Usually blissful and quiet the California almond orchards are abuzz today, not with bees but with the shakers and sweepers readying this year’s almond harvest.  Most growers I have spoken with are optimistic about this year’s harvest.  Early rains, more plentiful water and fair growing conditions have boosted this year’s harvest.  The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is forecasting a harvest of 2.25 billion pounds; this is up 5.1% from last year’s crop.  The forecast is based on a record one million bearing acres.  While the total harvest is up, the average yield per tree is down.  This is likely due to the young trees cycling into the program.  Also some growers are reporting a slight delay in harvest as the crop seems to be maturing slower than normal this year.  Harvest was pushed back by as much as two weeks in some areas on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.
 
It has certainly been an unusual year.  When the California almond bloom began in February, early rains made it difficult and nearly impossible for beekeepers to get colonies into the orchards and in some unfortunate instances those who did get their colonies into the orchards early had to watch their colonies float away in the floods in the northern parts of the production area. The 2017 bloom started rapidly but was soon slowed and extended due to cold temperatures that set in during the middle of the bloom.  These cooler temperatures gave growers concern about the number of bee flight hours during the critical period of bloom.  Some days only had one hour or less of potential flight weather.  As the yields are reported, we will see if the premium price paid by some growers for larger colonies has paid off this year.  Premiums for colonies larger than an eight frame average netted beekeepers as much as an additional $25 per colony.  Growers bet that those larger colonies would field more bees during those marginal flight days.   To say that 2017 was an unusual almond bloom is an understatement. 
 
While the almond growers are looking toward their harvest, beekeepers are beginning to think about next year’s almond pollination.  Beekeepers must begin their preparations for next year’s almond bloom now.  Mite management, culling and feeding have to begin now. Most beekeepers I speak to are cautiously optimistic about the bees after this summer.  Most beekeepers report that mite levels are under control, and the bees that I have observed are building well into the fall.  Though most commercial beekeepers are treating for mites three and four times a year, the control measures seem to be working adequately.  We still desperately need more commercially sound control measures for Varroa mites, since relying largely on one product is certainly a scary proposition.  New, effective products and methods for mite control couldn’t happen too soon.  For more information on what PAm is doing to support research in mite control, go to the PAm website and review the numerous research reports.   
 
Most regions around the country are reporting moderate honey yields--not great yields but not disastrous results either.   Beekeepers in the Dakotas report drought conditions in the western and central part of the states, resulting in spotty production.  The eastern sides of the Dakotas had a little more moisture and are reporting better yields. 
 
Floral bloom in the southeastern part of the country was pretty poor this year.  The normal crops that support colonies following almond bloom didn’t materialize, forcing beekeepers to move their colonies to better forage.  Later, in Central and South Florida, the palmetto and cabbage palm provided nice buildup for the bees and even produced a modest surplus when the colonies were strong enough to take advantage of it.  The Brazilian Pepper is just starting to bloom in Florida providing buildup for the late summer splits. 
 
This time of year, beekeepers and almond growers alike try to prognosticate what bee supply will be like during the upcoming almond bloom.  While it is far too early to be certain, indications are that beekeepers have made up previous losses; the bees are looking strong; mite levels are low; and the mite treatments that are going on now still seem to be effective.  For now, we keep our fingers crossed, watch colony nutrition and continue to monitor Varroa mites at this critical time of year. 
 
You have to admit, beekeeping is not a dull industry in which to be involved. 

Gordon Wardell,
Board Member, Project Apis m.

​As a beekeeper, you are likely well aware of a growing list of challenges your bees face. Varroa, Pesticides, Nutrition, etc. You are looking out for their interests so that they might provide you with some form of return, whether that means an income or perhaps just a little home-grown honey and the satisfaction of having stewarded a hive through a season. In either case, it’s clear that it is much more difficult than it used to be. The challenges of making a good honey crop today are often overshadowed by the greater challenge of just keeping them alive! Domestic honey production has fallen 35% over the last 2 decades. Winter losses now averaging near 40% are 4 times higher than 20 years ago. Input costs in commercial operations are as much as 5 times higher than they were in the 90s.  These are sobering facts for beekeepers to digest. Are these facts related? If they are, then what are the common denominators?

