Alberta bees are likely to be busier than ever pollinating hybrid canola plants.
“Now Alberta is the pollination capital of Canada,” said Barrie Termeer, president of the Alberta Beekeepers Association.
“We’re the king of the hill here when it comes to bee keeping and pollination right now.”
In Alberta, the seed industry will put about 50,000 hives into action to produce canola hybrid seeds, said George Lammertsen, manager of seed production for AgrEvo. This is up from about 40,000 hives last year.
“For all intents and purposes there seems to be a movement toward hybrid production and with that obviously there will come an increased demand for pollinators.
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“I think the demand will increase fairly significantly into the future.”
In hybrid canola production, bees move pollen from male to female plants. Wind often doesn’t effectively move the pollen.
Producers receive about $100 for every hive they provide to seed companies like AgrEvo, said Termeer, noting there are about 200,000 bee hives in Alberta.
At his Rollyview-area apiary he’s sticking strictly to honey production, but knows of producers who want to expand operations into pollination contracts. Since seed companies have large-scale production operations in southern Alberta, it’s most convenient for apiaries in that area to sign contracts and transport their stock, he added.
Walter Dahmer, a producer near Edmonton, is prepared to send his hives on an eight-hour night trip to southern Saskatchewan for the first time this summer.
“It’s going to be fairly intensive management but it can be done,” he said, adding he has 5,000 hives and will devote about half to pollination contracts.
Low honey prices, which now range from 75 to 80 cents a pound, and a desire to expand the bee operation, are reasons behind his decision. While honey prices peaked at $1.30 in 1997, he doesn’t expect them to reach those levels again anytime soon.
Dahmer is getting $108 per contracted hive and expects they’ll still each produce 50 pounds of honey. Normally hives produce about 160 lb. of honey when used solely for honey production.
Honey or pollination
With trucking costs estimated at $18 return per hive he doesn’t know if he’ll make as much money contracting his bees for pollination. If the honey crop is exceptional like last year, when 300 lb. per hive was the norm, he likely won’t. But hives commonly average only 100 lb., he said.
“Then at 75 cents a pound you wouldn’t be in business very long.”
As well, Dahmer likes the idea of a fixed income and thinks it will spread his workload because the two operations become intense at different times.