Almond Living Magazine

Almond Board Achieves Milestone in Honey Bee Health Protection With Best Management Practices Guidelines

It would not be a stretch to say that billions of hard-working honey bees comprise the most important element in producing abundant California almond harvests. Of course, good soil, climate, water and other factors are crucial, but without the bees to pollinate our trees every spring, there would be no almonds.

Irrigation Advances Are Transforming How We Farm

On this blog and elsewhere, we have often talked about having improved water efficiency as an industry by 33% over the last 20 years1 for more ?crop per drop.? Have you been wondering how individual farmers have been implementing such water-conserving systems?

Almond Board Commits $2.5M to Next-Gen Farming Practices

Yesterday, we announced that we’re investing $2.5 million to independent, third party research into next-generation farming practices. This will be distributed across 56 different projects including thirteen water projects, nine honey bee health projects, and ongoing support for the California Almond Sustainability Program (CASP) 1. We are, above everything else, Californians. When it comes to the drought, we share the...

Almonds Are Not a Particularly Thirsty Crop

The share line on Robin Abcarian?s piece in the LA Times says it all: ?Picking on almond farmers might be all the rage, but it will do nothing to solve the state?s water shortage.?

Blooming Plants in Almond Orchards Enrich Both Soil and Honey Bees

Almond grower Gino Favagrossa plants blooming seeds in the orchard to provide additional food source for bees after almond pollination, to enrich the soil with nutrients and improve the soil so water can better reach the tree roots.Across California’s Central Valley, many almond growers plant blooming seeds in or near their orchards to keep bees happy, enrich the soil with...

National Pollinator Week - Taking Care of Our Hardest Workers

In honor of National Pollinator Week, it is important to recognize the mutually beneficial relationship between almonds and honey bees that enables both to survive and thrive. Without a healthy bee population to pollinate our blossoms, there would be no almonds and without almond blossoms, bees would lose their first major natural source of food in the spring that makes them stronger after a long winter.