Almonds need bees

As California's almond season progresses, the LA Times sums up the situation and looks to the future:

The industry predicts that the acreage of bearing almond trees will grow by nearly 40% to more than 750,000 acres over the next five years. At that rate, California almond growers will require 1.5 million of the nation's 2.4 million commercial beehives to pollinate their orchards during the mid-February to early-March bloom each year, Brandi [Gene Brandi, a Los Banos beekeeper and former chairman of the National Honey Board] said.