A program for three crops in Oregon is patterned after an arrangement between California almond growers and bee producers.
Mitch Lies
Western Farm Press
May 16, 2025
Veteran Oregon beekeeper Harry Vanderpool remembers days when it appeared some farmers weren’t over concern about the health of his bees.
“I wondered in a few instances if the growers would say ‘You see the beekeeper over there? He’ll be gone in a few minutes and what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him,’” Vanderpool said.
Today, with Bee Protection Protocols in place for three Oregon crops, Vanderpool said that those days are over. “With the protocols, growers realize that, ‘Yeah, it’s going to hurt me as well as hurt them, because it all works together,’” Vanderpool said.
Seven years after the establishment of the first of the three Bee Protection Protocols in Oregon, Vanderpool and Oregon State University Extension Pollinator Health Specialist Andony Melathopoulos reflected back on what it took to develop the protocols and the changes that have occurred since.
Patterned after an arrangement between California almond growers and beekeepers, the Bee Protection Protocols in Oregon were started when the Specialty Seed Growers of Western Oregon convened a meeting with beekeepers to begin an arrangement that has benefited both industries.
The protocols include management recommendations for growers and beekeepers to follow to ensure both their needs are met. Oregon clover growers and beekeepers subsequently established a protocol in 2020, and the Oregon blueberry industry established the state’s third protocol with beekeepers earlier this year.
Almond growers developed their protocol with beekeepers, called Honey Bee Best Management Practices, in 2014.
Ideal candidate
Melathopoulos said that it was former Oregon Department of Agriculture official Rose Kachadoorian who identified specialty seed growers as the ideal candidate for the first protocols in Oregon.
“Rose said this group in particular have been the easiest to work with, that you are always cooperative and have good relationships with the beekeepers,” Melathopoulos said to the grower group in its annual meeting earlier this year.
The first step in developing the protocols, Melathopoulos said, was identifying who to bring together, and growers reached out to Vanderpool, a former president of the Oregon State Beekeepers Association. Vanderpool had presented the beekeeper side of pollination services to grower groups in the past, and said he had no reservations about joining the group.
“I had been going around speaking at pesticide recertification classes and the growers had always been very grateful,” Vanderpool said. “So, I was very familiar talking about pesticides and pollinators. And it was always in a non-adversarial way. There were no villains.”
“Harry said real clearly that nobody is making any money and we’re not in the mood to pound our fist on the table,” Melathopoulos said. “We want to have a conversation. We want to build bridges.”
In 2017, Vanderpool, representatives of the grower group, crop consultants and OSU Extension faculty began working through issues growers and beekeepers face during crop pollination. Within one meeting the group had the start of a framework of what has become a model for other commodity groups in Oregon to follow.
“It was fantastic,” Vanderpool said. “We started from the beginning: Growers said, ‘Okay, here’s the crop, we’re getting ready to need some bees, but we’ve got to apply some critical pesticides and fungicides.’ In one day, we, the farmers and beekeepers, just went through the whole year together and when we were done, when we were standing in the hallway afterwards, everybody was looking around, shaking their heads and going, ‘We should have done this years ago.’
“It turned out to be way more valuable than we even originally envisioned,” he said.
Mutually beneficial
Charles Ortiz, president of the Specialty Seed Growers of Western Oregon, said working with beekeepers has helped drive home the importance of being cognizant of beekeeper needs and of how meeting those needs helps growers.
“At a time when up to 65 percent of colonies aren’t making it through the winter for some beekeepers, focusing on bee safety is a significant role that growers can play,” Ortiz said. “And the collaboration between growers, researchers and beekeepers that resulted in the development of the bee safety protocols has resulted in an educational and crop-management tool that enhances pollination services for growers while getting them more bang for their buck, because safe and healthy hives perform better.”
“If the bees do well, the crop does well,” Vanderpool said. “And we were able to come up with a plan to make that happen.”
The protocols, which are similar across crops, include recommended management practices, starting with a grower’s responsibility to inform beekeepers of their pollination needs beginning in January.
Melathopoulos said that if a grower is working with a beekeeper for the first time, it is best to start with a contract. “Over time, you will probably just be exchanging text messages,” he said, “but it’s good to lay out your expectations.”
Among other terms, he said the contract should specify the crop type to be pollinated, number of colonies needed, minimum strength of colonies, as well as address colony placement and beekeeper access. Melathopoulos said it is also a good idea to identify the costs to pull out colonies in case a grower needs to apply an insecticide during bloom.
Next, about ten days before the bees come into an operation, growers should contact the beekeeper, let them know the expected move-in date and complete all pre-bloom insecticide sprays. “Those should be done at least four days before move-in, and then firm up the move-in date 72 hours prior to move-in,” Melathopoulos said.
Bees should be moved in to an operation typically at around 10 percent bloom. The protocols also establish when a beekeeper is expected to remove colonies from a field.
If a grower needs to apply an insecticide during bloom, Melathopoulos said it is important to do so in the evening and to select products that will break down overnight.
“There is also some concern about fungicides,” he said. “If you can get those on in the evening, that would be great, as well. And evening means like 8 p.m. on.”
Hive placement
In addressing colony placement, protocols stipulate that beekeepers prefer to avoid placing colonies adjacent to busy highways. And beekeepers prefer to bunch hives away from a crop rather than in the middle of it. In some cases, such as in small fields, it isn’t possible to meet the provisions, Melathopoulos said, but it is important to do so when possible.
A few days after hives are placed, Melathopoulos advised growers to inspect the hives for colony strength. “You can do this from your truck,” he said. “You can just kind of scan the front of the colony, and if you have a weak colony, you can put up a flag in front of it and call the beekeeper. Even the best beekeepers in this state are occasionally going to have a dead colony. It’s inevitable and they’ll want to help you out and replace it.”
To gauge colony strength, Melathopoulos said growers should count foragers returning to the hive on about 25 percent of the colonies. “If there is less than five bees in one minute, that colony is likely not alive,” he said. “If a colony is super strong, you’re not going to be able to keep pace with the counting. It’s going to be too vigorous.”
While the provisions don’t address every issue that may arise between a grower and a beekeeper, Oregon’s Bee Protection Protocols have gone a long way to easing conflicts and improving relationships between the two industries over the past seven years, Melathopoulos said. And, according to growers and beekeepers, both parties are better off for it.
Originally published: https://www.farmprogress.com/conservation-and-sustainability/beekeepers-growers-benefiting-from-bee-protection-protocols
Specialty Seed Growers of Western Oregon 