Welcome to “The Bee Box” a new addition to your Almond Facts publication.  With “The Bee Box” we hope to bring to you on a regular basis, the latest available information on the health and status of honey bees, so critical to almond pollination. 

The two major national organizations that represent honey bees have already had their annual conventions for 2009, as have the apiary inspectors and a group of professional apiculturists.  Here’s the bottom line from these meetings:   #1) bees are in better shape now than they were in 2008, and #2) Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), though devastating for some beekeepers, has been a motivator to improve beekeeping management practices and has improved the overall health of the beekeeping industry.

Many beekeepers were able to minimize 2008-2009 winter losses by a robust supplemental feeding regime, with adequate protein being a key nutrient focus.  Beekeepers also were more aware of Nosema and treated for this pathogen.  Protein supplementation and Nosema treatments increased input costs for beekeepers, but provided healthier colonies for the early almond pollination season and a seemingly adequate supply. 

CCD still exists, but scientists are narrowing in on the cause and their research suggests CCD involves an interaction of pests, pathogens, nutrition, and management factors.  Dennis vanEngelsdorp, State Apiarist of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Agriculture and a member of the national CCD Working Team, has sifted through reams of data collected on CCD and non-CCD colonies and found that transporting hives to California for almond pollination does not increase the risk of CCD.  Good news for almond growers.

CCD has highlighted the importance of honey bees to agriculture, has brought more funding into bee research and has facilitated the interaction of scientists to solve a complex problem.  CCD has also served to improve bee survey techniques, communication with pesticide manufacturers and the EPA, and led to the transfer of technologies from other fields into solving bee health problems.   Ultimately, having weathered the CCD crisis, beekeepers will bring better bees into almonds.

Chris Heintz is Executive Director for Project Apis m. a non-profit bee research organization.  Should you have questions about bees, they can be answered via this column for the benefit of other Blue Diamond almond growers.   Submit your questions to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .