Everything Is Connected; Even the Bees

"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."--John  Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra

Ecologist Louie Yang of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, tags that quote at the end of each email.

So true.

On that note, did you catch the Feb. 14th National Public Radio piece on "Why California Almonds Need North Dakota Flowers (And a Few Million Bees)?"

"Here's the web of connections: a threat to California's booming almond business; hard times for honey bees in North Dakota; and high corn prices," Dan Charles said.

The gist of it:
Every year, bees from 1.6 million of the nation's hives are trucked into California to pollinate the 750,000 acres of almonds.  Since the almond pollination season is brief--a few weeks in mid-February--the bees need someplace to thrive after the bloom ends. Many  beekeepers head to North Dakota's federally funded government program, the Conservation Reserve Program, where flowers bloom all summer long. Basically, Uncle Sam leases land from the farmers to help the bees thrive.

Now, however, North Dakota farmers are finding it more profitable to grow corn than put their land in the Conservation Reserve Program.

"The amount of North Dakota land in the Conservation Reserve, meanwhile, has declined by a third over the past five years," said Charles. "This year, it's expected to take another plunge, perhaps down to half what it was its peak."

So, bottom line, California almonds--and the nation's bees--are tied to the North Dakota's Conservation Reserve Program.

As Charles correctly pointed out: "This is not just a beekeeper's problem anymore. ...the prosperity of almond growers...depends on what happens to bees on the lonely northern Plains."

To get a really good grasp of the situation, read Hannah Nordhaus' excellent book, "The Beekeeper's Lament: How One Man and Half a Billion Honey Bees Help Feed America." 

NPR interviewed some of the very migratory beekeepers that Nordhaus interviewed.