Pacific Nut Producer Magazine

Tag: Honey Bee Best Management Practices

  • Fun Facts About Bees & Almonds

    Almond Board of California — Honey bees and almonds form a partnership designed by nature. They both evolved in the same Mediterranean region and help each other prosper.

    Pollinators are responsible for one out of every three bites of food we consume, beyond just almonds.

    Just like almonds are a nutritious snack for us, almond pollen is very nutritious for honey bees, providing all 10 of the essential amino acids their diets require.

    When almond trees bloom, bees get their first nutritious food source of the year as they pollinate almond orchards. Bee hives regularly grow in strength and size during almond bloom and consistently leave stronger than when they arrived.

    Research by the U.S. Department of Agriculture released in June 2021 found that amygdalin – a naturally occurring compound in the nectar and pollen of almond trees – can reduce honey bee viruses and gut parasites, which are some of the leading threats to bee health and colonies.

    Every almond you eat comes from a flower once pollinated by a bee.

    California’s almond bloom is the largest pollination event annually in the world, with beekeepers from most US states supplying nearly a million beehives (close to half the beehives in America) for this event.

    Each almond flower is receptive to pollen for one to three days.

    Almond trees produce roughly 20,000 blossoms, depending on size and variety.

    Bees have furry little bodies and legs – honey bees have almost 3 million tiny hairs on their bodies – so pollen sticks to them like lint on a black sweater. They carry the pollen back to their hive, but some drops off onto other flowers or blows to almond blossoms in the breeze.

    Bees can often strip an almond orchard of pollen by midafternoon on many days, collecting all the pollen available then moving to neighboring flowers and landscape before returning to the hive before night. Then, orchards produce a new pollen crop every day, so the cycle continues until the orchard finishes flowering.

    Some orchards have more than 6 million flowers per acre during bloom. Thanks to ideal Central Valley weather, supportive bee work and good orchard management, often 25%-30% of those flowers become the almonds that you eat.

    Bloom lasts about 2-3 weeks per variety, and because most orchards have more than one variety, an average bloom lasts about six weeks through a whole orchard.

    Honey bees are major pollinators on which we depend, but native pollinators, including butterflies and other bee species and insects are also essential.

    The California almond community has funded over 100 research projects supporting honey bees, more than any other crop group.

    The California almond community works hard in the orchard to support honey bee health during bloom and beyond.

    The almond community’s five-point Pollinator Protection Plan outlines steps farmers are taking in their orchards to keep bees safe during bloom as well as how they’re supporting honey bee health all year round.

    The Almond Board of California established Honey Bee Best Management Practices (BMPs) for California almond growers using research insights and in partnership with universities, government agencies, nonprofits and other institutions. The Bee BMPs provide key recommendations to help keep orchards orchard a safe place for honey bees, protect the developing crop, and give hives the opportunity to grow.

  • Seeds For Bees Deadline Approaching

    Growers who would like to participate in the Seeds for Bees program have until Nov. 22, 2019 to submit their applications. Seeds for Bees is organized by Project Apis m. (PAm.), one of the nation’s leading honey bee research organizations. The program encourages the planting of bee forage as part of riparian areas or cover crops in and around California orchards, farms and vineyards to increase and provide variance in forage available to pollinators.

    Why is forage important?

    Planting additional forage is good for bees and good for pollination. Research funded by the Almond Board of California (ABC) shows that supplementary forage does not compete with almond blossoms for pollination and improves bee health, allowing for more robust hives. As the California Fish and Game Commission considers listing native bees under the state’s Endangered Species Act, being a good partner to all bees is in agriculture’s best interest.

    In addition to providing food and habitat for bees, Almond Board-funded research shows cover crops also provide other benefits to an orchard by:

    • Adding organic matter to soil
    • Increasing water infiltration and water-holding capacity
    • Reducing erosion
    • Providing a natural weed control
    • Suppressing parasitic nematodes
    • Driving carbon back into the soil

    During the 2018-19 Seeds for Bees program, PAm. reported that 149 California almond growers planted 8,005 acres of cover crops in and around their orchards, representing 27 counties throughout California.

    “We’re trying to expose this program to more and more growers,” said Billy Synk, director of Pollination Programs at Project Apis m. “We believe there’s more opportunity for cover crops to be utilized, and while we don’t think cover crops are appropriate on every inch of every orchard, they have worked from Bakersfield to Chico. We want to provide the information to help growers make the right decision.”

    The Almond Board joins Project Apis m. in its efforts to preserve honey bee health. Last year, the Almond Board updated its Honey Bee Best Management Practices, originally produced in 2014, which provide simple, practical steps that almond growers, together with beekeepers and other pollination stakeholders, can take to protect and promote bee health in and around their orchards, and in their surrounding community. These management practices also include information about the benefits of cover crops where orchard conditions are favorable (see pages 16-17).

    “Overall, the indication is that planting additional forage for bees helps pollination,” said Josette Lewis, director of Agricultural Affairs for the Almond Board. “Investing in bee health makes sense in the short term by improving pollination, and in the long term it promotes hive health after the bees leave our orchards. Healthy hives will also help bring down the cost of pollination services in the future.”

    To participate in Seeds for Bees, growers can apply to receive seed mixes specifically designed to “bloom at critical times of the year when natural forage is scarce but managed and native bees are active,” according to Project Apis m. There are five different seeds mixes to choose from, each one best suited for specific soil types, climate and nearby crops.

    Synk said cover crops should be planted in October and early November in order to help bees during the critical bloom in February. He encourages growers to check out the PAm. website for more information on Seeds for Bees and opportunities to learn more about the value of cover crops, including dates and times for in-orchard cover crop demonstrations being held next spring.

    Courtesy of the Almond Board of California