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Paramount Farms buying out beekeepers?

30K views 85 replies 34 participants last post by  babybee 
#1 ·
So I am hearing that Paramount farms is trying to buy out beekeepers. Is this true? And if so what is the end game? I hear they may be trying to buy 90 thousand hives!
 
#4 ·
Dr. Gordon Wardell is on Paramount staff, and leads their honeybee program. He has been a champion of Blue Orchard Bees, as well, and Paramount has a large Blue Orchard research program. Dr. Wardell, and another Paramount beekeeper, have taken over teaching the Beekeeping class at Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo).

Wardell has presented in numerous forums on Paramounts non-fungicide policy while bees are in the orchards. Wardell is co-author of numerous papers on IPM methods for bees, including some rigourous testing of SBB and Thymol.

Paramount purchased 2000 hives last year (per Joe Traynor), and with the level of staffing it has further direct ownership is very likely -- just a research program alone would want some thousands more colonies.

Some Paramount hives are "summering" in San Luis Obispo (on leased Cal Poly land), but a really large resident ownership would require real adjustments to provide summer forage. Seems like they would also have to buy half the state of North Dakota too.

Paramount bought a 160 acre Paso Robles winery for $65 million and a similar premium Sonoma property, so the dollar cost of 90,000 hives (and their yearly upkeep) is within its "rounding error" budget.
 
#7 ·
i think its not a good idea to have a walmart of beekeeping. maybe im wrong tho....
I think it's a great idea, but maybe I'm wrong:), let them figure out on there own how rough ($$$) it really is to bring a 12 frame avg to there own orchard. They will quickly learn that there own payment structure (paramount) blows. It's easy to make video's & run around to the coffee shop meetings and talk about it, it's a hole different ball game doing it.
 
#6 ·
i would like to hear peoples views and thoughts on this subject. please comment folks.
This is the USA. Walmarts are allowed, so are thrift shops. The almond growers have every right to buy bees, especially with the high rental price. If I had to rent a vacation house for 200,000 for three weeks, I would certainly consider buying one -- if I had the money. On the other hand, the house needs maintenance, so if I really did have the money, renting might be less worry and bother. Depends on the landlord
 
#15 ·
X2.. Decicing who can spend what on what to try and build or expand a business for profit sounds something like a current White House Briefing. This is supposed to be a free country. I expect at the rate of decline of freedom in this country, all of us on this site, regardless of Commercial or Hobby will be seeing regulations that do nothing more than create revenue for the feds to spend on what they see fit and financially burden our cause. The Great propasal of a couple weeks ago for the "Honey Bee" is nothing more than a bait and switch that will burden the Beekeeper in the end. G
 
#13 · (Edited)
you looking to sell out!! ha ha. so most of you think they will make this attempt but it will likely be more than they can chew and they will just go back to leaving the bees to the beekeepers. seems like when the pockets are deep enough anything can work.

if they wanted to buy my hives for 200 a hive and pay me a salary of 100k a year to just keep doin what im doin but they get my bees for free every spring... I might have to think about that. ha ha and they pay trucking and surup bills.
 
#16 ·
Of course they have a right to engage in free enterprise (well , maybe not in CA). It will be interesting to see what they do. Their bean counters no doubt see a way to save a nickel . Or maybe they plan to go into the honey business, targeting the Birkenstock crowd with 'Little Cuties' brand honey.The Resnicks are all about marketing.

It would be ironic if their new Bee Division decides to put bees in the citrus!
 
#17 ·
This will be interesting and likely good for the industry. Keith is right on in this situation. It will take a few years for this to work itself out. They may come to realize that it costs much more than anticipated. Whatever their budget is I do not think that they will come under budget often. It could get real interesting if they get some initial success after testing the waters with a few hives. The number 2000 was mentioned. If those hives come with a good experienced beekeeper and his crew it is "easy" to be successful. This could give a false sense of the business. One might get a little to bold and then a decision is made to go all in over the next 5 years and a jump is made to 10 000 hives next year with plans of being at 50 000 over the next 3 years.

The bee business can be scaled and there are some advantages in large businesses but... you need good employees. Hard to find at low end salaries.
Just as importantly will be the summer forage issue. One thing for 2000 hives another for 90 000 hives. The worst thing that will happen is that Paramount will come to the realisation that it costs x dollars to have x frames of bees by mid February. They may say why should we invest big dollars to do the job when beekeepers are willing to do it for less? If anything it could give beekeepers greater negotiating powers when it comes time to sign contracts. At the end of the day Paramount will likely end up having greater respect for beekeepers no matter if the go all in or not.

Jean-Marc
 
#18 ·
You guys are thinking like beekeepers, not big business. I would imagine that with 90,000 hives one could convince the political machine to swing some subsidies, etc in the right direction. Also could mean that they have already caught the scent of a change in the wind. All in all I think this is a good sign from all aspects.
 
#19 ·
What do Adees run? 65000 or so? And they get slapped hard every few years. 90,000? Man oh man.

A bit about them from L A Times:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-california-almonds-20140112-story.html

"Almonds are a major part of the farming portfolio of Beverly Hills billionaires Stewart and Lynda Resnick, who own brands such as Wonderful Pistachios, Pom Wonderful pomegranate juice and Halos mandarin oranges.

The couple's Paramount Farming Co. has been expanding its almond acreage in Kern and Madera counties to meet growing global demand for the tree nut. It farms 46,000 acres of almond orchards, a space the size of 13 Los Angeles International airports that produces 6% of the state's almonds.

