A farm 6km away from the Brentwood cherry farm. The Brentwood fields at the end of January still harbored winter’s chill.
Frederick Harris stood in the middle of the farm wearing knee-high work boots. His gaze swept across the endlessly stretching new 200-acre farm.
“It’s quite different from cherries and walnuts, isn’t it?”
His son Brandon muttered, grabbing and dropping soil in his palm.
“The ground does feel different from the start. The particles feel very coarse and dry? But do you really think almonds will keep doing well in the future, like Brian said? From what I looked into, prices have been steadily rising in the market, little by little. When I told people we sold the walnut farm and bought an almond farm, some kids were worried, and some friends were envious.”
Even if Brandon had no interest in farming, his friends were basically middle-class white kids or above, and in the countryside, middle-class whites often farmed.
Moreover, since his father was a farm owner, it was natural for his friends to be close to that world.
“It won’t be bad. Brian’s eye for the market is no worse than mine. You saw how the previous owner suddenly raised the price when we were buying the farm, right?”
“Ah… That was really annoying. He suddenly raised it by $200,000… In the end, I felt it was such a waste that we paid $100,000 more.”
“That stung for me too.”
But the fact that the previous owner had tried not to sell even while raising the price further was proof—if anything—that the almond market was getting better and better. In the actual market, demand for almonds was steadily rising too.
Above all, what he liked was export demand. Demand from Asia and the Middle East for American almonds was substantial, so he was confident that as long as they shipped almonds, they wouldn’t suffer losses.
Just then, the sound of a car was heard from afar, and an out-of-place BMW Z4 approached and stopped at the farm. Frederick, knowing who owned the car, grinned broadly, while Brandon’s mouth twisted even more.
Meanwhile, inside the Z4 that arrived at the farm, Chloe pouted.
“I took out a loan of over a million dollars… You get to work with Dad and spend less money… I don’t like it.”
“You’re just jealous.”
Having teased her like that, I got out of the car with Chloe and approached Frederick and his son, now the owners of the almond farm.
“You came together? The car looks nice?”
“Haha, thank you. We came together from school. Have you been doing everything as I instructed before?”
Right after first acquiring the farm, I had told Frederick what needed to be done. Of course, since I had a contract to take 30% of the profits from the company he established, I told him in very great detail. The better the almond farm did, the better it was for Redwood too.
Frederick nodded.
“Of course. We cleanly cleared the harvest residue and completely disposed of the mummy nuts (diseased fruit). We had to use quite a few workers just for that.”
No matter how much people say machines do all the farming in America, there were still many parts that required human hands.
“You did well. If you just do that properly, you can reduce pest damage by about half next year. How did you apply the fertilizer?”
“We supplemented mainly with nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) as you instructed. Nitrogen at 30–40 pounds per acre? Potassium at about 40–60 pounds per acre. We gave plenty of water too.”
“You shouldn’t give too much.”
“We didn’t give that much.”
I touched the soil next to the almond tree trunks with my hand. Just as Frederick had said, it was not in an overwatered state.
When I made a satisfied expression, Frederick continued his explanation.
“We also installed pheromone traps to prepare for diseases and pests, and started accumulating data.”
“Good. You also need to check where the pests are moving.”
At my words, Brandon butted in.
“We need to know where pests are moving too?”
It was a question asking if they really needed to know such things. Since it was perfectly reasonable to think that, I explained in detail.
“Pests… especially navel orangeworms, leafrollers, and bark beetles usually move to new habitats in October when the fruit disappears and temperatures drop, searching for places to lay eggs or overwinter. So checking their movement means confirming where the pests are moving from and to right now, and the reason we need to know this… is because we have to identify their overwintering sites to reduce damage next year.”
“Ah…”
Brandon made a face showing he understood.
“The navel orangeworm, a representative pest of almonds, moves in its adult stage to lay eggs inside remaining fruit or mummy nuts, preparing to overwinter there. If you install traps and accumulate data, you can know how many pests remain on the farm and where they are moving.”
At my explanation, Frederick patted Brandon’s shoulder.
“You understood?”
“Yes, I understand.”
Watching Frederick look satisfied as his son nodded, I asked,
“Then to what extent is the pest map completed now?”
“We haven’t been able to make it to that extent yet.”
Frederick looked embarrassed. Thinking about it, I supposed that since there had been so much to do, they might not have had time to make a pest map.
“Then check with the workers, re-examine the trap data, and complete the pest map. That way, it’ll be easier to prepare for diseases and pests.”
“We’ll do that. We also checked all the valves and lines, and thoroughly inspected for any leaks.”
“You’ve worked hard. As I said before, if walnuts and cherries were farming by instinct, almonds are farming by calculation. From now on, you must trust numbers and data even more than you do now.”
“I shall keep that in mind.”
Frederick listened to my words with the concentration of a student. Though he had farmed for decades, he had passionate eyes as if he had forgotten his age, perhaps because learning a new crop was exciting.
“And the reason I came today is that there’s one more thing you need to prepare. I mentioned beekeeping before, right?”
“Beekeeping? Ah, right.”
Just then, a truck pulling a trailer was entering from afar.
“Could that be…?”
“Yes, I called them. It’s the beekeeping company’s vehicle.”