In my opinion, one of the most important factors is habitat, or “forage” as many beekeepers say. Habitat availability, in the form of clean, safe, diverse natural forage is the most basic and important component in maintaining healthy, productive colonies. A hive that has proper natural nutrition will tolerate much more stress than hives that are nutritionally deficient.

Large scale beekeepers around the country are aware of the sobering reality that their bees are finding less and less nutritional opportunity on our landscapes. This problem is not new. In fact, commercial beekeepers have adapted to changing landscapes quite well over the years, which has led to the mechanization and mobilization of the industry. As consummate opportunists, beekeepers are amazingly resourceful. At the micro level: When farms change their practices, beekeepers scout for a better opportunity and move their bees. At the macro level: When honey production opportunities are scarce, beekeepers seek more opportunities in pollination services.  

Unfortunately, this resourceful and innovative strategy will only succeed until there are no more safe, productive alternatives. That situation is becoming a reality in many parts of the country as more and more of the landscape is changing. Honey crops nationwide are on a declining trend. Hives are malnourished and too dependent on supplemental feeding.  In major honey production states like California and Florida, beekeepers now have to avoid some of the very best citrus areas completely, because of pesticides used to control citrus greening. In the Dakotas and Minnesota, the Honey basket of the country, the expansion of GMO row crops and the subsequent prolific use of herbicide has been devastating to honey production. North Dakota is still the number one honey producer, but only because the number of hives in the state have doubled recently, as beekeepers fleeing other states, where opportunities are even more scarce, flock into the “last best place.”

Compounding these changes is the loss of tens of millions of acres of conservation acres in federal programs nationwide. These lost acres once served as safe, supplemental habitat, where beekeepers could expect their bees to thrive.

As hive losses have garnered national media attention over the last decade, there has been a swell of new interest in finding solutions to the bee health crisis. Beekeepers, scientists, and politicians have worked to solve the problem from every angle. As more and more stakeholders recognize habitat loss as a major problem, the interest and opportunities to improve habitat are broadening. To date there are over 40 programs aimed at improving habitat for pollinators. They range from ad campaigns that send out packets of seeds to new federal programs. As you might have guessed, while all are probably well intended, most have little impact on bee health on a wide scale.

PAm has been a pioneer in developing habitat for honey bees. In 2013 PAm launched the Seeds for Bees program, which provides free honey bee forage seeds to Almond growers who are willing to plant it around their orchards. The goal is to improve available forage before and after the almonds bloom to give the bees a needed boost and also to raise awareness of the importance of habitat for the bees.

In 2014 PAm upped the ante by partnering with Pheasants Forever and Browning Honey to form the Honey Bee and Monarch Butterfly Partnership, which later became known as the Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund. The BBHF has two primary goals. First, to establish high quality habitat in key areas. Secondly, the program aims to influence other pollinator habitat initiatives by serving as a model of the best practices in terms of cost, weed competition, and overall benefits to pollinators. The program solicits funding and pays participating landowners, who are close to beekeepers’ apiaries an annual fee to plant and maintain project acres for pollinators. The seed mixtures are engineered to provide diverse, high density, season long bloom for pollinators and utilize both native and introduced plant species.

To be fair, this is a new concept. Never before have beekeepers needed to invest in habitat. For many beekeepers, it seems impossible to invest in forage on a scale large enough to make a difference. And it would be, if we as beekeepers were alone in this fight. The good news is…we’re not.

As a beekeeper, are you also a conservationist? According to Webster, a conservationist is someone who works to protect animals, plants, and natural resources or to prevent the loss or waste of natural resources: a person who is involved in conservation. If beekeepers are conservationists, which we are, then we join a host of others who are seeking the same things, albeit for different reasons, but, nevertheless, all vying for their own little scraps on the landscape. Our bees utilize the same kinds of habitat that meet the critical needs of hosts of other critters. Deer, upland birds, waterfowl, grassland song birds, native pollinators, monarch butterflies, and countless other creatures all need places to call home on our landscape. That means that those people interested in those animals, whether to protect and conserve them, or to hunt them are also promoting the same kind of habitat that bees need. The list doesn’t end there either. People who are interested in soil health, sustainability, clean water, and even carbon sequestration to offset climate change…all want things that can be consistent with great pollinator habitat!

