A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign looks at pollination contracts between beekeepers and California almond growers, exploring clauses that could make the agreements more appealing for both parties.

“There’s about 1.3 million acres of almond trees in California, and each acre requires two honey bee hives for pollination, so that’s about 2.6 million honey bee hives every year. They are coming from all over the U.S., making the trek to get there by Feb. 15 when the almonds usually start blooming, and they stay for about a month,” said Brittney Goodrich, assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics.

Around 90% of the country’s commercial bee colonies congregate in California for almond bloom. The bees spend the rest of the year elsewhere, many in North Dakota or South Dakota for honey production in the summer, and in Texas or Florida during the wintertime.

“You can think of commercial beekeepers as livestock producers who engage in rotational grazing, moving colonies to the places where there are flowers blooming so the bees can find food,” Goodrich said.

Native bee populations are threatened by pesticide use, diseases and pest problems, as well as monoculture crops and decreased native forage land, leaving crop growers to depend on managed insect pollination.

“We wanted to explore if contracts can include elements that make them more appealing to beekeepers, and whether they would be willing to accept a price discount in exchange for these features. We specifically looked at protection against pesticide exposure, bee-friendly cover crop and prepayments,” Goodrich said.

The researchers conducted an online survey with commercial beekeepers who had participated in almond pollination. They found that the pesticide protection clause was the most highly valued, followed by two of the cover crop options.

Overall, beekeepers were willing to accept an $8 discount per colony for pesticide protection, which is about 4% of the total pollination fee per the standard agreement.

“That may not sound like much, but when the average size of the beekeeping operations we surveyed was 5,700 colonies, it adds up quickly,” Goodrich said.

The survey showed beekeepers also valued the presence of flowering cover crops and a 40% prepayment before they arrive in California, providing a guaranteed income and working capital to transport the colonies and get them ready for pollination.

Value-added production

The average Missourian eats 63 pounds of pork each year.

“If you’ve thought about supplying pork to Missouri markets but haven’t decided for sure, then Intel for Ag (www.intelforag.org) can help,” University of Missouri Extension state specialist and Intel for Ag contributor Mallory Rahe said.

Information posted to Intel for Ag, a free website available at intelforag.org, educates Missouri producers about the farm enterprises that best align with their land, management skills and available markets, Rahe said. MU Extension this year added information to the site to support individuals in evaluating the feasibility of producing animals, including pasture-raised pigs.

“For a producer who’s been on the fence about whether to add pasture-raised pigs to a property, now’s a good time to evaluate the option,” Rahe said. “That’s where Intel for Ag makes a difference. For people interested in starting or scaling up a business, it provides a framework for assessing the feasibility of business ideas based on their resources and goals.”

Rahe said an especially useful feature is the market intelligence report, which now summarizes consumer demand and preferences for specific animal products. Intel for Ag estimates animal product consumption per person and Missouri county. These insights can help producers visualize sales potential and which animal products, such as pork, their target market demands.

“For example, if pork consumption is stronger in urban areas than in the producer’s home county, that producer might explore ways to market products farther from the farm,” she said. “The site’s data help producers be strategic about what they raise and where they sell their products.”