Central Valley Gold

In the heart of California's fruit- and nut-growing region, Fresno State is training the next generation of honeybee stewards.

“Bees are hugely important in our state in terms of agriculture and our economy. If you look at the crops we produce in the Central Valley, we’ve got almonds, stone fruit, apples, pears—all of those crops basically need bees. So we’re talking billions of dollars of revenue.”

—Dr. Jacob Wenger, assistant professor of entomology, Fresno State

When entomology professor Jacob Wenger, Ph.D., introduced a new bee biology and apiculture course at Fresno State in the spring 2019 semester, the class took no time at all to fill up. Nearly all of his students major in plant sciences and will go on to be farmers, ranchers, researchers and pest control advisors. “Most,” he explains, “will work with some fruit that requires bees—almonds, stone fruit, blueberries, melons—so understanding bee biology is important.”

The health of bees is intrinsically linked to that of agriculture, so after taking his course Dr. Wenger wants his students to be able to keep their own hives and follow best practices for handling bees that show up on their orchards.

Throughout the semester, his students connect with industry players, including bee brokers (those who act as the agent between a beekeeper and a grower seeking help with crop pollination) and beekeepers and gain hands-on beekeeping experience by building one or two new hives—the campus’s first bee colony in some time.

Watch a video about Fresno State's beekeeping and biology class to learn more.

Queen (and Kings) of the Hive

When these five Fresno State students graduate, you can be sure they won’t simply be worker drones.

Ignacio Mendoza

Senior, plant science and plant health

"What I love about bees is what they’re able to teach us. They’re very social insects. They depend on one another and they have a leader. I also try to serve as a leader in my department and as president of the Fresno State Science Club. There’s a lot we can learn from nature as far as leadership."

Shania DeJarnett

Second-year, agricultural business

"My family has beekeeping experience—about 900 hives. I love bees because there’s always something new to learn. I want to really promote this hands-on beekeeping experience here at Fresno State. I plan on going into an ag-related career and eventually have my own [ag] marketing firm."

Joseph Borges

Senior, viticulture and student manager at campus orchards

"I plan to work for a farm management company or a business involved with some type of tree fruit or nut crop that will need bees for pollination services. I like watching bees work. They’re pretty unique, pretty tough cargo workers. It’s crazy how a little insect can just wake up and get to work as soon as he gets a chance. He doesn’t really take break times during the day."

Jesus Toro

Senior, plant science and crop production management

"I recently got a job at Agriland, which works with almonds, so I wanted to see what kind of problems our pollinators are facing. My job brings me in very close contact to bees and I also recently bought my own hives. I don’t think much scares me about bees; I just don’t want my bees to die in the first year. I think that scares me.”

Luke Prys

Junior, plant science and crop production

"After graduation, I’m going to run my family’s small business [custom crop spraying application]. We work mainly with pistachios and almonds. Working with bees, we always have to be mindful that our pesticides don’t harm the bees. One of the practices we do is to call the grower ahead of time to make sure their bees are out of the way, or make sure the pesticide doesn’t affect them. We all work together to achieve a common goal."

THE BUZZ AROUND THE CSU

BEE-ING NUMBER ONE

Since spring 2018, CSU Channel Islands has offered an apiculture and bee biology course with about 15 on-campus hives. CSUCI is the first four-year college in California to be named a Bee Campus USA by the Xerces Society.

LEARN ABOUT CSUCI

INSIDE THE BELLY OF THE BEE

At CSUN, microbial ecologist and genomicist Rachel Mackelprang, Ph.D., is teaching a bee biology class that studies the insects’ gut microbiome to learn about bee health.

LEARN ABOUT CSUN

WATCH OUT FOR ZOM-BEES

San Francisco State biology professor John Hafernik, Ph.D., discovered a phenomenon that turns bees into “zombies” when they’re infected by a fly parasite.

LEARN ABOUT SFSU

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