Fewer bees are available to pollinate California's growing almond crop. Beekeepers in the US have fewer bees this year because of drought and ongoing colony collapse disorder.?
Bee inspector Neil Trent of Scientific Ag Co. inspects a frame of bees to assess the colony strength near Turlock, Calif., this week. Almond growers are concerned there are fewer bees this year to pollinate their crop, which supplies 80 percent of the world's supply.
Gosia Wozniacka/AP
EnlargeIn an almond orchard in California's Central Valley,?bee?inspector Neil Trent pried open a buzzing hive and pulled out a frame to see if it was at least two-thirds covered with?bees.
Skip to next paragraph' +
google_ads[0].line2 + '
' +
google_ads[0].line3 + '
Subscribe Today to the Monitor
Trent has hopped from orchard to orchard this month, making sure enough?bees?were in each hive provided by beekeepers. Not enough?bees?covering a frame indicates an unhealthy hive ? and fewer working?bees?to pollinate the almond bloom, which starts next week across hundreds of thousands of acres (hectares) stretching from Red Bluff to Bakersfield.
"The bloom will come and go quickly," said Trent, who works for the Bakersfield-based?bee?broker Scientific Ag Co. "The question is: Will the almond seeds get set? It depends if you have enough of a workforce of bees."
That has growers concerned as nomadic beekeepers from across the country converge on the state with their semi-trucks, delivering billions of?bees?to the orchards for the annual pollination. Most almond trees depend on bees?to transfer pollen from the flower of one tree variety to the flower of another variety before fertilization, which leads to the development of seeds.
It's a daunting task: California's orchards provide about 80 percent of the global almond supply. And with almond acreage increasing steadily in recent years, the?bees?must now pollinate 760,000 acres (307,500 hectares) of trees. The number of?bees?needed is expected to increase as almond demand grows and orchards continue to expand.
Already, more than half of the country's honeybees are brought to California at the end of February for almond pollination, which requires about 1.5 million hives from out of state, and another 500,000 from elsewhere in the state. Honeybees are preferred for commercial-scale pollination, because they are social, build larger colonies than other?bees, and their hives can easily be moved.
Bee?brokers, beekeepers and almond growers around the state say there's a shortage of healthy honeybees for this year's pollination, especially after colony collapse disorder took a higher toll this winter. The disorder, in which honey?bees?suddenly disappear or die, wipes out thousands of colonies each year.
The shortage has some growers scrambling for?bees?? even sub-performers ? as trees are about to bloom, driving up?bee?prices again this year, to an all-time high of more than $200 per colony.
"There's definitely a shortage of strong?bee?colonies," said Joe Traynor, owner of Scientific Ag, which connects growers with beekeepers. "There is a problem covering all the acres of almonds in the state."
Since it was recognized in 2006, colony collapse disorder has destroyed colonies at a rate of about 30 percent a year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Before that, losses were about 15 percent a year from pests and diseases. No one has determined its cause, but most researchers point to a combination of factors, including pesticide contamination, poor nutrition and?bee?diseases.
This year, experts say, the die-off has been as high as 40 to 50 percent for some beekeepers.
"We have smaller populations in the hives and higher winter losses," said Eric Mussen, a?bee?specialist at the entomology department of University of California, Davis. "Bees?across the country are not in as good a shape as last year. When you stress them far enough, the?bees?just give in."
This year, Mussen said, many?bees?did not get enough nutrition because a Midwest drought reduced forage. Conversion of pasture land to corn production for ethanol also reduced the number of flowers producing nectar.
To compensate for forage loss, beekeepers fed?bees?more high-fructose corn syrup and other supplements. But such substitutes don't provide all the nutrients pollen does, Mussen said. Malnourished?bees?are more susceptible to diseases.
Lance Sundberg, a beekeeper who hauled his hives for almond pollination from Columbus, Montana, lost 40 percent of his?bees?this winter due to the drought and mite problems.
"You have to buy?bees?elsewhere to pick up your losses, and not everything we have remaining after the loss is very strong," said Sundberg. "I had a tough time fulfilling my obligations to all the growers."
But at least he still has?bees, Sundberg said. Some colleagues were not as lucky: they lost 75 percent or even 99 percent.
Traynor, the?bee?broker, said he's been fielding phone calls from desperate beekeepers and growers who are short several thousand colonies ? but he has no more good?bees?to offer them. The shortage will only get worse in the future, he said, as almond acreage grows.
Having strong hives is critical, Traynor said, especially during rainy seasons, because?bees?have a short period of flight time when it's dry enough to pollinate. Fewer?bees?may not be able to reach all the blooms in time.
In recent years, the Almond Board of California, which represents more than 6,000 growers, has poured $1.4 million into?bee?health research. The group also worked on alternatives to reduce growers' reliance on honeybees, said Bob Curtis, associate director of agricultural affairs.
One is the so-called "self-compatible" almond tree, which can set nuts using pollen transferred among its own flowers, thereby needing fewer?bees.
The group also is urging growers to plant forage to help sustain?bees?before and after almond pollination. And it's exploring using blue orchard?bees, which are solitary?bees?that do not live in hives but nest in small cavities, to augment the honeybee workforce. But building up those alternatives will take time.
"It's tenuous right now," Curtis said. "We've got fewer?bees. And if something goes wrong with the weather, some growers could be in trouble."
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/bBKZuqnGaC8/Fewer-bees-in-US-threaten-almond-crop
levi johnston 2013 srt viper scott walker recall fisker atlantic social darwinism jamie lynn spears wisconsin recall election
No comments:
Post a Comment