1 crop in Stanislaus County in 2020 according to the report with a value of $1,123,961,000 which was a $105 million decrease from 2019. Almonds make up a smaller percentage of the county’s total commodity value than it did last year. In 2019, almonds represented 34 percent of the county’s total commodity value; in 2020, almonds accounted for 32 percent.

The second-highest valued commodity in 2020 was milk and it contributed even more value than it did in 2019. It was an increase in value by $128 million compared to last year. Milk accounts for 21 percent of the county’s total commodity value, while it accounted for 17 percent last year.

Chickens came in at No. 3, as it did last year and were valued at $342,099,000 — a decrease of over $23 million.

Unlike almond production, No. 8 on the list almond pollination saw an increase compared to last year. Pollination was valued at $$88,800,000 in 2020, increasing by $5 million, and represented three percent of the total commodity value. 

To read the entire article go to;  Ag values decline in face of pandemic challenges | Community | westsideconnect.com

SOFTWARE FOUNDER HELPS ALMOND GROWERS MONITOR HIVE STRENGTH

By:AMY WU

Editor’s Note: The following profile is an excerpt from Amy Wu’s book, “From Farms to Incubators: Women Innovators Revolutionizing How Our Food is Grown,” which tells the stories of women entrepreneurs who are transforming agriculture through high technology.

Ellie Symes could easily pass for the girl next door. The petite brunette, with her dimpled ear-to-ear smile, is affable and easy to converse with. Symes is in her mid-twenties, and her youthful persona not only makes her stand out in a sector known for being male-dominated but belies her expertise: she is a ninja when it comes to talking bees and bee pollination.

Symes launched her agtech company, The Bee Corp, in 2016. The Bee Corp offers a software platform that monitors and grades the quality of hives before pollination. The technology, delivered through a mobile app, helps beekeepers and growers make sure their hives are healthy and ready to go. The start-up includes Symes and a small team of engineers and researchers who are based in Indianapolis, Indiana.

At the Forbes AgTech Summit in Indianapolis in 2018, she held the stage during the “Show Me the Honey: Innovating to Insure Healthy Bees and Honey” panel. During the question-and-answer portion before an audience made up of top executives, Symes fielded a question on what her company’s technology is taking pictures of. She explained that the Bee Corp’s Verifli is an infrared image analysis tool that helps growers measure pollination value. It captures an infrared image of the clusters of bees inside the hive box from a device that is attached to the user’s smartphone.

“It’s an infrared image and we are reading thermal heat coming off the hives, produced from the body heat of the bees. The bees are actually creating body heat to heat the eggs, just like a bird sits on a nest,” Symes said. Once the image is uploaded, a prediction of hive strength is made in four seconds and shared with growers.

The company’s tagline is “Snap. Grade. Go about your day.” “We focus on inspection and ensure growers they have strong hives and make sure they measure their pollination contracts. We can inspect earlier in pollination and be able to make decisions,” Symes said, noting that the technology is such that the process does not require the hive boxes to be open, thereby avoiding manual inspection.

Something new

Symes was an undergraduate at Indiana University in Bloomington when she began working on the project that would later become The Bee Corp. She has no farming background and fell into both entrepreneurship and agriculture. At the end of her freshman year, as she was looking beyond the prospect of lifeguarding again in the summer, Symes began researching internship opportunities in areas of the environment and ecology: “My goal [at the time] was to build a career and get the studies I needed to solve environmental problems.”

A beekeeping internship piqued her curiosity. “It was something new and different,” she recalls. Little did she expect that she’d get hooked on beekeeping.

To read the complete article go to; Women in agtech: Ellie Symes | The King City Rustler | Your Local News Source in King City, California

Meet the man on the front lines of the ultimate bee sting.

Andrew Zaleski

Bee theft is almost a perfect crime.

The bee thieves come at night, swooping in and bugging out quicker than the wings of the insects they steal. And they always leave tracks.

Ray Olivarez knew this much, but he still expected a routine visit when he drove to his apiary in California’s Central Valley one brisk midwinter afternoon in 2016. As he parked, though, an uneasiness fell over him. His hives hadn’t been visible when he’d crested the hill. As he slowly marched toward the entrance, his face fell. The lock on the gate? Cut. His instincts kicked in, and he looked down, seeing squelched mud imprinted with ribbed tread marks.

A few days earlier, this yard had been home to 64 white wooden boxes of bees almost ready to make the trip to a local almond farm, where they would pollinate the trees. Now all he saw were the rectangular impressions they’d left in the grass. Like hundreds of other honey farmers every year, Olivarez was the victim of one of the most fiendish agricultural crimes in America: hive theft.

Central California’s temperate climate provides ideal conditions for the interdependent activities of raising bees and growing almonds. Mild winter rains spur the nuts to grow, while dry summers ensure they don’t fall victim to fungal infections before harvest. The state produces 80 percent of the world’s crop, with the bulk of its 1.3 million acres of trees clustered throughout a few particularly fertile counties. From February through mid-March, their buds burst into petals of pink and white—an irresistible treat to honeybees. Farmers rent Apis mellifera by the boxful to pollinate their orchards (it’s easier, and less time-consuming, than tending bees themselves); hitting all 250,000 farms requires the labor of some 500,000 hives native to California, as well as another 1.5 million trucked in from as far east as Florida. That’s 31 billion buzzing critters in total.

