The Cute and Terrifying Creatures (1)
A farm located six kilometers away from the Brentwood cherry orchards. In late January, the fields of Brentwood still held the biting chill of winter.
Frederick Harris stood in the middle of the farm, wearing work boots that reached his knees. His gaze swept across the two-hundred-acre expanse of his new land.
“Cherries are a lot different from walnuts, aren’t they?”
His son, Brandon, muttered as he scooped up a handful of soil and let it sift through his fingers.
“The soil itself feels different. The particles are much coarser, and it feels dry. But do you really think almonds will stay profitable, like Brian said? I looked into it, and while the price increases have been gradual, they’ve been consistent. Some of my friends were worried when they heard we sold the walnut farm to buy an almond orchard, while others said they were envious.”
Even if Brandon had no interest in farming, his friends were generally from white middle-class backgrounds or higher, and in these rural areas, it was common for such people to be involved in agriculture.
Moreover, since his father was a farm owner, it was only natural that his social circle would be close to the industry.
“It won’t be bad. Brian’s eye for the market is at least as good as mine. Remember how the previous owner suddenly hiked the price when we were acquiring the farm?”
“Ah... that was so frustrating. Raising it by $200,000 all of a sudden... It still stings that we ended up paying $100,000 more.”
“It stings for me, too.”
However, the fact that the previous owner had tried to hold onto the land even while raising the price was proof that the almond market was trending upward. In reality, the demand for almonds was indeed rising steadily.
Above all, what pleased him most was the export demand. There was significant interest from Asia and the Middle East for American almonds, giving him the confidence that as long as they could ship the product, they wouldn't suffer a loss.
Just then, the sound of a car engine approached, and a BMW Z4—a car quite out of place on a farm—pulled up and stopped. Knowing who the owner was, Frederick grinned, while the corners of Brandon’s mouth twisted further.
Inside the Z4, Chloe pouted as she arrived at the farm.
“I had to take out a loan for over a million dollars... but you get to work with your dad and spend less money... I don’t like this.”
“You’re just jealous.”
After teasing her, I got out of the car with Chloe and approached the father-son duo who had become almond farmers.
“You two came together? That’s a nice car.”
“Haha, thank you. We came from school together. Have you been doing what I told you before?”
Immediately after they acquired the farm, I had given Frederick a list of tasks. Of course, since we had a contract where I would receive 30% of the profits from the company he established, I had been very detailed. The better the almond farm did, the better it was for Redwood.
Frederick nodded.
“Of course. We cleared out the harvest residues and took care of all the mummy nuts. We had to hire quite a few laborers just for that.”
Even though American farming is heavily mechanized, there are still many tasks that require human hands.
“You did well. Just doing that can reduce pest damage by half for the next year. How did you handle the fertilizer?”
“I focused on nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) as you suggested. About 30 to 40 pounds of nitrogen per acre? And 40 to 60 pounds of potassium per acre. We also watered them well.”
“You shouldn’t give them too much water.”
“We didn’t go overboard.”
I reached down and touched the soil near the base of an almond tree. It was certainly not overly moist, just as Frederick had said.
As I wore a satisfied expression, Frederick continued his explanation.
“We also installed pheromone traps to prepare for pests and have started accumulating data.”
“Excellent. You need to track where the pests are moving.”
At my words, Brandon chimed in.
“Do we really need to know where the pests are moving?”
It was a fair question—why go to such lengths? Since his skepticism was understandable, I explained it clearly.
“Pests... especially navel orangeworms, leafrollers, and peach twig borers—they usually move to new habitats in October when the fruit disappears and the temperature drops, looking for places to lay eggs or overwinter. Knowing their movement allows us to track where they are migrating from and to. Why is this important? Because identifying their overwintering sites is the only way to reduce damage for the following year.”
“Ah...”
Brandon looked like he finally understood.
“The navel orangeworm, a major almond pest, migrates as an adult, lays eggs in remaining fruit or mummy nuts, and prepares to overwinter there. By installing traps and building data, we can see how many pests remain on the farm and where they are heading.”
Frederick patted Brandon’s shoulder at my explanation.
“Did you hear that?”
“Yes, I understand.”
Seeing him look so pleased that his son understood, I asked, “So, how far along is the pest map?”
“We haven’t been able to make one to that extent yet.”
Frederick looked a bit embarrassed. Thinking about it, they had so much work to do that it was understandable they hadn’t had time for a full pest map.
“Then let’s have the workers check the trap data again and finish the map. It will make pest prevention much easier.”
“I’ll see to it. We’ve also checked all the valves and lines, and verified there are no leaks.”
“You’ve worked hard. I’ll say it again: if walnut and cherry farming were based on intuition, you have to view almond farming as a game of calculation. From now on, you need to trust numbers and data more than you do now.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Frederick listened to me with the focus of a student. Even though he had been farming for decades, he seemed to have forgotten his age, his eyes shining with the passion of someone excited to learn a new crop.
“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 entered the farm from the distance.
“Is that...?”
