An Open Letter to Beekeepers and Cranberry Growers
by David Curtis and Ron Bennett
The following letter is intended to help both beekeepers and cranberry growers understand the situation and shortage of beekeepers willing to work cranberries in recent years. The hope is to find a common ground to discuss these problems and find solutions. After all, beekeepers providing pollination services are in the business of increasing grower’s yields and therefore their bottom line profits.
CRANBERRY POLLINATION - ISSUES RELATIVE TO THE HONEY BEE SHORTAGE
The following is a compiling of many of the reasons the cranberry growers in the Bandon area are finding it more and more difficult to find beekeepers. Through this analysis it is hoped that the information will be suitable for the growers to understand and be able to work towards remending the situations that are within their means to make the pollination more cost effective and enticing for the beekeepers. Please note that all figures have been worked from a minimum stand point. As with any farmer, the beekeeping industry is also weather oriented. Due to this, each of the graphs, and their numbers represented, are subject to changes in any given year. This information is being passed to all the growers to let them know that the Bandon area is considered a hardship area for beekeepers.
1. Cost Effectiveness for the Beekeeper.
a. 1997 average pollination on the West Coast @$36.00/hive. The average time frame for the pollination @160 days.
In the past, before the hybrid variety of cranberry plants, the pollination time was around three weeks. Because of the new plants mixed with all the others this time has more than doubled, however the pollination prices have not risen to account for the longer pollination cycle. In the northern mid-west and East coast the pollination times have remained the same, but the pollination cost is between 60 and 75 dollars per hive.
b. With the Eastern pollination, it is possible to produce a honey crop in addition to the pollination revenue. Although at the outset, in the Bandon area, honey is also collected by the hives, with the long duration of the pollination set, it is not uncommon that the honey collected is eaten up by the bees and the bees in certain areas have to be fed, adding again to the bee keepers expense.
c. Adverse weather conditions play a major role in hive degradation. Resulting in lost revenue, and added labor, trying to build the hives back up after the pollination to make honey and insure a minimum loss to be able to operate the following year. Hives in the cranberry pollination need additional surveillance to reduce the excessive swarming known to occur in the Bandon area. This alone, experienced by many, accounts for between 20%-30% loss of hives. Although the real reason has yet to be found, some think the intense spring bloom is part of the cause. The bees start to swarm for no normal reason, literally swarming completely out of the hive. Those that do manage to requeen often have an inferior new queen because bad weather and high winds do not allow the virgin queens to be properly mated. So it is prudent for all hives that were used in the pollination to be requeened. Again either an actual expense from $8-10 per queen or the man hours required to make ones own queens at a remote location. Some beekeepers, in addition have noted failing, or a dying out of queens in the Fall with the hives used in the cranberries. No scientific reason has yet been found, but hives used for cranberry pollination do not produce a honey crop after removal from the cranberries and require extra attention in Fall just to survive. This is an additional reason why most try to requeen their hives to prevent the loss of the hive at a time of the year when it can't be replaced.
2. Logistics and Time elements detrimental to the Cranberry Pollination.
Please note that in the 1997 year, the unusually weather conditions made it apparent to all the beekeepers that it is very difficult to get the bees to the growers in a timely fashion. This is another reason why all the major beekeepers are cutting back on the number of pollinations they are doing in cranberries and avoiding the problems and actual dangers of excessive amounts of time with no sleep.
a. Bandon area has approximately 2,500-3,000 acres of Cranberries, with very few growers exceeding 30-40 acres each. Result, a large number of individuals requiring small amounts of bees. The amount of acreage justifies the need for commercial beekeepers, since there aren't enough small beekeepers available. However because there are so many small growers, the amount of time needed to deliver makes it difficult, if not impossible, under current conditions.
b. Poor road conditions and difficult access to the bogs add greatly to the amount of time necessary to deliver the bees. In addition, because of many of the rough roads, great amounts of bees are lost during the delivery process out to the growers, resulting in the hives having a lessened worker pollinating force for several days.
c. Growers lack planning for placements for the hives. In order to ensure enough bees are available commercial beekeepers have to be used. However due to the volume of bees they work with they are required to work with loaders since the bees are on pallets. Few growers have accounted for this with the areas where they want their bees. Due to this, huge amounts of time is lost preventing the commercial beekeeper from timely deliveries. Planning with a pollinating professional (beekeeper), will greatly enhance the ability to ensure having bees.
Even small beekeepers have problems delivering bees to the bogs. The roads may be good for the grower in late Spring and Summer, but beekeepers are trying to negotiate these bog roads at night, with one or two ton trucks fully loaded with a heavy and high-center-of-gravity load. This makes for a slow and labor-intensive delivery of the bees even for non-palletized operators.
