Jan 31, 2021California almond pollination season is approaching
Hear that buzz? That’s the sound of millions of bees getting ready for the largest pollination event in the world – California almond bloom.
The season usually begins around Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, but we usually see the first-of-the-year almond blooms in mid-January in a hot spot near the Benicia marina.
That’s where we saw them on Jan. 23, but they’ve bloomed in that vicinity as early as Jan. 1.
Almonds are big business in California, a burgeoning big business.
The most report of the California Field Office of the USDA’s Agricultural Statistics Service, released April 23, 2020, indicates:
- California’s 2019 almond acreage is estimated at 1,530,000 acres, up 10% from the 2018 acreage of 1,390,000.
- Of the total acreage for 2019, 1,180,000 acres were bearing and 350,000 acres were non-bearing. Preliminary bearing acreage for 2020 was estimated at 1,260,000 acres.
- Nonpareil continued to be the leading variety, followed by Monterey, Butte, Carmel, and Padre.
- Kern, Fresno, Stanislaus, Merced and Madera were the leading counties. These five counties had 72% of the total bearing acreage.
It takes about two bee colonies per acre to pollinate the California almonds. Since California can’t meet that requirement – we don’t have enough bees! – the little agricultural workers are trucked here from all over the United States.
