The University of California, Riverside, is leading a new effort to halt and reverse a global honeybee decline that is threatening food security and prices. To help increase a declining population, the U.C. Presidents office has awarded $900,000 to a four-campus network of honeybee researchers and engineers. Bumblebees are integral parts of Californias ecosystem, but the group says populations have been declining for decades due to changes in land use, excessive use of pesticides, and diseases carried by commercial honeybees. Like many pollinators, including bats, birds, butterflies, moths, flies, beetles and small mammals, many of Californias wild honeybee species are threatened. [Sources: 6, 7, 9]

Populations of four species of bees – Crotch, Franklins, Suckleys and Western Bumblebees – have declined dramatically, and the Franklins are hard to find, said Kim Delfino, the director of the Defenders of Wildlifes California Program. Information on the abundance and distribution of bumble bees is limited in California, but suggests that a few species are declining, consistent with global trends. The truth is, bee colonies are hardly declining, and in fact, they have been increasing over the past few years (see chart below). In fact, U.S. honeybees are doing pretty well, both in terms of the number of hives and their accessibility for crop pollination. [Sources: 4, 7, 8]

Just about every honey bee colony for sale in the US spends at least some part of the year in California, so regulations are incredibly important for protecting US pollinators. The ruling would protect the commercial honey bee colonies that visit California during blooms for massive almond crops, and also the native pollinators such as the monarch butterflies during spring. A pollinator-protection law went into effect last January in California under the states Bee Where Initiative. Collapsed honeybee colonies are a major threat to the nations food system, as well as to the larger ecosystem on which we all depend. [Sources: 3, 5]

There are myriad reasons for the decline of the honey bee population across North America and Europe, all falling into the category of colony collapse disorder (CCD), the phenomenon where workers of either one honey bee beehive or one European honey bee colony suddenly vanish. Several factors including pesticide exposure and parasite transmission, as well as environmental changes are responsible for honey bee colonies collapsing widely in the last ten years. Since beekeepers began noticing higher losses among their colonies in the early 2000s, agriculture agencies, researchers, and the beekeeping industry have worked together to understand the causes and to develop better management practices to mitigate their losses. In recent years, beekeepers reported losing an average of 30% of their entire bee colonies every winter – double the losses considered economically tolerable. [Sources: 1, 2, 6, 10]

U.S. national agricultural statistics indicate that the honeybee population has declined from an estimated six million hives in 1947 to 2.4 million in 2008, a drop of 60 percent. In 2006, David Hackenberger – a beekeeper for 42 years – reported 90 percent death rate in his 3000 hives. In the United States — in crops requiring honeybees to pollinate them — bee colonies have declined by 90 percent per hectare since 1962. [Sources: 0]

##### Sources #####

[0]: https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/sustainable-agriculture/save-the-bees/
[1]: https://ocm.auburn.edu/newsroom/news_articles/2021/06/241121-honey-bee-annual-loss-survey-results.php
[2]: https://www.farmprogress.com/tree-nuts/california-almonds-threatened-honey-bee-shortage
[3]: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/07/honeybees-deaths-almonds-hives-aoe
[4]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensavage/2022/04/30/honeybees-are-not-in-decline-but-the-beekeeping-industry-does-face-challenges/
[5]: https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2021/court-rejects-californias-approval-of-bee-killing-pesticide-sulfoxaflor
[6]: https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2021/01/07/scientists-developing-new-solutions-honeybee-colony-collapse
[7]: https://www.capradio.org/articles/2020/02/05/if-bumble-bees-become-endangered-in-california-farmers-say-it-sets-a-dangerous-precedent/
[8]: https://wildlife.ca.gov/Science-Institute/Pollinators
[9]: https://www.cnps.org/flora-magazine/small-wonders-the-plight-and-promise-of-californias-native-bees-23883
[10]: https://environmentcalifornia.org/feature/cae/no-bees-no-food

Blue Diamond Growers has led the almond industry from being an under-reported, homegrown specialty crop to a global leader in almond production and marketing. As the pioneers in the almond industry, Blue Diamond Growers helped to establish almonds as the largest California food export, sixth largest food export to the United States, and a leading U.S. specialty crop. Almonds are the largest California tree-nut crop by both total dollars earned and acres. Last years 3 billion-pound crop was the largest ever, according to Waycott, the Almond Board of California. [Sources: 1, 4, 8]

The Almond Boards monthly harvest reports showed the stockpile of available nuts as of Sept. 30 was almost 1.7 billion pounds. The nuts popularity has skyrocketed in recent years, and almond production in California has increased from 370 million pounds to 3.1 billion pounds over the past 25 years. The California Almond Board says only 30% of almonds grown in California remain here in the U.S., with 70% exported to over 100 countries around the world. That challenge is escalating this year, with Californias exports for the same period only at 993 million pounds, according to the California Almond Alliance, a trade advocacy group. [Sources: 3, 6, 7, 8]

Getting there is a challenge, since Californias biggest agriculture commodity exports roughly 70% of what it grows, and roughly 80% of those shipments go through Port of Oakland, according to the Almond Board of California. California produces 80 percent of the worlds almonds, and 100 percent of Americas trade supply. Californias produces approximately 80 percent of the worlds almonds, shipping approximately 70 percent of their production abroad to places such as India, East Asia, and Europe. California is the only place in North America that grows almonds commercially. [Sources: 2, 3, 4, 6]

About 6,000 almond farmers grow 100% of the domestic commercial supply, and over 70% of global production. Almonds are the largest California crop, and in turn, California is the largest global supplier of this nutritious nut (much to the displeasure of environmentalists, who deplore a steady stream of crops such as nuts that are not flexible about their water needs). Almonds are one of Californias biggest agricultural exports – the next highest after dairy products. With the drought lingering this year, the efficient watering methods used by almond farmers in California will allow the bulk of trees to continue growing and producing, said Waycott. [Sources: 0, 3, 4, 8]

As almond prices rose during a previous drought California declared from 2012 through 2016, farmers and investors planted hundreds of square miles of new orchards in areas without dependable water supplies. To supplement a drop in deliveries from Californias water systems, many almond farmers increased pumping from the ground, a practice that could irresponsibly drain groundwater reserves and lead to subsidence. In addition to economic impacts on almond farmers across the state, criticism of water usage by this sector has been raised. Many California almond farmers are like Donnie Hicks, who owns an 18-acre almond farm in the Stanislaus County city of Hughson, and are feeling the impacts of backups differently. [Sources: 2, 5, 6]

##### Sources #####

[0]: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/weekly-agriculture/2022/05/31/have-we-reached-peak-almond-00035924
[1]: https://farmcredit.com/story/blue-diamond-growers
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almonds_in_California
[3]: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/california-drought-hits-worlds-top-almond-producer-180978470/
[4]: http://www.waterfordnut.com/almond.html
[5]: https://www.npr.org/2021/08/17/1028452988/climate-change-california-drought-heat-almond-production
[6]: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/California-almond-crop-17052398.php
[7]: https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/california/almond-growers-supply-chain-shortages/103-5072ef0b-2d6e-4a01-ae61-655b6bc0b069
[8]: https://www.fooddive.com/news/despite-drought-almonds-will-keep-on-growing/608839/