the bee trade,”• Cattle ranches and grain farms still prevail in the middle and southern plains, but inthe northwestern plains, many farmers have been putting their land into the FederalConservation Reserve program, which is aimed at stopping soil erosion and savingwater by paying farmers to take land out of production.• It is the return of native grasses and wildflowers that brought beekeepers and theirhives to the northern plains. For some years now, beekeepers have “”parked”” theirbeehives in this area so that their bees can produce honey by feeding on the nectarand pollen of prairie wildflowers.• During a few lucrative weeks in February, when the almond groves near Fresno inthe Central Valley of California are in bloom, the beekeepers truck their thousandsof beehives (containing as many as a billion bees) to pollinate California’s CentralValley almond flowers (Figure 2.48).• California produces two-thirds of the world’s almonds; without the bees topollinate, there would be no almonds. When the almond bloom is over
the beesneed to return to their Great Plains wildflower sanctuary.”