Stacy Robertson
Stacy Robertson
April 1, 2020 ·  4 min read

The Truth Behind The Blooming Almond Milk Industry and The Massive Death of Honeybees

Bees play a pivotal role in the pollination of fruits and crops. Their importance cannot be overemphasized, especially as it pertains to agriculture. According to the UN Food and Agricultural Administration, bees are worth an estimated $235 to $577 billion worldwide. In the United States alone, bees are responsible for $20 billion of domestic crop production. The almond industry has benefitted mainly from the pollination capability of this insect, with almond trees completely dependent on their activities. [1]

Over the last five years, almonds have won over a large number of fans, with many Americans opting for almond milk as their preferred choice of milk. This has seen the consumption of the product soar 250% from what was obtainable five years ago. As the demand for almond milk increases, the California almond industry, home to 80% of the world’s almond supply, is growing to cater to this huge demand. But this burgeoning industry is characterized by enormous deaths of these essential pollinators. 

Commercial beekeepers who send their hives to the almond farms are seeing their bees die in record numbers, and nothing they do seems to stop the decline, according to The Guardian. [2]

This reflects a continually mounting death toll among the bees working in California. In 2014, “about 80,000 colonies—about 5 percent of bees brought in for pollination—experienced adult bee deaths or a dead and deformed brood. Some entire colonies died. [3]

The booming beekeeping industry

Contrary to our perceived opinion of what beekeeping entails, the modern beekeeping industry has evolved beyond the mom and pop operation that once characterized it. In fact, honey production only accounts for 12% of the beekeeping industry, with the modern industry evolving into a livestock business, which entails pollination services that make up about 50% of their total revenue.

For each hive, the pollination fee averages $171.4. This has seen many beekeepers transport their hives to pollinate California’s almond groves. In 2017, approximately 1.7 million colonies, packed in tractor-trailers carrying 400-500 colonies each, traveled the highways. While this figure is staggering, pollinating apples and other crops is just a part of the beekeeping year.

Almonds Are Seriously Jeopardizing Honeybees

Last year’s annual Bee Informed Partnership survey results revealed a massive 38% loss of the winter colony, 9% higher than the average loss, and the highest rate the survey has ever recorded since it began 14 years ago. This goes to show that the threat of a shortage of bees inches closer as the day goes by.

In a bid to understand the reason behind the rising number of bee deaths, bee expert and associate professor of entomology at Ohio State University, Reed Johnson, and other researchers partnered with Almond Board of California, an industry service agency. Results from his earlier research found that some insecticides that were thought to be safe for bees were lethal. 

A second study by the same author, published in the journal Insects, further exploded the fungicides that had been deemed safe but were deadly to the bees’ population. This they did by identifying the chemicals used during the almond bloom and testing them on larvae and honey bees. The results showed that some substances decrease the survival rate of larvae by over 60% when compared to a controlled group of larvae unexposed to insecticides and fungicides.

Fungicides, often needed for crop protection, are routinely used during almond bloom, but in many cases, growers were also adding insecticides to the mix. Our research shows that some combinations are deadly to the bees, and the simplest thing is to just take the insecticide out of the equation during almond bloom,” Johnson said. “It just doesn’t make any sense to use an insecticide when you have 80 percent of the nation’s honeybees sitting there exposed to it.[4]

He recommends that almond growers rethink their strategies and back off from using insecticides during almond bloom. Rather than do this, pesticides should be used before the bee commences pollination or after they are gone.

“It’s like sending the bees to war. Many don’t come back.”

While pesticide issues account for a majority of the declining bees’ population, this is not the sole reason. There’s a need for bees to wake up from their annual period of winter dormancy one or two months earlier to begin pollination as another cause of massive deaths. Then there’s also the risk of the spread of diseases when they are concentrated in small geographic areas. [5]

The high mortality rate creates a sad business model for beekeepers… It’s like sending the bees to war. Many don’t come back,” said Nate Donley, a scientist from the Center for Biological Diversity. 

Before you have that next cup of almond milk, take time to think about the number of bees that had to die for it to be produced. 

According to The Guardian: “No other class of livestock comes close to the scorched-earth circumstances that commercial honeybees face. More bees die every year in the US than all other fish and animals raised for slaughter combined.” 

Additionally, think about the importance of bees to our nation’s food production and what havoc a shortage of bees will wreck.

References

  1. The Value Of Pollinators To The Ecosystem And Our Economy. Forbes. Accessed March 28, 2020.
  2. ‘Like sending bees to war’: the deadly truth behind your almond milk obsession.” The Guardian. Annette McGivney. Accessed March 28, 2020.
  3. Culprit found for honeybee deaths in California almond groves.Phys.org. Misti Crane. Accessed March 28, 2020.
  4. Combined Toxicity of Insecticides and Fungicides Applied to California Almond Orchards to Honey Bee Larvae and Adults. Insects.” NCBI. Wade Andrea. et al. Accessed March 28, 2020.
  5. ‘Like sending bees to war’: the deadly truth behind your almond milk obsession.The Guardian. Annette McGivney. Accessed March 28, 2020.