Migratory Beekeepers Meet the Challenges of the California
Almond Bloom
The last few months were busy ones for the Bee Informed Partnership. Many of our Tech Teams provided valuable services to
the migrating beekeepers during the logistically complex almond pollination frenzy.
The scale of California's almond
production is astounding.
According to the most recent
census, California produces
approximately 2.2 billion pounds
of nutritious almond nuts.
Commercial almond trees grow
on about 1.25 million acres of
land — an area equal to the size
of the State of Delaware — and
in order to produce nuts, almond
growers rely heavily on the honey
bee to pollinate their orchards.
To pollinate the trees, almond
growers contract with commercial
beekeepers to bring bees.
While almond growers and
beekeepers coordinate their
efforts, all work at the mercy of
Mother Nature, and everything
is a tradeoff. Almond trees need
enough chilling hours to yield a
bountiful harvest; but honey bees,
feeding on the leftover stores from
the last season and what their
keepers' provide, suffer if winter
is too harsh. Cool, dry spells can
delay the start and duration of the
almond bloom; warm spells can
move it forward. Too much or too
little rain is bad for blossoms and
bees alike. Growers and keepers
can do little to defend against
Mother Nature but monitor their
trees and hives closely and keep
their eyes open for signs that help
them predict the time of the bloom.
Everyone involved waits anxiously
for the almond buds to start to
swell.
The growers eventually set a date
they need the bees in the almond
groves, but beekeepers need a
few weeks lead time. Northern
beekeepers need time to bring their
colonies out of wintering yards or
sheds for sorting and assessment —
these colonies start with little
brood but must still be big enough,
preferably eight to ten frames of
bees to be useful pollinators, a
difficult feat in the middle of winter.
Southern beekeepers also need
to sort and assess their colonies,
which are likely already growing
and bringing in pollen in their region.
Beekeepers across the country need
time to work out the logistics of
trucking routes, drivers and crews,
and to load their colonies onto
trucks and trailers for the mechanical
migration.
This year's bloom was not without
special challenges. The Central
Valley in January was warm and
dry, which caused the almond buds
to swell early. In anticipation of an
early bloom, growers and brokers
had beekeepers' phones ringing off
the hook. Soon, beekeepers from
Washington to Florida hurried their
colonies to the Golden State, where
other crews met them to unload
into multiple drops per orchard (two
colonies per acre on average). Then
flatbeds fitted with feeding systems
started making the rounds to each
drop to sustain the bees until the
blooms were advanced enough to
be a stable source of nutrition.
Once the colonies are in California,
the Bee Informed Partnership
(BIP) was on site working with
beekeepers from across the U.S.
IN YOUR ORCHARD
Almond buds swelling.
Photo credit: Anne Marie Fauvel,
The Bee Informed Partnership
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