Paul and all,

   In the interest of full disclosure let me just say that I love almonds 
and I like that I can afford them.  That said I have to tell you that when 
I look at those pictures I see healthy almond trees but I can’t help 
getting the feeling that I am looking at a system of agriculture that is so 
at odds with nature that it runs a real risk of suffering the same kind of 
calamity that seems to have befallen at least some migratory beekeepers.  
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t wish bad things on the almond industry or the 
migratory beekeeping industry that helps support it.  
  My concern is with the long term sustainability of these kinds of 
agricultural systems that have to be so tightly managed against the 
tendencies of nature.  When an organism such as a tree or a bee has to be 
so isolated from what’s “out there” in nature that could do harm to them, 
that you have to also sacrifice most of what wouldn’t harm them or even 
some things that might benefit them, then you eliminate the need for that 
organism to adapt and maintain natural defense mechanisms.  This leaves 
them open to being blind sided by attacks from unforeseen sources of stress 
in nature.    
  If this is what is happening with honeybees, and it continues to become 
harder to sustain them at the level required by almond farmers, either some 
other way of pollinating almonds will be found or the economics of growing 
almonds will make a correction which may not be favorable to orchardists.  
To the degree that all I have said applies in any given situation, then 
those who support an environment that is healthy for natural pollinators 
should not be viewed as adversaries of what is in the long term interests 
of beekeepers.  While it is true that the immediate economic interests of 
those who rely on highly industrialized agriculture for a living may be 
adversely affected by a requirement to allow for more diversity of habitat, 
in the long run the system as a whole will be more stable if such practices 
can be mastered.  At least that’s the theory.  I think that’s the theory 
that the proponents of natural pollinators go by.  
   At any rate as Bill has points out, the political reality is that 
beekeepers find themselves needing some extra clout from natural 
pollinators to get funding for the study of CCD and related problems.  

Steve Noble      
   
    

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