For Randy Oliver,

I enjoyed reading your recent comments regarding the pollination events currently in progress and found much of interest and value in your statements to the matter.   I would take issue however with a couple of the adjectives used regarding Mid-west bees and their propensity to be judged as "shitty bees".   Having only stepped into an almond grove as recently as last spring, I don't have the experience with pollination and the California response to the needs involved therein, but I have recently returned after spending a week helping a friend there who places over 10,000 hives who is a third generation beekeeper and has much experience with pollination.   In the week I was there, we went through thousands of colonies and combined truckloads of bees down to numbers usually approximating a third of the original amounts (some far worse) that were what I would refer to now as "Almond Grove Swarmers".   One group of five truckloads was reduced to only 700 "pollinators" that would make the grade.   I know from this one experience that this beekeeper will not: 1. Pay for his trucking bill.  2.  Recover from the loss in numbers in time to raise a honey crop.  3.  Pay for his management expenses while his AGS colonies are building up in the almond groves.  4. Spend the entire year questioning a future return to California.  and lastly:  Face the ultimate question of just why in the hell am I in this business?
It seemed to me as though someone were crushing the sound foot of an industry hobbling along on crutches already, with no concern for those who might bleed to death.
I had many questions while there as to why all of these beekeepers with an absolute millenia of history in the business send "shitty bees" to California?   Then after being there for a week, some of the fog rolled up over the Sierras and my sky began clearing if but only a little.
Have you ever been a beekeeper in the Midwest?  Do you know that many of our bees have been selectively bred for their overwintering abilities and their conservative nature which boils down to surviving on the smallest number of bees possible?   Have bees like this been shipped to California in the past and built  up to large numbers sufficent to do the job at hand?   Have the almond growers been producing poor crops in recent years due to midwest beekeepers sending semiloads of crappy boxes of sick bees in an attempt to extort cash from them?  Is this all new "shit"?.  I hope that you find most of the answers to these questions as easily as I did and personally feel  that you have underevaluated the situation by a marginal amount and underestimated the intelligence of the average commercial beekeeper in the midwest.    For our colonies to be displaying 6 frames of wall to wall brood on February 10th, we will have to ship them to either Texas or California for the winter.   Texas means additional shipping and though it has its advantages, with rising fuel costs everyone will probably end up in southern California.   Do you really want another million hives in the state for the winter spreading disease and discontent?
And in regards to the border inspections.  Do you think anybody is going to risk $ 4,700.00 a load each way to ship bees that will be turned down due to a no tolerance level for the hive beetle that is already in existence in California?  That entire thing is like giving a months supply of birth control pills to your pregnant daughter!

I was personally involved in a group of 200 hives that were sent to another broker for placement  and these hives were selected from the best of almost 1000 hives and some were still boosted up with additional bees.   After inspection, 92 of these were judged not up to pollinator (ASH) levels.   While we are aware that there are allowances for time of day and temperature, is there any way to accurately and fairly judge all of the hives that are placed in the almonds?  If so,  just who writes the book and determines that all of the variables, coefficients and multipliers are correct and accurate for the type of pollination and the specific variety of the pollination target?   Will there be an adjustment for the experience and education level of those doing the examinations?  Who dermines just how many bees are necessary?   Who says when bees hang over into the bottom box but only cover 3,4 or 5 inches, they don't count at all?  If there aren't inspectors in the county, what agency is responsible for the inspection. 
I stopped while there in the Modesto area and looked at three groves that had bees already placed on the 2nd of February and one of the groves was occupied by a branded California beekeeper and the other two were banded and covered with black tarpaper and I made the assumption that they were CA bees as well.   It was in the 60's and after a quick inspection of those that weren't banded found about half of these to be 4 and 5 framers much like the bees I had been looking at from the mid-west.   Are all CA bees inspected as well? 
And then theres the really important questions:   What's the real purpose and benefit?  Who's the beneficiary? Who pays the cost?  And do the benefits of the program justify the cost?   
 I wouldn't say that I'm not in favor of a program as long as it is uniform and non-discriminatory.   For my situation, this year was pretty much a wash even with high prices.   Reducing my colonies by a third by combining before they ever left Kansas, I thought with the 15 - 20 % that were busting with bees, I would easily meet my minimums.   Not!!!!  After arriving my hives were again reduced by another 30% just to meet the minimum on all of my remaining hives.   And that was a pretty good figure compared to many.   If I had the reductions like I saw from beekeepers from South Dakota, Nebraska and Missouri as well, I think it would be my last attempt.
The cost of this will be that many will not return and some may well go out of business.   If the growers and the brokers do not get together and resolve this situation and real shortages do occur in the future, the border dams will break and it will be "Yo Quiero Pollinaccion!"  And then you can put your $ 150.00 contracts under glass, on acid free backing board and preserve them with all of your fond memories.  Then we can  all get jobs making real money.  Tim Tucker

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