"This is a natural place

to grow almonds," said Joe MacIlvaine, president of Paramount Farming, surveying the company's vast acreage in Lost Hills, a dusty flat 50 miles northwest of Bakersfield. "You need that Mediterranean-type climate or it won't work."

That means warm and dry weather almost year-round, and no frost during the crucial spring. That's when the $4.8-billion industry puts its faith in honeybees to pollinate the pink-and-white flowers blooming on the almond trees.

For Paramount, that requires hiring beekeepers to deploy nearly 3 billion buzzing insects. That has become increasingly difficult and more expensive with the sudden and mysterious death of billions of bees since 2006, a phenomenon known as bee colony collapse disorder.

"Our crop is entirely dependent on them," MacIlvaine said.

Harvesting isn't nearly as precarious, thanks to modern machinery. In the late summer, the orchards rumble with the sound of tree shakers — low-slung vehicles equipped with padded arms that rattle the tree trunks until they rain clouds of almonds and dust.

The almonds are sent to a state-of-the-art processing facility, which shells the nuts, checks them for defects and then hand-sorts them for different grades.

The company is building a packaging and roasting plant in Lost Hills — part of its plan to sell more of its almonds directly to consumers as a packaged snack. About 40% of the company's almonds are sold to major food companies such as Kellogg's for use in products including cereal.

Some of the nuts are also sold to China, where annual consumption of California almonds has more than doubled in the last five years to 208 million pounds, making it the top foreign destination for the California crop."
 
#20 ·
They can keep growing almonds down there as long as they have the political finesse to keep on snagging water from Northern California. That is if there is any left to snag. Ol MR. R needs to buy himself Diablo canyon from PGE and put in a desalination plant to keep all those trees watered. How much you want to bet he's got his hand twisting gov browns mind in the "tunnels to nowhere" project whereby they can steal more water from up north while drying up all the crops around the Delta? Almonds yes. BS..... NO
 
#21 ·
At the end of the day Paramount will likely end up having greater respect for beekeepers no matter if the go all in or not.
I think they are quite familiar with bees, beekeeping and beekeepers. I suspect many beekeepers would gladly go on salary and have a steady income, rather than having to follow the elusive honey flows. Presumably these companies have millions of acres in various states and the budget to maintain the colonies. I mean, if they pay $200 per colony already, it seems obvious they could hire a crew, pay expenses and still spend less. Otherwise, why would they attempt it?
 
#23 ·
It looks like they just want to lock in a bee supply. They have so much more money at stake in their almond acreage, that even if they operate the bees at a loss, the pollination will be worth it.IF they can pull it off.The problem isn't the few weeks in Feb, its what to do with them the rest of the year.Thats what will be interesting to me.
 
#26 ·
They are looking for complete bee operations. With the conditions that the owner manages it for a certain number of years I hear. Now who would do that unless they are paying well above market value plus a large salary that would at least match the income they had been making already.
 
#31 ·
Ian. Remember One earth farms? Well they didn't last long.
A number of Saskatchewan and Alberta First Nations plan to lease out their farmland to a company that wants to form the largest group of corporate farms in the country.

"We're pretty excited to be part of it," said Clarence Bellegarde, chief of the Little Black Bear First Nation in southern Saskatchewan. "It's a big benefit to us."

The deal, announced Thursday morning in Saskatoon, could eventually see about 400,000 hectares of farmland across Western Canada leased by One Earth Farms Corp., which will manage the project for Toronto-based Sprott Resource Corp.

First Nations, bankers, agrologists and grain industry experts are involved in the venture, Bellegarde said

The land is owned by the First Nations, but in the past they have simply leased the land to nearby farmers and have not worked the soil themselves.

Little Black Bear will be adding about 8,900 hectares to the corporation's land.

The company plans to have about 20,000 hectares in production in its first year.

The deal also involves the Muskowekwan, Starblanket and Thunderchild First Nations in Saskatchewan, and several others in Alberta, Bellegarde said.

Thunderchild First Nation, which was the first to sign on, plans to commit 20,000 hectares for leasing.

Chief Dale Awasis sees not only immediate jobs but a chance for better stewardship of the lands.

"One Earth Farms has committed to farming our land in a manner which will help our lands to rejuvenate," Awasis said. "First Nations will have the confidence that these lands will be able to provide … for future generations of our people, and, from the perspective of One Earth Farms, healthier lands provide better crops."

As part of the deal, aboriginal farmers will be hired and trained, and the bands will get shares in the new corporation, he said.

Sprott is investing $27.5 million in One Earth Farms "to establish operations, fund working capital and support its initial growth," Sprott said in a news release.

Another part of the deal will see Sprott donating $1 million for post-secondary scholarships to encourage aboriginal people to train in the agricultural industry, Bellegarde said.
 
#32 ·
Peter, I can't think of one good keeper that would do that, that has the management skills that they would require for that size of outfit.
Interesting statement. I mean, because you can't think of one -- there aren't any? Or is it that they wouldn't be "good beekeepers" in your eyes if they did that?

I have worked for several commercial operations that employed over a dozen people at times. Most did not own bees, but were good beekeepers. Many of the very large operations have dozens of employees in many states. Why wouldn't one of these go to work for a corporation? Many bee operations are incorporated, anyway.

I think you are thinking a bit narrowly. I have a good friend who is one of the best beekeepers I ever knew, and he hired on as a consultant to an almond grower. He got paid to inspect other guys' bees for colony strength. They wanted a real beekeeper on their side if there were disputes over the quality of the hives.
 
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