The big migration usually begins in January, with apiarists hauling hive-laden pallets to orchards on flatbed trucks and hoisting them off with forklifts. The rule, generally, is two boxes per acre of almonds. A crate of pollinators that would have cost just $11 to rent in the 1970s is now more than 10 times as valuable. A seasoned, second-generation bee wrangler like Olivarez, with 18,000 hives of strong insects, can command anywhere from $180 to $220 for each.

But within weeks of arrival, the first signs of trouble emerge: a box lifted from some rural orchard, a pallet gone missing overnight. As the value of the crates has risen, so too has a new class of criminals hell-bent on stealing honeybees.

That’s the situation Olivarez found himself in. He’d parked his colonies on a farm three hours north of San Francisco in January. When he checked in days later and found tire tracks, he figured foul play was afoot.

To access the whole article go to, https://www.popsci.com/story/science/bee-hive-theft-inside-look/

Almond Board of California — For the third year in a row, Chris Rishwain is preparing to plant cover crops in the windrows of his 150-acre almond orchard near Manteca. Although his original intent was to provide forage for honey bees during pollination, Rishwain has discovered multiple additional benefits to cover crops, one of the most impactful being the positive effect they have on compacted soil.

“Soil compaction has been a problem for us,” Rishwain explained. “My goal to reduce soil compaction is aimed at helping improve the orchard’s water retention, allowing the roots of our trees to penetrate deeper in the soil to obtain water and minerals, and also to allow for better soil aeration, which supports the microbes in the soil.”

Like many other almond growers, Rishwain just completed harvest, a time when shakers, sweepers, tractors and other heavy equipment can contribute to pre-existing issues of soil compaction in orchards up and down the Central Valley. Compaction also can be a greater problem in soils that have more silt.

Soil compaction – coupled with other contributing factors – can negatively affect tree development and subsequent tree productivity. While there is work that can be done to prevent or decrease the severity of soil compaction before trees are planted in an orchard, once an orchard is established those options become more limited. That’s where cover crops can help.

The Almond Board of California (ABC) continues to fund research into the impacts of cover crops. Much of that scientific work has been conducted by a team led by Amélie Gaudin, Ph.D., an associate professor of agroecology in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences, as well as researchers from UC Riverside.

Seed money available to growers

One of the most enthusiastic promoters of cover crops in California is Project Apis m., which has managed the popular Seeds for Bees program for many years. Seeds for Bees encourages the use of cover crops to increase the density, diversity and duration of pollinator forage in California agriculture, while also improving soil health.

“The seed mixes available through Seeds for Bees are designed to bloom at critical times of the year when natural forage is scarce but managed and native bees are active,” said Billy Synk, the organization’s director of pollination programs.

Through the Almond Board’s Bee+ Scholarship Program, 100 almond growers can receive up to $2,000 each in FREE cover crop seed through the Seeds for Bees program. Funding provided by ABC’s Bee+ Scholarship will allow growers to plant an estimated 3,500 acres of quality pollinator forage statewide – that’s in addition to the cover crop seed Project Apis m. typically distributes directly to almond growers through their Seeds for Bees program each year. Applications are being accepted now, so growers are encouraged to visit Almonds.com/Pollinationto learn more.
Rishwain started participating in the Seeds for Bees program two years ago. He planted Project Apis m.’s Soil Builder mix, which includes brassicas, legumes and grains. In addition to the cover crops’ positive impact on honey bees, he also likes this mix because of its combination of shallow hair-like roots that help prevent erosion in addition to strong tap roots that grow deep into the soil, breaking up compacted areas.

“I will use this mix again this coming year. I liked how it has a diversity of species that can improve soil health in our orchard in many different ways,” said Rishwain, adding that the experts from Seeds for Bees make choosing the right seed mix easy for any orchard situation.

Synk said the most popular Seeds for Bees seeds mix that growers typically use to deal with compacted soils is the Mustard mix, which includes canola, white mustard, two kinds of yellow mustard and Diakon radish. He also said 75% of Seeds for Bees participants list breaking up compacted soils as one of their primary reasons to plant cover crops.

Similarly, Gaudin’s research shows that a mixture higher in legumes (such as clover and vetch) can boost nitrogen levels in the soil; conversely, grasses can help reduce nitrogen losses, decrease compaction and improve water infiltration.

Typically, cover crops are planted in the fall – after harvest – and sprout naturally following the first rain of the new crop year. Their flowers provide additional forage for honey bees when almond trees are in bloom and their roots add organic material to the soil. The cover crops are then typically mowed down in late spring so orchard floors can be readied for harvest later in the year. Rishwain also uses a conditioner before harvest to filter out organic debris.

Josette Lewis, Ph.D. , the Chief Scientific Officer for the Almond Board, said the organization expects to publish a practical guide on best management practices for cover crops at the start of 2021. In the meantime, growers are encouraged to participate in the Almond Board’s Bee+ Scholarship and visit the Seeds for Bees website to learn more about the benefits of planting cover crops in or near their orchards.

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