Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76SEPTEMBER 2016 SEEDWORLD.COM / 71 A MOMENT IN TIME Pictured here: “The alkali bee, a lightweight champion with complete disregard for hard blows on the chin, is helping seed growers attain better alfalfa seed yields.” The picture shows one of the roadside signs which were then beginning to make their appearance near the “man-made alkali bee beds” in the San Joaquin Valley. The seed fields on both sides of the road drew the bees and many of them had been killed by speeding motorists as they crossed they highway. The females of this species are clever engineers. They dig their nests in moist soils that are sufficiently adhesive to retain their form after the bees work. This aggressive bee seems to laugh at punches dealt by the triggered stamen of the alfalfa blossom, which many bees prefer to avoid. FACTS AND FIGURES FROM THIS 1967 ISSUE: 4 TO 6 is the number of weeks the mother alkali bee goes about digging and provisioning her egg cells. 4 TO 5 is the number of hours per day the female alkali bee works. 95 is the percentage of all alfalfa flowers visited that the female alkali bee “trips” each day. 1,000 is the average number of blos- soms a worker alkali bee “trips” in a day. 4 inches is the length of the alkali bee’s nest dug vertical to the soil surface. SINCE1915 ThefirstissueofSeedWorldwaspublishedin1915.Heretheeditorswilltakeyoubackintimeto explorethenumbers,newsandissuesthatimpactedtheseedindustry—allcoveredbySeedWorld. 1915 1920 1925 1930 1935 1940 1945 1950 1952 1955 1960 1962 1965 1967 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2016 The approximate time the first leafcutter bee was introduced to the United States. Approximate year the first alkali bee was used as an effective alfalfa pollinator in the U.S. The year Canada was importing alfalfa seed due to a bee shortage. North America is the world’s largest alfalfa seed producing region. Annually, Canada and the United States normally produce over 50 million kilograms of alfalfa seed. Alfalfa leafcutter bee introduced to Western Canada.