Stand Aside, California Wine

Where does Cali get all its cash? Wine, right? Nope, it turns out that California's #1 horiticultural export is almonds! That's right, in this great piece in the Guardian, Allison Benjamin writes that in 2007 almonds earned the state of California, "more than $1.9bn, double the revenue from its Napa Valley vineyards." Ok, clearly almonds are a defining feature of California's landscape and economy.

And almonds needs bees. Bees come from far and wide to help California pollinate their colossal almond crop. But with colony collapse and the rest of the erratic weather shaking planet earth, bees are harder and harder to come by. Apparently this year is crazy than ever - the bee deficit is driving almond prices up. The Daily Green reported last week that the price of renting a colony for Cali is through the rough. "Three weeks ago if you asked $150 rent for colony you'd be laughed right out of the almond orchard. Today, $200 isn't an uncommon offer, and the line goes out to the parking lot for growers wanting to pay that amount."

How much does colony rental factor into almond prices? Check this out. The biggest almond producer in the world, Paramount Farming, was featured in the Economist. The president of the company reported that renting bees now makes up 15% of the total cost of the company's costs. If bees continue to disappear, we'll soon be paying something short of the price of gold for all our favorite fruit and nut crops.