Can I put in an indignant little squeak here from beekeepers who are not mobile? My bees don't go to almonds or anything else, but every year, I have to factor in the bees that are parked in nearby fields....and they do go out on the pollination circuit. Bees drift, especially hungry bees, so in some ways my bees might as well go to the almonds.

The other issue for stationary beekeepers is the phenomenon of pallets of mobile bees "resting" in local fields between pollination contracts. Farmers approached as temporary landlords do not realize the impact on nearby local beekeepers of hosting large numbers of bees in their fallow fields.

I don't have a solution for this problem, but it does mean even stationary beekeepers are invested in what happens in the almond (and other) orchards.

Some things that would help: development and marketing of foulbrood vaccines; development of more low toxicity, efficacious Varroacides; gene manipulation tech to eradicate Varroa; adopting area-wide beekeeper cultural practices to reduce the pool of available diseases and pests; engineering orchards to need less bees/keep their own bees and provide better bee nutrition; re-funding de-funded state Apiculture departments; strong mentorship fleets to help new beekeepers (especially teaching swarm management and control).
 

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