“Yes, I called them. It’s the beekeeping company.”
“Ah, I see.”
I walked slowly toward the vehicle, waving my hand. Soon, a truck with the words H. COOPER APIARIES emblazoned on the side stopped in front of me, and a man in his fifties stepped out.
“I’m Harold Cooper. I arrived at the time we agreed upon—I’m not late, am I?”
“Of course not. This way...”
I turned to Frederick and said, “This gentleman is the beekeeper.”
Frederick, who already knew he needed to learn about beekeeping when he started the almond farm, smiled brightly.
“I’m Frederick Harris. And this is my son and business partner, Brandon.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“I’ve been studying it off and on because I knew I’d have to learn about beekeeping someday, and I guess today is the day. So, those are the beehives in the back...?”
“That’s right.”
“Oh~ I see. How many did we rent?”
Harold Cooper looked at me, momentarily confused by Frederick’s question.
“I guess you haven’t heard about the contract yet?”
“Ah, I haven’t told him yet.”
I said to Frederick, “It’s not just a rental; it’s a deal with an option to purchase. For now, we rent them while a professional management company handles the bees, and in two years, we can decide whether to buy them or continue the lease.”
“So, we can buy them after renting?”
“Yes. But if you decide to buy now, the price is set based on the current market. If you decide in two years, it will be based on the market price at that time.”
“Ah...”
Realizing that the final decision would rest on his own shoulders, Frederick’s mind began to race.
“First, let’s unload the hives. Everyone needs to wear these to avoid getting stung...”
Suddenly, we were all wearing veils to avoid bee stings, busy unloading the hives. By the time we finished, my body was hot and drenched in sweat from the fear of being stung in this weather.
“Please sign here. I’ll be managing things here starting tomorrow. If you have any questions, let me know.”
“Understood.”
As Harold Cooper drove away in his truck, I turned to Frederick, who was still looking puzzled.
“You’re wondering why I chose a lease-to-own condition instead of just a lease, right?”
“That’s right.”
Since most almond farms rented hives rather than buying them, his curiosity was natural.
“I recommended you start an almond farm because I expect the price of almonds to rise significantly in the long term. But there is one thing to be careful about: the bees. As you know, bees are essential for almond pollination. The problem is that the bee population has started to decline little by little since last year.”
“I... I saw that on the news. But isn’t it just a short-term phenomenon?”
Even though everyone was worried, it was common to hope for the best.
“I see it as a potential long-term disaster.”
“You see it that seriously?”
Frederick’s expression showed he understood why I had insisted on a purchase option.
In reality, the bee population, which began to plummet in 2006, became so serious that CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) was reported in 2007.
The causes for this severe outcome included stress from migratory beekeeping—transporting bees thousands of kilometers during winter—as well as new pathogens (Nosema, viruses, etc.), increased use of pesticides (especially neonicotinoids), and temporary overcrowding during the concentrated flowering period.
Regardless, this phenomenon caused hive rental fees to skyrocket, and there were records of some farms suffering a sharp drop in fruit set because they couldn’t secure bees.
“We might be able to continue renting bees to grow almonds for a while, but rental prices will keep fluctuating wildly. I judged it better to operate with a purchase option in place.”
“But if we pay the market price in two years, won’t it be the same as just buying them then?”
“The condition is that we get priority access to the hives.”
“Ah...”
He might not yet grasp the value of securing priority access to hives in this era, but Frederick was certain that I hadn’t made such a contract without a solid basis.
After a moment of deliberation, he asked, “If you were me, what would you do?”
Understanding what he meant, I shrugged and said, “If it were me, I wouldn’t go for a purchase option contract. I’d go for a fixed purchase contract. At the current price.”
Hive prices had been climbing since 2006. Since it was still the early stages of the spike, the price wasn’t that high yet, but by next year, the cost of a hive would be significantly higher than it was now.
As if he had expected that answer, Frederick gave a wry smile.
“So you brought an incomplete contract, leaving the final choice to me?”
“I can’t decide everything for you. If you want, we can modify the contract right now.”
“What about the quantity?”
“100 today, and 200 in the second batch, but honestly, that’s not enough. We need at least 100 more, and if we assume we need to prepare for the worst-case scenario, we need another 100—so 200 more in total.”
Here, Brandon interrupted. “If it’s a rental, the company handles the management anyway, but if we buy them, does that mean I have to take up beekeeping?”
I answered for him.
“Exactly. It’s not beekeeping for honey; it’s an apiary for pollination.”
Though the term didn’t exist in 2007, in my previous life, such farms were called Pollination Apiaries.
“Uh... wait...? Then I...?”
Brandon’s eyes were filled with immediate dread. His gaze pleaded with me not to make him do it, but Frederick was merciless.
“Then should I do it?”
“No...”
“You’re young, you should do it.”
“...... Yes.”
Brandon looked dejected, but I looked at the secured hives with satisfaction. Since those creatures would carry the seeds that would make this farm wealthy, just looking at them made me feel reassured.
{@PIC:801169}