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My father keeps bees as a hobby and he's seen the same problems with a few hives in a city that (presumably) doesn't spray pesticides. It's a combination of man

My father keeps bees as a hobby and he's seen the same problems with a few hives in a city that (presumably) doesn't spray pesticides. It's a combination of many problems, not least the big one that is the varroa parasite that by sucking bee haemolymph (in much the same way fleas suck blood) can introduce disease. One thing that sticks out though, why are almond farmers spraying pesticides to control weeds rather than letting someone with cattle graze under the trees and add in the bonus of free fertiliser?

jelliclesfarm 10y ago
Regulations. You can't have fresh manure lying between crop rows. Cows and goats and pigs poop a lot. Many would also eat fruit from the trees. Altho re almonds, I am not sure but it could be toxic to them? The sheer logistics of running animals through thousands of acres is mind boggling. Because most of our food comes from farms that are massive. With the exception of a few commodity crops, it makes more sense to have more urban farmland within cities than having a rural vs urban area. Mostly because the population is showing no signs of reducing and the demand for housing is only going to go up. Having several hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland only concentrates pollution and stresses resources. Creates labour and wage inelasticities. Meanwhile urban areas are becoming crowded. City approves high density urban centers which instead of reducing carbon footprint(they only take into account very few parameters) actually end up increasing collective carbon footprints. We have seen this in every crowded city in the world from Shanghai to Mumbai to Paris to London. And everyone starts commuting to crowded centers making the problem worse and reducing even more farmable land. And meanwhile population keeps increasing. No one ever said that the air is pristine in high density urban central London. Ever. Smaller sized farms catering to local demand is more sustainable. But I digress. Logistics and regulations. Having said that..I speak only from what little I know about agriculture in California. Not sure about the rest of USA/world. [..]iNerdier: One thing that sticks out though, why are almond farmers spraying pesticides to control weeds rather than letting someone with cattle graze under the trees and add in the bonus of free fertiliser?[..]
jelliclesfarm 10y ago
Also: weeds are not always bad. Clover, dandelion, thistles..these are all considered weeds. But they are the earliest to bloom in spring and have nectar for bees to forage. After winter, when bees come out..starving and needing energy, these first sources of nectar is very important for the hive to survive and thrive. Weeds are important. They are highly resilient and they survive where they are not wanted. They have a purpose too..my other pet peeve with modern farming is the mass destruction and obesssion with weed elimination.
nikdaheratik 10y ago
According to the article, the drought is the main reason as they couldn't afford to flood the fields at the start of the season which would have controlled most of the weeds otherwise. And there's no reason to believe that cattle would only eat what you want them to or wouldn't trample some of the younger trees.

jelliclesfarm 10y ago

Regulations. You can't have fresh manure lying between crop rows. Cows and goats and pigs poop a lot. Many would also eat fruit from the trees. Altho re almonds, I am not sure but it could be toxic to them? The sheer logistics of running animals through thousands of acres is mind boggling. Because most of our food comes from farms that are massive. With the exception of a few commodity crops, it makes more sense to have more urban farmland within cities than having a rural vs urban area. Mostly because the population is showing no signs of reducing and the demand for housing is only going to go up. Having several hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland only concentrates pollution and stresses resources. Creates labour and wage inelasticities. Meanwhile urban areas are becoming crowded. City approves high density urban centers which instead of reducing carbon footprint(they only take into account very few parameters) actually end up increasing collective carbon footprints. We have seen this in every crowded city in the world from Shanghai to Mumbai to Paris to London. And everyone starts commuting to crowded centers making the problem worse and reducing even more farmable land. And meanwhile population keeps increasing. No one ever said that the air is pristine in high density urban central London. Ever. Smaller sized farms catering to local demand is more sustainable. But I digress. Logistics and regulations. Having said that..I speak only from what little I know about agriculture in California. Not sure about the rest of USA/world. [..]iNerdier: One thing that sticks out though, why are almond farmers spraying pesticides to control weeds rather than letting someone with cattle graze under the trees and add in the bonus of free fertiliser?[..]

jelliclesfarm 10y ago

Also: weeds are not always bad. Clover, dandelion, thistles..these are all considered weeds. But they are the earliest to bloom in spring and have nectar for bees to forage. After winter, when bees come out..starving and needing energy, these first sources of nectar is very important for the hive to survive and thrive. Weeds are important. They are highly resilient and they survive where they are not wanted. They have a purpose too..my other pet peeve with modern farming is the mass destruction and obesssion with weed elimination.

nikdaheratik 10y ago

According to the article, the drought is the main reason as they couldn't afford to flood the fields at the start of the season which would have controlled most of the weeds otherwise. And there's no reason to believe that cattle would only eat what you want them to or wouldn't trample some of the younger trees.