California's almond orchards are in bloom and that has the bees busy. Without the bees to pollinate there would be no almonds.
Honeybee health has been a growing concern for beekeepers and for California farmers with crops in need of pollination.
Special "bee tech" teams are in place around the country to help improve the strength of the hives.
A group called the
Bee Informed Partnership is collecting data on hives from teams in Northern California, Oregon, Texas, and Florida.
UC Davis Beekeeping Specialist
Elina Niño says the teams can give individual beekeepers a health check on their hives.
She says, "If there is anything going on with their hives that shouldn't be going on with their hives, they can take measures to take care of any pests or pathogens, diseases they might be having."
Niño says other researchers like herself are cooperating to improve the health of bee colonies.
According to Niño, "Pooling the knowledge from all of these experts that have different expertise is certainly beneficial.”
Niño says bee health has deteriorated in the last few years with California experiencing shortages and some beekeepers reporting bee mortality of 40 percent or higher.
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