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Crocodile tears not allowed by almond growers in 2013.

10K views 19 replies 13 participants last post by  jean-marc 
#1 · (Edited)
For those of us who pollinate almonds the best time of the year is about here. If you have been doing this a while you have probably dealt with a grower or two who think the price of bees is way to high.

If ANYONE tries to pull that trick on you this year I recommend you go to the bank with them and wipe away their crocodile tears with their golden Kleenex.

With the surge in prices the last few months.....even the California varieties hoovering just short of 3 bucks and the nons substantially more any decent grower can easliy afford $200 today compared to 150 last year. If they pull the crybaby trick tell them you will take a pollination price increase that is only 50% of what they are getting compared to the price of nuts a year ago.

More stories of bees crashing at the same time more trees are going in the ground. Met another "row crop guy" last night at the basketball game who just put in 70 acres this week. Total of 200 new acres in the ground in the last 3 weeks within 3 miles of our ranch. People don't put that kind of money into the dirt when the payback outlook is $0.

If there ever was a time for this industry to ride coat tails of a boom this is it. Tell them to put the Handkerchief back in their pocket and drag out another 20-40 bucks next year.:cool:
 
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#3 ·
The neighbor down the road a bit told me he can leave the dinks to die in Texas or ship them to almonds & get $200 for 4 frames of bees & leave the to die in California.
Growers are a screaming that there are no bees to " bee " had for there groves.
Some brokers are asking for payment up front on the slow payers due to the shortage before the boxes hit the ground.
Can't say I blame them.
 
#5 ·
Is that a serious question? If you can name three people who you know who drink that stuff I can easily call you a hippy or a liberal.

From what I understand a big share of the credit can go to the ALMOND BOARD who have done a killer job of penetrating the pocket books of the newly rich ( and not so rich) in China, India, And recently to some extent the folks in Russia....

Health wise Almonds are a fabulous product. Now that the rest of the world is rich cause we gave them all our money they can buy our stuff. Now thats NUTS!
 
#15 ·
Dan:

Who are these guys that have 225 in their pocket? I'm sitting on 150 hives right now waiting for a guy to cough up his 2012 money. Wouldn't mind the extra $85 if he doesn't come through in the next couple of days. Patience is in order as its just 3 miles from home which beats 100 miles for the $5.00 additional that is generally garnered elsewhere. Even I will hit the road for that kind of cash. PM me if you get any more of those calls.
 
#9 ·
I think that we can agree that anything produced by almonds means more almond trees in the ground which in turn means more money in the beekeepers pocket. Supply and demand, almond orchards need bees and there for beekeepers have the potential to make more money as well. So lets not bash anything that could potentially provide more money in a pollinators pocket, right!
 
#12 ·
It's too bad when the beekeeper/grower relationship turns into an adversarial one, they need each other. Not trying to assign blame, just sayin..........
 
#13 ·
It's too bad when the beekeeper/grower relationship turns into an adversarial one
Just guessing here but I’d bet that in ‘the old days’ when a grower and beekeeper worked directly with one another it wasn’t an adversarial relationship.
Now…with the need for a million and a half hives, brokers in between, bees have become a commodity and I expect that for the growers and beekeepers who experienced those old days, losing that personal connection is a sad thing.
I’ve seen that sort of thing happen in other businesses….and I wouldn't think that this is any different.
 
#16 ·
last year the first load we sent out graded 12 frames with 4 20 framers. three graded 5. we had a contract for 8 fr ave 6 fr min. we didnt get paid for the three 5 framers even though we were 50% over thd ave. guess where those bees are today...thats right in oange groves in FL. second load i thought was better than first load. went thru some cold weather and i shoukd have checked the forecast. with lots of brood some colonies liast some cluster due to trying to cover it. with nets on the truck and rain at 45 deg when my driver arrived they wete griping the bees were no good. must have gad a exray machine to know in those conditions. tgat area gad a dry bloom with little nectar and pollen. I flew out Feb 20 got bees fed and orchard was 95 percent bloom. Four weeks later we got released. there wasn any viable bloom for the ladt 10 days just a few pedals bees went downhill. i figure i lost 100k in lost honey due to delay in releasing as we missed two weeks of orange and bees went downhill
the grower needs to realize if he wants bees he needs to wirkvwith the beekeeper! now guess where those where those bees are today... thats right in orange groves in Florida. Fir seven years I fought the morans at the bordrr and could never get the bees released...I didnt want them untul the bloom was over but didnt want them sitting there two weeks with one pedal a tree and nothing to work! Hsd my best beez ever this year...would have averaged at least 16 frames next week...weakest ones are 6 and 7. Had a great buildup since they started brooding up first week in Dec. Many have 8 plus frames of solid brood been pulling splits all week! So almond griwers eat your heart out! anyone want some good bees? price is 250 and you pay freight unload and reload cash on delivery otherwise im staying on east coast.
 
#19 ·
Ha Ha, well like they say, one mans meat is another mans poison LOL! If you like it, all power to you. Yes I had the shelf stable.

Yes you are right about the growing anti-soy murmurings. Seems soy was origionally promoted mainly on the basis that it was a vegetarian alternative for protein etc, and as such, considered "good'.
But as time has gone on there's been a few health issues discovered with it, such as it being overdosed in mimic female hormones, they are now recommending pre adolescent boys only have it as a very occasional treat.
 
#20 ·
So Phil what was the price of almonds last year? What about this year just so I can make a relative comparison of pollination price. Over here we have growers on the blueberries that cry as well. They have these late varities that made things a pain because of the extra 10 days. Last year even later varieties requiring and extra 10 days. Based on the increase of about 2-3 weeks required for these later varieties blueberry pollination price should increase by about 40-50% in my way of thinking. Growers for sure will cry. It is universal, spans all crops and varieties across all continentsa.

Jean-Marc
 
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