Bees a benefit to alfalfa growers.

The Imperial County Farm Bureau gals often get random calls from people driving through the Valley asking about crops growing adjacent to the highways. And every summer we get at least one call asking what the big boxes scattered in the middle and around the fields are.

What our visitors are seeing are either honey bees or leaf cutter bees used by farmers to pollinate their crops. During the summer months in Imperial Valley, alfalfa is the only crop with active bees.

While most people associate bees with honey, they also play a valuable role in our farming operations.

Pollination is mutually beneficial to plants and to bees. Pollination results in the production of seeds and is necessary for plants to reproduce. On the flip side, pollinators receive nectar and pollen from the flowers they visit.

Pollination is important because it leads to the production of fruits, vegetables, nuts and forage necessary for human and animal consumption. This occurs when the pollinator moves the pollen from the male plant to the female plant.

There are two types of bees currently working in our alfalfa fields — honey bees and cutter bees.

Honey bees are managed year-round for the production of honey and pollination. A colony will continue to survive as long as their health permits. Everything a honey bee does is for the survival of the hive. The colony will work together to keep the hive healthy, paying close attention to the health of the queen.

Cutter bees are more of an individual worker. Bees are incubated in a climate controlled facility until the time is right for pollination of an alfalfa crop.

Although they are different, both honey bees and cutter bees work together in the production of alfalfa. Cutter bees thrive when the crop is healthy, working to pollinate the plant for greater yields. On the contrary, honey bees work best when the alfalfa plant is stressed. This happens when the crop is not cut but rather allowed to produce seed.

Imperial County is one of the main alfalfa seed producers in the world.

Honey bees have a rich history in Imperial Valley; however, cutter bees are relatively new to farming operations but have quickly grown in population over the past few years.

Unlike cutter bees that are specific to alfalfa crops, honey bees pollinate many different local crops including alfalfa, citrus, melons, and onion seed. In the winter months, they are transported to the Central Valley to pollinate almond orchards.

One major issue facing beekeepers is keeping their colonies healthy. Lack of forage around our Valley, and California, has been the biggest problem contributing to the reduction of bee population.

Drought conditions throughout California has contributed to less forage, or weeds, along the roadways and open rangeland. And in general, communities, including Imperial Valley have over time been better at killing unwanted weeds.

Although this equates to a cleaner, more eye-pleasing environment for us humans, it has resulted in less blooming flowers needed to feed the bees.

In addition, fallowed crops as a result of water transfers from Imperial Valley have impacted bee populations greatly over the years.

In response, beekeepers have begun to subsidize the lack of forage by manually feeding their bees to alleviate the stress and keep their bees healthy.

Just as bees are important to a crop, the honey produced by bees can also be good medicine for humans. If you suffer from allergies, especially common Valley hay fever, just add some honey to your daily diet. A spoonful of local raw alfalfa honey is the best medicine for those itchy eyes.

Bees are possibly the most natural and important piece of our sustainability. Their health and ability to work is vital to our environment.