With more than half the U.S. colonies
going to California for the almond
pollination event each year, a quick
review of the California regulations
about Bee Management and Honey
Production may be useful. Although
the registration law has been in place
for quite some time in California,
beginning in January 2019, the State
of California will be enforcing it
strictly including fines.
The law is designed to help protect
pollinators as registration allows
beekeepers who manage colonies
within a mile of a spray application
to be notified. A new online system
for registration and communication
has been designed and is named
“Bee Where” and can be found at
beewherecalifornia.com. Since 1987
and amended in 1993, beekeepers
in possession of an apiary in the
State of California, for any length of
time, are mandated to register any
and all apiaries with the county’s
agricultural commissioner. This
registration is accompanied by a $10
fee and needs to be renewed every
year. The registration application
requires the beekeeper’s general
contact information, the number
of colonies, the location of the
colonies and an option to request or
decline advanced notification, with a
minimum of 48 hours, of any pesticide
application labeled ‘toxic to bees’
within a mile of the apiary location.
Unless an apiary is maintained at
a place of residence, the State of
California also requests that the
apiary be identified with specific
information, with minimal size and
format. Some specifications may vary
slightly by county. Along those lines,
California also offers an apiary brand
program which allows beekeepers
to apply for a serial number brand
for a $25 fee. This serial number is
transferable through a bill of sale and
confers extra protection and recourse
in case of colony theft.
Beekeeper/Grower Job Swap
It is all too easy for us to make
judgments on how simple or difficult
another person’s life or job may be
but often those views are uninformed
and oversimplified. One of the more
valuable projects to have an impact
on beekeepers and growers is the
Job Swap project. In 2016, the Bee
Understanding project was created to
bring together some of the parts that
make up our agricultural system. The
project focused on learning firsthand
the daily challenges that both groups
experience in doing their job. The
Job Swap included a commercial
beekeeper (Randy Verhoek), one of
our Bee Informed Partnership team
members (Katie Lee), a corn farmer
(Carson Klosterman) and a Crop
Consultant (Greg Laplante). This initial
project was sponsored by the Honey
Bee Health Coalition, a collaborative
union of beekeeping organization and
growers that brings together disparate
and traditionally opposing groups to
mediate a path forward for healthy
bees and productive agricultural
systems.
In 2018, Project Apis m., the California
Honey Board and others sponsored
a second outreach film called the
Job Swap Experiment. In this film, the
project has refined the scope to a few
commercial beekeepers and almond
growers. Whereas a corn grower and
a beekeeper may never cross paths,
certainly almonds and honey bees
are intricately entwined in this modern
day agricultural landscape. In this film,
both sides of the issue get a feel for
THE BEE BOX
California Colony Registration
IN YOUR ORCHARD
Chart showing percentage of states
requiring apiary registration. Courtesy
of Mary Kate Wheeler, Farm Business
Management Specialist, Cornell
Extension
Job Swap Team, with BIP Tech Team member, Ben Sallmann in
the middle, from The Job Swap Experiment
4 6
A L M O N D F A C T S
