So, most commercial almond orchards actually ship in bees from beekeepers to pollinate them every year, and as you might assume, the bees aren’t having a good time. Having their hives transported long distances is extremely stressful for them (notably, bees won’t poop inside their hive, and having to hold it in for hours cause severe health issues) the fact that they’re pollinating a monoculture is detrimental to their overall health, and these intense pollination sessions drastically reduce the lifespans of the worker bees.
Actually, this isn’t just for almonds, though that’s the most infamous. Plenty of crops rely on this practice.
What are your thoughts? Are these plant-based foods not vegan because animals were exploited in their production? How, if at all, would your thoughts differ for an orchard that had local bees on site instead of shipping bees in? I don’t think any large scale orchard relies on wild bees, so that’s probably not applicable unless you’re buying super local, like, your friend who has an almond tree in their back yard local.
Definitely not vegan.
‘Beekeepers attributed the high mortality rate to pesticide exposure, diseases from parasites and habitat loss. However, environmentalists and organic beekeepers maintain that the real culprit is something more systemic: America’s reliance on industrial agriculture methods, especially those used by the almond industry, which demands a large-scale mechanization of one of nature’s most delicate natural processes.’ … “The high mortality rate creates a sad business model for beekeepers,” says Nate Donley, a senior scientist for the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s like sending the bees to war. Many don’t come back.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/07/honeybees-deaths-almonds-hives-aoe
thanks for the thought-provoking post. here are a few links from the rabbit hole it sent me down:
- https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/10-crops-that-would-disappear-without-bees
- https://www.hortmag.com/edible-gardening/vegetable-crops-that-do-not-need-pollinators
- https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/nut-trees/almonds/hand-pollinating-almond-trees.htm
- https://www.ars.usda.gov/news-events/news/research-news/2010/ars-scientists-develop-self-pollinating-almond-trees/
- https://foodrevolution.org/blog/almonds-sustainability/
(i am going to keep eating almonds, and actually now after reading that last link (despite suspecting it might be industry propaganda) I feel a bit less bad about the water usage than I did before.)
one more link, here is a USDA report from last year Honey Bees on the Move: From Pollination to Honey Production and Back about commercial pollination services, which that almonds-sustainability article cites for its statement “More than 68% of all commercial honey bee colonies in the United States are used to pollinate almond orchards”.
Almonds, cashews… in France, we basically have to import it all, because our national production of these resources is minimal or non-existent. Without even talking about bees, which is a subject I was not aware of (thank you), the mere carbon footprint of these products forces me to consider them bad for the planet, and thus for its inhabitants. Even if it was completely neutral for the bees, the impact on the whole ecosystem is such that I would still consider it unethical. None of these products scale well, and if some vegans consume them, it might be worth keeping in mind that it is a privilege that won’t last long, especially if the vegan lifestyle becomes more widely adopted.
As to the exploitation of the bees, my personal belief as a rather moderate vegan is that exploitation OK if the situation is mutually beneficial. In the situations you describe (imported or bred locally), I’m not sure that bees would consider it to their benefice, so I would think this is not OK.
I don´t drink almond milk really because of stories like this (though I haven’t fully educated myself on the topic tbh).
One great alternative to milk I’ve found is pea milk. It’s far more nutritious than oat milk for example and it tastes pretty good.
I’ve not seen pea milk where I live, but I’ll check it out if I find it!
I am more concerned about the carbon footprint (especially water usage), that’s why I am avoiding them and avocados as much as I can.
… and stuff like coffee, which doesn’t bring you any nutrition, but the production only destroys rain forests and not even thinking about the billions of disposal cups, which gets thrown away every day.
