>
> >     What's in the rumor mill about hive availability for almonds this
> coming year?


Everyone keeps waiting for the horror stories, but we are hearing of fewer
than in past years.  There are about 20,000 new acres coming into bearing,
which will require about 45,000 more hives.

CCD may finally be disappearing!  Don't know if there will be extra bees as
a result.

Rental prices are currently still strong, as nut prices are up.

On a related note, see
http://www.farmprogress.com/story.aspx/nl5_5nl/colusa/county/farm/adviser/retires/9/44993

John Edstrom ran the Nickles Estate experimental orchard in Arbuckle.
 Virtually all important almond research was done there.  The orchard was
the only self-supporting ag research station (not sure if for Calif or the
US) by selling the harvest.

By chance (luck) I have been the beekeeper who supplied the hives for that
research for over 25 years--John wanted the best bees, so that lack of
pollination wouldn't be an issue in his trials.

The orchard has row after row of trees with signs at the end indicating root
stock, fruit stock, type of irrigation, and type of pruning.  I often had to
hand place hives in drops of four.  There was every variety of almond, from
the earliest to the very latest.

John transformed the industry by developing drip irrigation for the trees.

Every spring I would talk with grad students there  who would be labeling
every blossom on a tree, boring into the ground to take soil and nutrient
levels, measuring outgassing, controlling pests, etc.

John was a great guy, and single handedly helped to create the successful
almond industry.

Randy Oliver

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