THE BEE BOX
32
Almond Facts
JULY | AUGUST 2016
The last few issues of The Bee Box have
discussed various aspects of the Varroa mite
and their relationship to honey bee health,
including mite migration and control methods,
the Varroa/virus complex and breeding better
bees to resist mites. The recent release of the
annual nationwide survey, published by the Bee
Informed Partnership (BIP) in collaboration
with the Apiary Inspectors of America and the
USDA, reinforced the challenges beekeepers
have, including managing their mites. For
2015—2016, the survey indicates an annual
loss rate of 44 percent, with both summer and
winter honey bee losses increasing from the
previous year.
“The high rate of loss over the entire year means that
beekeepers are working overtime to constantly replace
their losses,” said Dr. Jeffery Pettis, a senior entomologist
at the USDA and a co-coordinator of the survey.
“These losses cost the beekeeper time and money. More
importantly, the industry needs these bees to meet the
growing demand for pollination services. We urgently
need solutions to slow the rate of both winter and summer
colony losses.”
Malnutrition in Bees?
The survey cites several reasons for honey bee declines,
including Varroa, but also malnutrition. Malnutrition
in bees? Yes! Bees have fewer natural forage resources
today because of changes in land use patterns. Where
we once had large tracts of sweet clovers and alfalfa
in the honey producing region of the Upper Midwest,
summer home to about 40 percent of colonies pollinating
almonds, we now have soybeans and corn that provide
little or no nutrition to honey bees. Widespread use of
herbicides to control flowering weeds, RoundUp Ready
crops and encroaching civilization further limit nectar
and pollen sources for bees.
Almond Growers can Help
Prevent Malnutrition
While mite control and many other honey bee challenges
are the responsibility of the beekeeper, helping to prevent
malnutrition is definitely something where you, the
almond grower, can help. Pick up the phone and call
Billy Synk at (614) 330-6932 or email him at billy@
projectapism.org and ask him about Project Apis m.’s
(PAm) Seeds for Bees program. He can ship honey-bee
friendly seed to you at no cost to you. For several years,
PAm has been working with almond growers to plant
forage as additional nutrition sources for honey bees
concentrating on pre- and post- almond bloom, times
when there is typically a dearth of flowering plants for
bees. Last year, during fall 2015, 150 almond growers
planted 3,000 acres (over 7.5 billion seeds) for honey bees
in the Seeds for Bees program.
The Bee Box
CHRISTI HEINTZ
& TARA McCALL
Project Apis m.’s Billy Synk
using a drone to assess a
honey bee forage cover
crop of mustard.
