California grows almonds on roughly 1.4 million acres – about 570,000 hectares – and, according to Almond Board of California figures, supplies around three-quarters of the world's crop. The orchards stretch for hundreds of kilometres through the Central Valley. Once a year they host an event without parallel anywhere in farming: a mass migration of bees.

Why almonds need bees

Most traditional almond varieties cannot pollinate themselves. A flower is fertilised only by pollen from a different variety, so orchards are planted with alternating rows of varieties, and insects must carry the pollen between them. Almonds are also the earliest of California's crops to flower, and among the briefest: blossom opens from February, occasionally late January, and lasts less than a month. Whatever is not pollinated in that window will bear no nuts. Growers therefore plan on two colonies per acre (about five per hectare) for traditional varieties and one for the newer self-fertile ones.

Two and a half million hives

Economists at the University of Illinois estimated that almonds needed about 2.7 million colonies in 2024; the Almond Board puts the figure at around 2.5 million. By the same estimate, in February the orchards require virtually every commercially managed colony in the United States. Only about half a million live in California all year; the rest are trucked in by beekeepers from distant states – the Dakotas, Florida, Maine. Many travel more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km), some more than 2,000. The hives roll in from January, pass through border inspection stations, and after the bloom move on to other crops or back home. Orchards have expanded faster than local bee numbers, and economists at the University of California, Davis, note that colonies have had to come from ever further away.

Pollination as a business

For American beekeepers, renting out bees is often more lucrative than honey. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the average fee for one colony in the almond orchards in 2024 was $181 – nearly three times the rate for other crops. Almonds account for around 81% of all US pollination-service income. The orchards yield little honey, and what there is, is dark.

A fragile system

Concentrating almost all the country's colonies in one place for one month carries risks. After the winter of 2024–25, commercial beekeepers responding to a Project Apis m. survey reported losing an average of 62% of their colonies between June 2024 and February 2025. The causes are still under investigation; suspects include varroa mites and the viruses they spread, poor nutrition outside the almond bloom, and pesticide residues. Growers are increasingly planting self-fertile varieties such as Independence and Shasta, which manage with fewer hives – though in 2024 they still covered only about 7% of the acreage.

Sources

  1. farmdoc daily (University of Illinois): Where have all the honey bees gone? To California almond orchards (2025)
  2. USDA ERS: Charts of Note – almond pollination fees
  3. Project Apis m.: Keeping beekeepers buzzing – colony losses 2025
  4. Stanford, Bill Lane Center for the American West: Bees for hire
  5. SARE: Pollination costs and benefits – almonds
  6. FreshPlaza: India leads global demand for California almonds (global supply shares)