“Ah, I see.”
I walked slowly toward the vehicle, waving. Soon, a truck emblazoned with the words “H. COOPER APIARIES” stopped in front of me, and a middle-aged man who looked to be in his fifties got out.
“I’m Harold Cooper. I came at the appointed time, so I’m not late, am I?”
“Of course not. This way…”
I turned and spoke to Frederick.
“This gentleman is the beekeeper.”
Frederick, who already knew he would need to learn about beekeeping when running an almond farm, smiled brightly.
“I’m Frederick Harris. This is my son and business partner, Brandon.”
“Pleased to meet you.”
“I always thought I’d need to learn about beekeeping someday, so I’ve studied a bit in my spare time. Seems today is the day. So what you have loaded in there are beehives…?”
“That’s correct.”
“Oh, I see. How many did you rent?”
At that moment, Harold Cooper, who didn’t understand Frederick’s question, looked at me.
“I suppose you haven’t heard about the contract?”
“Ah, I haven’t told him yet.”
I spoke to Frederick.
“It’s not just a lease. It’s a deal with a purchase option. For now, we lease them while a professional management company takes care of the bees, and in two years you can decide whether to purchase or continue leasing.”
“So we can buy after renting?”
“Yes. However, if you decide to purchase now, the price is fixed at the current point in time, but if you purchase after two years, it will be based on the price at that future time.”
“Ah…”
Realizing that the final decision was his to make, Frederick’s mind grew complicated.
“First, we’ll move the hives. Everyone needs to wear these while carrying them…”
All of a sudden, we donned mesh veils to avoid getting stung and began carrying the beehives.
Fearing bee stings in this weather, after we finished moving all the hives, our bodies were so heated that we were sweating.
“Please sign here. I’ll be managing them here starting tomorrow. If there’s anything you don’t know, please tell me.”
“Understood.”
As Harold Cooper drove off in the truck again, I spoke to Frederick, who was harboring questions.
“You’re curious why I didn’t arrange a simple lease but included a rent-to-purchase condition, right?”
“That’s right.”
It was natural to be curious because almond farms usually leased beehives rather than purchasing them outright.
“The reason I recommended the almond farm was because I expected almond prices to rise significantly in the long term. But the one thing to watch out for is bees. As you know, almonds absolutely need bees for pollination (受粉). The problem is that bees have been gradually declining since last year.”
“That… I saw on the news too. But isn’t that a short-term phenomenon?”
It would be normal for everyone to be worried while still hoping that might be the case.
“I see it as a potential long-term disaster.”
“You see it as that serious?”
He looked at me with eyes that understood why I had insisted on purchasing rather than just leasing.
In reality, bees that had been rapidly declining since 2006 became so severe that CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder, 봉군붕괴현상) was reported in 2007.
The reasons cited for such serious results included stress from migratory beekeeping (moving bees thousands of kilometers during winter), new pathogens (Nosema, viruses, etc.), increased use of pesticides (especially neonicotinoids), and temporary overcrowding and pollination competition caused by concentrated flowering periods.
Anyway, because of this phenomenon, hive rental fees skyrocketed, and some farms recorded drastic drops in fruit set rates because they couldn’t secure bees.
“You’ll be able to continue growing almonds by renting bees, but the rental prices will keep fluctuating wildly. I judged that it’s better to include a purchase option and operate accordingly.”
“But if we pay the market price as is in two years, won’t there be little difference even with a purchase option?”
“In exchange, the condition gives us priority rights to the beehives.”
“Ah…”
Though he wouldn’t yet know the value of securing priority on beehives at this time, Frederick was certain that I hadn’t made this contract without any basis.
After a moment of thought, he asked,
“What would you do if it were you?”
Understanding what he meant, I shrugged and said,
“If it were me, I wouldn’t sign a purchase option contract. I’d sign a confirmed purchase contract. At today’s prices.”
Hive prices had been surging since 2006. Right now, it was still the early stage of the surge, so prices weren’t that high yet, but by next year, hive prices would rise much higher than they are now.
As if he had expected as much, Frederick gave a bitter smile.
“So you brought an incomplete contract to leave everything up to my choice?”
“I can’t decide everything for you. If you want, we can amend the contract even now.”
“What are the quantities?”
“We have 100 today, and 200 in the second batch, but honestly it’s not enough. We need at least 100 more, and if we prepare for unexpected situations, we need another 100 on top of that, so 200 more total.”
Here Brandon cut in.
“If we’re leasing, the company will manage them anyway, but if we buy them, does that mean I’ll have to do the beekeeping too?”
I answered.
“That’s right. That’s why it’s not an apiary for honey, but a pollination apiary.”
It didn’t exist in 2007, but before the regression, farms like this were called Pollination Apiaries (Pollination Apiary). It was a concept that didn’t exist in this period.
“Uh…? Then I…?”
Brandon’s eyes were filled with fear. Though his gaze held a plea not to make him do it, Frederick was ruthless.
“Then should I do it?”
“No…”
“The young one should do it.”
“……Yes.”
Brandon sulked, but I gazed at the secured beehives with satisfaction. Since they would carry the seeds that would make this farm wealthy, just looking at them made me feel secure.
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