3. Alternate sources of revenue competing with Cranberry pollination per hive.
gross per hive |
$ 37.00 |
Re-queen |
7.00 |
Adjusted Gross |
$ 30.00 |
May - Meadowfoam |
$ 35.00 |
| June, July - Caneberries, Strawberries, Pumpkins, assorted seeds |
35-15.00 |
| minimum gross available | 50.00 |
| no hive loss or re-queen | -0- |
| Adjusted Gross | $ 50.00 |
(note - most of these traditional mid-season crops also produce a honey crop for the beekeeper)
| May 1 super = @ 35 lbs x $.75-.85 per lb. wholesale | $ 26.25 |
| June 1 super | 26.25 |
| July gross honey income = $52.50 | |
| no trucking or re-queen | -0- |
| Adjusted Gross | $ 52.50 |
| May 1 split or nuc | $ 35.00 |
| June 1 split or nuc | 35.00 |
| no trucking or re-queen | -0- |
| Adjusted Gross | $ 70.00 |
4. Profit/Loss Analysis for Cranberry Pollination
| 100 hives x $37.00 - $3700.00 | |
| 25 hives represents average percentage loss resulting directly from cranberry pollination x $40.00 per hive for equal amount of large package of bees - $ 1000.00 | |
| 25 x $5.00 av. cost per hive for combined trucking and living expense - $ 125.00 | |
| 75 remaining hives x$ 7.00 Re-queening - $ 600.00 | |
| gross income | 3700.00 |
| less - 1000.00 hive loss | -1000.00 |
| less - 125.00 trans/living costs | - 125.00 |
| less - 600.00 re-queening | - 600.00 |
| Adjusted Gross Income | $ 1975.00 |
| = per hive income of $ 19.75 | |
| 25 (minimum) supers of honey not made x $26.25 $ 625.25 | - 625.25 |
| from a. above | 1975.00 |
| Adjusted Gross | $ 1348.75 |
| = per hive income of $13.49 |
c. Reverse Equation by not pollinating Cranberries and what the long term revenue loss is from the 25 hives. Hives can be split each year in addition to a split being sold for revenue. (These figure are exclusive of the capital costs for the hives and represent only the revenue side.)
| YEAR | Almonds |
Splits | Honey | Total |
| 1 25 hives | $37 ea | $40 ea | $26.25 ea | $2581.25 |
| 2 50 hives | 5162.00 | |||
| 3 100 hives | 10325.00 | |||
| 4 200 hives | 20650.00 |
note: the 25 hives revenue alone accounts for 70% of what was made with 100 in the cranberries.
Summary - What can we do to help growers and beekeepers?
What we have not included in this analysis is the ongoing overhead of labor and capital costs. But even without these figures included (since the beekeeper would incur these costs regardless of the crop pollinated) it is clear that pollinating cranberries for less than about $45 per hive is not cost-effective for the beekeeper, even if the beekeeper is relatively local to the Bandon area. If the beekeeper is hauling in from California, the Willamette Valley, or Washington, the transportation costs increase dramatically, and the costs of servicing the hives (re-queening and feeding) increase in both travel costs and time allotments.
This above information explains why there have been a constant turnover in beekeepers serving the Bandon area. We beekeepers may be a slow bunch, but long and expensive visits to the hives, 25-30% loss and ending up with weak hives in poor conditioned is a real wake-up call. Clearly renting a hive for $24 and hauling them from Washington or California is the quick road to business failure, or at least working for less that minimum wage.
What can be done to assure cranberry growers a reliable supply of bee for pollination and keep beekeepers from abandoning cranberries as a crop? The short answer is increasing the pollination fee rates to cover the actual costs. $45-50 or more is not out of line with what cranberry growers pay in the two other major cranberry growing regions in the Mid-West and East Coast ($75-90 per hive). But what really needs to happen is for beekeepers and cranberry growers to sit down together and try to find solutions that will assure the grower of reliable supply and beekeepers of a reasonable profit for their efforts and investment.
Pollination services are the single greatest factor which will determine the yield a grower can get from their crop. Quality hives, properly placed and maintained, will dramatically improve the yield in cranberries. This has been demonstrated by the work of Kim Patten for WSU and in “An Evaluation of Pollinator Management as Applied in the Commercial Production of Cranberries - 1987” Submitted to The Oregon Cranberry Growers Association by Michael Burgett, Assoc. Professor Department of Entomology, OSU and Arthur Poole, Extension Agent-Cranberries Horticultural Crop Management, Coos County Extension Service.
In this report, the researchers concluded that in 1986, the cost of hive rentals represented less than 1% of the gross yield to the grower. Now, it seems to us that if we had a service we could buy for 1% of our income that ensure the success of our hives, we would jump at the opportunity to enhance that service and support it to the fullest.
We also need to address the access to the bogs in early Spring, and better planning of the delivery time and schedule. We need to look at placing the hives with some form of protection from the winds which are a constant problem for the bees. When you stand and watch a returning bee miss the hive by three feet and struggle with her load to find the entrance, it is no wonder that the adult population in the hives decrease in the Bandon area during cranberry pollination.
We need to work with growers on the issue of spraying for pests. There are several cranberry pests that are at their maximum during the pollination cycle. Some growers have tried using Diazanon and irrigation right afterward. Research at WSU Long Beach has shown that Diazanon can be used during the pollination cycle if it is sprayed at night and irrigated for 3-4 hours to dilute it to a safe level for bees, but few growers have commited to the time and expense of 3-4 hours of heavy spray irrigation spraying. The result is that they kill their pests alright, but they also kill all the field bees as well. This is not only a loss for the beekeeper, but it is a dramatic loss for the grower as well. It takes another three-week brood cycle for all those lost field bees to be replaced and the loss of nectar/pollen input to the hive drops the next cycle of brood as well. This means that the grower has just killed off three to eight weeks of pollination at the time when the cranberries are at their peak of flower! Maybe we need to work out some way to move the bees or other ways to deal with cranberry pests that do no result in pollination loss and bee hive stress.
Drs. Burgett and Royce at OSU and Patten at WSU as well as others back East have done extensive research on this high-value crop. With all this information at hand, we need to work with growers to implement a solution to these issues. It is in all of our best interest - after all, how can we expect to increase our income if we cannot also increase the grower’s income as well?
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