crops roughly three years ago. “The cost is minimal. It’s definitely helped with our soil compaction. I see improvement during pollination. And ultimately, we get a lot of bees and a lot of pollination, and at the same time our beekeeper is happy and says the hive strength is phenomenal.” Fourth-generation almond grower and owner of Pacific Gold Agriculture, Ben King, has worked with cover crops for multiple growing seasons. In addition to the benefits he’s seen in his orchard and toward both honey bees and natural pollinators, he believes that, “looking long-term, growers need to really consider the benefits of cover crops to their orchards — having a lot more organic material and increased water infiltration is a good thing, both in the present and looking 10, 20 years down the road.”
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Stay Tuned: Bee+ Scholarship Funds To support growers in their efforts to promote pollinator health, ABC is offering its Bee+ Scholarship for the second year in a row. Last year, this scholarship allowed 135 new almond growers to join
Project Apis m.’s Seeds for Bees program and added pollinator habitat to 14,778 acres of almond orchards, a 22% increase to the footprint of almond pollinator habitat from the prior year. 1
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There are two components to the scholarship: free cover crop seed provided to almond growers through Seeds for Bees, as well as a waived Bee Friendly Farming certification fee through Pollinator Partnership, the world’s largest nonprofit dedicated to pollinators and their ecosystems. The Cover Crop BMPs and more information on the Bee+ Scholarship can be found online at almonds.com/pollination. Growers are encouraged to visit the website and explore all the tools available to support pollinators and increase soil health.
1 ht tps://www.almonds.com/about-us/press-room/almond-board-provides-seed-grants-support-pollinator-health-and-biodiversity
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