PAm pollinator habitat programs have been funded by many stakeholders, from beekeepers and honey packers to big ag and from hunting groups to the federal government. Beekeepers who contribute dollars to PAm habitat programs are joining a broad list of other stakeholders who share common interests, making each dollar go further and further.

These programs are still in their infancy but are growing fast. As I talk to beekeepers and growers alike who are participating, it is clear there are more than just dollars changing hands here. There is a growing level of awareness and appreciation for what bees both need and contribute. The relationships formed by working with landowners who are planting habitat for bees is priceless. They become partners, invested in the health of the bees that occupy a spot on their farm. I personally worked with a land owner in my area where I had kept bees for many years. As the farming changed around him I saw less and less honey and eventually quit bringing the bees back. He called and inquired why, and I explained that there was not enough forage around for the bees. Saddened and concerned, he asked what could be done. I mentioned that he could establish habitat for the bees. That fall he planted 8 acres between two rows of trees where it was difficult to combine with a mixture of clovers. The next year I brought the bees back. They did amazingly well. The next fall, he enrolled an additional15 acres into the Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund. Now the yard is as good as any in the outfit. The land owner calls to inquire how the bees are doing and remarks about all the birds, deer, and butterflies that have returned to his farm. One more thing…last year the farmer who rents most of his land complained about the bees when he wanted to spray soy beans. This year he has a new renter.
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As beekeepers, we are remarkably well adept at overcoming challenges, like the bees! The issue of declining habitat is a real challenge, but it is not one we can’t make progress on if we work together.   hope you will consider joining the many stake holders investing in habitat by donating to PAm forage programs.
 
Zac Browning,
Project Apis m. Board Member

​Project Apis m. (PAm) is dedicated to bee research and forage.  We don’t have a lot of money.  We work hard to make the most of donations and opportunities from great companies and groups like National Honey Board, who now entrusts their bee research assessment budget to Project Apis m.  We are grateful for the trust bestowed upon Project Apis m. and we work hard to keep it.
 
The past thirty years in beekeeping, globally, have been tumultuous. A number of trends continue – making this a fascinating time to be in beekeeping. Across the planet, people live longer, enjoy better health, have more access to better food than any time in history.  As diets improve, demand for insect-pollinated food grows. 
Beginning in the 80’s, beekeepers experienced a breathtaking change from honey producers who did a little pollination work to pollination experts who do a little honey production on the side. In 2017; over 700,000 beehives will crowd into North Dakota and produce about 50 pounds of harvestable honey per hive – for a total of about 35 million pounds – keeping North Dakota secure as the #1 honey producing state in the nation. Ask large commercial operators the primary purpose of being in North Dakota…they won’t say honey- they will tell you its to prepare for the rigors of 2018 pollination season. The income earned from 700,000 hives in the almonds dwarfs the income from 35 million pounds of honey.
 
How does Project Apis m. fit into the well-being of American beekeeping?  We fund research to improve hive health.  We support the Bee Informed Partnership project and the work they do documenting hive health.  PAm makes a difference in cover crop decisions growers make to improve the health of the soil and water penetration in orchards, and of course, also to improve nutrition for the bees pollinating the crops. Big Ag is moving into forage as a productivity tool.  PAm has an important role to fill in forage and productivity.
 
We have a lot more to do. We have great opportunities on the horizon.  We are in the prime position to work with other groups promoting hive health and forage efforts.  It takes money and collaboration.  It would be great to see breakthroughs in Varroa control, to see annual losses reduced, and to see American honey production back above 250 million pounds per year. When these things happen, PAm will be involved.
 
John Miller,
Board Member, Project Apis m.

Recently I was asked to write about honey used in craft beer brewing for this newsletter.  My first thoughts were, “Rats…homework!”  Being the dedicated board member I am, I set out to first figure a graceful way out of my assignment, without incurring Danielle’s wrath.   Then, it dawned on me there may be some unforeseen benefits to working on this article.  No way could I write an informed article without first doing some research!  After all, PAm demands excellence in all it touches…  So I headed straight to the nearest brew pub.  In hindsight that might not have been the best starting place.  Oh believe me, in my zeal, I learned a lot about craft beer brewing, and maybe slightly more about craft beer drinking.  By the time I left the Pub everything was one big blur, literally. But I did make it back to my writing assignment.

