Commercial pollination is a service business built on renting bee colonies to growers for a few weeks each bloom. A beekeeper trucks hives — usually at night, when foragers are inside — onto a farm, spaces them across the orchard blocks, and is paid per hive under a written contract that specifies minimum colony strength, delivery and pickup dates, and grower liabilities such as pesticide notice.
California almonds alone need roughly two-thirds of all managed honeybee colonies in the United States each February — the single largest managed pollination event in the world, moving well over a million hives across the country by truck.
An interactive 3D orchard where hive placement density, colony strength, contract pricing and bloom stage all interact to determine pollination coverage and the grower's rental bill.
Each hive cluster's effective foraging radius depends on colony strength; the orchard floor tints red-to-green tree by tree to show where coverage falls short, while a running tally shows hive count, total rental cost and cost per acre.
Drag the density and strength sliders to reposition hive clusters and resize their coverage, adjust the $/hive price to see the grower's bill change, pick a bloom stage, and flip on night delivery to watch the transport truck arrive after dusk.
Standard almond pollination contracts specify a minimum of six to eight frames of bees per colony — beekeepers who fall short can be paid less or have hives rejected on inspection.