In the sun drenched fields of the San Joaquin Valley lies Munger Farms, a Naturipe blueberry grower with a passion for cultivating premium blueberries with the help of bees.

A healthy blueberry bush can produce thousands of flower buds each season, and individual flowers need pollination to develop into a blueberry. That is where native North American bees come into play. Without these buzzing beauties, our blueberry fields would not flourish and we’d have a third less variety of food to choose from at the local store. Blueberries are one of about 90% of fruit plants that require bees to pollinate.

Glen Trostle, head bee keeper and a pollination scientist for Munger Farms knows just how important his winged workers are. It is Glenn and his expert team whose job is to keep their highly skilled bees happy and healthy so they can do what they love most, pollinate. Their crew of 6 bee keepers manages over 1,500 different bee hives, that can contain as little as 6 solitary bees to over 70,000 honey bees (number fluctuates with type of bee and the seasons blueberry bloom)

“Hive management is an art” – Glen Trostle

Glen uses a number of different types of bees depending on the conditions in the field like: Bumble bees, Honey Bees and Solitary Nesting Bees

You can find these bees and a few other pollinators working in perfect harmony in and around their fields! They are attracted to flowers because of their odors and nectar that a flower produces at their base. Both the pollen and sweet nectar serve as food for the bees and their offspring (Entomology.ces.ncu.edu, 2014)

Glen and his team work with nature to support their land, natural ecosystem, and to develop quality blueberries you can pick up at your local grocery store!