A question from our Facebook page about seeing trailers loaded with bees up north...

Q: I saw a lot of bee boxes on trailer in upper Michigan parked on fields. Always wonder what the Bee owners charge? Is it for a season or what. Of course Up Michigan season isn’t more than 4 months. Just a question.

A: Most likely the bees were there for the purpose of making honey, but that would depend in part on the time of the year and what is growing in the area. 

We send our bees to many areas, some for honey production and some for crop pollination. The ones you see way up north, like Michigan and the Dakotas (where we usually send a couple semi loads) are typically on a "honey flow" of either clover or canola and sometimes just wildflower blooms. These are not collecting a check, but often pay to be there.

The ones making honey are not typically charging the land owner anything at all, instead the beekeepers pay a fee for the use of the rights to the property during the honey season. Each hive will average anywhere from 30 to 80 pounds of honey - sometimes more on a great year. On a bad year, weather wise, when there's not much extra stored there's no harvest, so it's all expenses to get the bees there and back. 

For crop pollination, like when we send bees to Cali for the annual Almond pollination event, the growers pay a couple hundred per hive for the 6-8 week season. Other crops are less than half of that and many times the beekeeper barely breaks even after expenses with fuel and labor costs increasing each year, but pollination fees are still in the pre-covid range. 

Some of the crops honeybees pollinate include:

Alfalfa, Almond, Apple, Apricot, Avocado, Beets, Black Currant, Red Currant, Blackberry, Black-eyed Pea, Blackeye bean, Blueberry, Boysenberry, Broad Bean, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Buckwheat, Cabbage, Canola, Cantaloupe,  Carambola, Starfruit, Cardamom, Carrot, Cashew, Cauliflower, Celery, Chestnut, Chili Pepper, Red Pepper, Bell Pepper, Green Pepper, Chinese Cabbage, Clover, Coconut, Coffee, Coriander, Cotton, Cowpea, Cranberry, Crimson Clover, Cucumber, Elderberry, Feijoa, Fennel, Flax, Grape, Goa bean, Gourd, Guar bean, Guava, Hog plum, Hyacinth bean, Jujube, Karite, Kiwifruit, Lemon, Lima bean, Kidney bean, Haricot bean, Adzuki bean, Mungo bean, String bean, Green bean, Greengage, Lime, Longan, Loquat, Lupine, Lychee, Macadamia, Mammee Mango, Marrow, Melons, Mustard, Okra, Onion, Orange, Grapefruit, Tangelo, Papaya, Passion Fruit, Maracuja, Peach, Nectarine, Pear, Persimmon, Pigeon pea, Cajan pea, Congo bean, Plum, Pumpkin, Mirabelle, Pomegranate, Quince, Rambutan, Rapeseed, Raspberry, Red clover, Rose hips, Safflower, Scarlet runner bean, Sesame, Sour Cherry, Sloe, Squash, Strawberry, Sunflower, Sweet Cherry, Tamarind, Tangerine, Turnip, Watermelon, White Clover and Zucchini.
  

Click here for a complete List of crop plants pollinated by bees - Wikipedia

Follow these links for more information about Pollination in general:

Pollination Fact Sheet - esa.org
Pollination Facts - American Beekeeping Federation

As honey bees gather pollen and nectar for their survival, they pollinate crops such as apples, cranberries, melons and broccoli. Some crops, including blueberries and cherries, are 90-percent dependent on honey bee pollination; one crop, almonds (excluding the new wind pollinated variety), depends entirely on the honey bee for pollination at bloom time.

Honey Bees and Pollination | National Honey Board

Honeybees collect nectar and store it as honey in their hives. Nectar and honey provide the energy for the bees' flight muscles and for heating the hive during winter.