In thinking about your reply,  part of it disturbed me greatly.  The point that you didn't understand my point ob out coming to CA and what the Ammonds represent.   It seems I defiantly lack the communication skills to get that point across,  so I will try again.

If you take the author(and Randys) point that 2/3 the bees are in CA for Ammonds  you have to see the miracle in that!  The Farmers of the valley managed to figure out how to take so many hives and feed up a nectar and pollen source thats so attractive  people come from everywhere in the US to take advantage of it.   This author wants to paint the AG group as the coming apocalypse. Definatly a pessimistic view.   A an optimist, I see a place (the Sacramento valley) where modern farming has planted a crop that is (according to the authors) providing the saving grace for todays beekeepers.   if you do math pollen and nectar for a month for 60% of the nations bees?  thats pretty damm cool.  AND they pay you to come also!

When you really look at farming and beekeeping you see that in most places they go hand in hand.  If you follow the "common knowledge" that unspoiled land is perfect for bees.  Then any fool would realize that well over 80% of the country is still unspoiled land and pasture.   Plenty of space for those beekeepers who want unspoiled lands for the milk and honey.  In some places that works.  some swamps do well,  as well as many local crops. south Florida gets 4 honey flows,  oh wait  one is oranges  (farmers again)  so we can't count that one.  Tupelo?? Nope way to short?  blackberries??  some areas quite a bit,  clover?  doesn't grow wild very well at all.   Point being that there are darn few areas that support a fabulous honey flow all season on "natural habitat"  there are some,  of course but in a grand scale,  few and far between.   That Sacramento Valley?  not one of them.  without modern AG much of the valley is brown and barren 8 months of the year.  

Randys home  (Grass Valley)  is one of the nice areas in the country that probably does well most of the year, (FYI I was driving there Friday and the weather was great)  but drive 30 miles west,  and your out of the lush and into the valley.  Many months of the year the rabbits are starving.

The reality of beekeeping is that we as beekeepers are chasing honey and pollen.  Not long ago some here posted a link to a Youtube video shot in AUS in the 40 or 50's  it showed the same things.  guys picking up and moving hives to chase honey.    Heck everyone is sending bees to Ammonds,  even you Randy,  as you mentioned your bees do fine at home (Randys area is already building up and blooming in Feb)  and yet,  you put hives in the orchards.  Why?  Money,  pollen  those are the two reasons.   Yup  sometimes is greed.  but I know MANY commercial guys who do it for the bulidup. so they have strong ready bees in March,  ahead of the nectars at home.  trying to beat the curve instead of follow it.  Believe it or not,  if you live in say the Carolinas or Iowa or my home in IL,  its not profitable to send bees west for pollination.  by the time you transport and feed and pay loading , unloading and broker fees,  its not a profit center.  BUT building up bees ahead of the nectar flow,  thats profitable.


We as beekeepers are chasing the tails of many farmers,  you know the guys feeding the world  while we make a little honey.  In my area (southern IL which is 40% corn 40% beans,  we get the yellow rocket bloom before corn, sometimes a good bean flow,  and a lot of margin weeds in the fall.  Yup  roundup has reduced some of that.  BUT  natural prarie grass that grows in its stead?  worthless as bee food.  the bottoms and creaks are still full of the wild blackberries and honeysuckle that have been there for decades.  so actually I win.  The HUGE amounts of chickweed and yellow rocket in the spring would not be possible without corn.  
Right now I am working on plans to follow Canola in the central plains.  Following farmers as many of my friends do,  we follow the Clover, Alfalfa, apples, blueberries, cranberries and the list goes on...Canola is an absolutely huge crop in the northern prairies.  Most of the guys I have spoken to love that crop,  much better yields than the native grasses or wheat.

The Central valley in CA is a wonder, my Wife and i have been driving and working bees here all week.  talking to beekeepers  looking on in amazement at what they have done here with AG in the central valley.  Hundreds of miles of Ammonds, Rice, Grapes, and citrus.  I think its cool that we grow so much in the midwest,  corn, beans wheat, and cotton,  and of course most of it is feed for livestock,  Here in teh central valley they grow food.  FOOD  90% of the worlds almonds.  unbelievable tons of walnuts and pistachios, the citrus, and grapes for juice and raisins if you have never been here you cant imagine grapes from Sacramento to Bakersfield.  


When we as beekeepers read and promote articles and points of views like those of the author of that article,  we are doing ourselves a huge disservice.  Driving around and working with huge beekeepers,  I realize we are bit players.  Tiny bit players,  working with and on the coattails of the men who farm and feed the US and the world.  THEY own the land, THEY pay the taxes,  and THEY not only allow us to follow along,  they invite and help us.  yes  we do pollinate some crops, and they do increase yields, but except for almonds,  the yield increases  a small percentage.  most crops do okay and even great with native pollinators.   We are need to watch closely follow along and support the AG here in the US.  if you disagree with that,  then you need to get out a bit move your bees to one of these areas say Central Kansas,  the Ozarks, maybe the Texas mesquite and see if your yields increase.  

TO Randys question of human intervention,  neither here nor there in the big picture.  I don't wish to debate humans and their effects.  but if your of the ilk that humans are destroying the earth,  rejoice.  in the scheme of things we are nothing but a blip.  A tiny blip on the planets timeline.  either we will persist until the next meteor, or we shall damage things and perish shortly.  When you look at teh life on this planet,  the snail darter is an even tinier blip  only sharks and crocs have been here much time at all,  and all of us shall perish shortly,  what Many seek is to try to keep things as they are, or were as a child.  foolish notion.  heck  just the little ice age in the last 3000 years should be enough to prove that. plaques blights, and extinctions as well as new life forms are and always have been the way on earth....

As the say  the butterfly effect can cause or stop a hurricane, such is life,  

Get a chance,  go see the CA valley..  Best to see it in spring,  and summer or fall.  so you can see what the CA hills really look like during the summer.

Charles

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