A volumetric study, conducted by the NHB in conjunction with the Arland Group, showed that over 25 million pounds of honey were used in 2016 brewing beer.  That’s a lot of honey and a large potential market for beekeepers to capitalize on!   One conservative estimate places the number of craft breweries over 5,000 nationwide.   These artisanal brewers are springing up Coast to Coast, with a wide variety of interesting craft beers.  Everything, ingredient wise, is fair game in craft brewing, with each brewer trying to outdo the other with their oddly concocted libations.   As one ‘bearded brewer’ told me, “We sell everything brewed, at least once!”  There’s always a line of local craft beer enthusiasts waiting for the next creative brew.  They may only buy it once, but no misguided craft beer creation goes to waste.  Adding to the excitement, most of these brewers use locally sourced, farm-to-table, high quality ingredients to give the beers a regional flavor.  Small batches of regionally produced artisanal beer provide a great local marketing tool for enhanced pricing; customers want to know where their beer is made.   That’s where beekeepers come in, with our local honeys. Honey varietals, generally between 2-10%, add a wide range of complex flavors and aromas while smoothing the craft beer.  It’s best to use pasteurized honey to avoid adding any undesirable bacteria to the craft brewing equation.

Greetings from Northern California,

Hi there, I’m Pat Heitkam. It was not my first choice to be writing this column, but since you will get a diversity of voices from the PAm’s new Board Report column, I am who you get first. I am many things, though a writer isn’t one of them. But here goes!
 
Heitkams’ Honey Bees in Orland, California. My son, Russell, and I run about 6,000 hives. We pollinate almonds along with a few minor crops. We also sell package bees, but our primary endeavor is queen production. We ship queens from April through November depending on availability. I often say that it used to be a beekeeper had to fall asleep to fail. But nowadays it seems all you must do is blink, and you’re behind the eight-ball. This year at Heitkams’ Honey Bees started out very challenging. Our winter losses were the highest ever. This included subpar hives not suitable for pollinations (it seems we all get our turn), and we’re still not sure of all the causes. We think mite re-infestations and the accompanying viruses are a major factor. Recent evidence shows that a collapsing colony’s mites are soon found in colonies over two miles away! This means you can do everything right, and still fall victim to somebody else’s mites. Beekeeping businesses are all different, but one of the basic principles of Integrated Pest Management is to time treatments strategically, as in ‘immunize the herd.’ If beekeepers could develop some common treatment windows, it could really help reduce all our mite loads. Obviously, it wouldn’t work for all beekeepers, but if beekeepers could cooperate even just on a regional level, it could make a big difference. Before almond pollination, we predicted a significant shortage of bees, but that did not come to pass. There seemed to be just enough hives to fill the needs of the growers. In coming years, as more acreage becomes available, the availability of bees may be tighter.
           
Fortunately, our season improved. With the assistance of some good friends, who are conscientious beekeepers, we could do an effective job for our growers. The weather was not ideal in Northern California, but populous hives were able to work in small weather windows and marginal conditions. We think the crop may be OK, we will know for certain when they are in the wind row. We hope to have an early report on the crop from Gordy Wardell, so stay tuned.
           
This year, flooding has been an issue for many of us. There were significant losses, and the dramatic photos on PAm’s Facebook page had many people asking, who is responsible for the loss of hives?  Who is responsible for replacing the hives to get pollination completed? As a beekeeper who does pollination, these are questions that should be dealt with prior to doing the job. For Heitkams’ Honey Bees, we’ve been accustomed to the possibility of flooding since the early 1980’s.  We’ve discovered the high parts in the orchards (bee islands), and knowing the risk some orchards provide stands up to four feet above the orchard floor (see photo below). They’re difficult, but nobody has wet feet!

Dear PAm readers,
I would like to welcome you to a new column in the Project Apis m. newsletter that we are calling The Sounding Board. This column will take the place of the column, Word from Wardell. I'm not going anywhere; it is just that Danielle and I feel that there is a wealth of information and knowledge available from our Board. This column will give you, the readers, a chance to hear from the PAm Board members and gain from their insights. I will be contributing to the Project Apis m. newsletter on a periodic basis. But, like you, I'm looking forward to hearing from all the PAm Board members.
Thanks for being loyal PAm Newsletter readers. Gordon

Read Word From Wardell Here

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