[Pollinator] Almond growers' nightmare

[Matthew Shepherd (Xerces Society)]

Almond growers' nightmare 
George Raine; 11/25/05
Full article in San Francisco Chronicle, at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/25/BUGGNFSPMU1.DTL
 
California's almond farmers -- who grow 80 percent of the world's almond supply and 100 percent of the nation's almond crop -- can't seem to plant new trees fast enough. 

The price of the popular nuts is getting to be in the neighborhood of $3 per pound at harvest, up from 80 cents in 1999 and $2.30 last year. As a result, farmers are bailing out of cotton (65 cents to $1.30 per pound), peaches and other less rewarding and more labor-intensive commodities. 

But just when it was looking almost too good to be true for California's 5,500 almond growers, who produced a harvest in the last two years valued at $2.2 billion, trouble has arrived. The almond business could be undermined if there are not enough bees out there to pollinate the trees each spring. 

Almonds depend entirely on honeybees for pollination, and bee colonies are increasingly being killed or weakened by the parasitic Varroa mite. The pest has developed resistance to chemical treatments that have controlled it successfully since it made its way to California in the mid-1980s. 

Today, there are slightly more than 2 million bee colonies in the nation -- a half million of them in California -- down from about 8 million in 1960. 

California needs about two-thirds of them, a total of about 1.3 million colonies, during February and March, when the almond trees bloom and pollinate. The rule of thumb is that two colonies are necessary per acre. 

Given the rocket-like growth of the almond industry -- there are more than 550,000 acres of almond trees in California today, and the industry is projecting there will be 735,000 acres in 2010 -- there is all the more pressure on the bee supply. The Almond Board estimates more than 1.5 million colonies will be needed by 2010 and more than 2 million by 2012. 

Estimates vary, but beekeepers say that, on average, 40 percent of the 2 million colonies, or hives, in the United States were destroyed or their residents weakened last year by the mite, which sucks blood from both adult bees and the developing broods.
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The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
Protecting wildlife through science-based advocacy, education, 
and conservation projects since 1971. To join the Society, make a 
contribution, or read about our work, please visit www.xerces.org.

Matthew Shepherd
Director, Pollinator Conservation Program
4828 SE Hawthorne Boulevard, Portland, OR 97215, USA
Tel: 503-232 6639 Fax: 503-233 6794
Email: mdshepherd at xerces.org 
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