Canadian honey producers are asking the federal government for $50 million in disaster relief assistance to help recover from a second year of heavy winter losses.
Canadian Honey Council chair Ed Nowek said producers would use the money to rebuild hives decimated by losses averaging more than 30 percent across the country and reaching as high as 70 percent in some areas.
He said $10 million would fund a five-year hive health initiative to determine why bees are dying at alarming rates.
“It would be something that gives us a chance of surviving, by developing a long-term strategy for dealing with the higher-than-normal losses, which may become the norm,” said Nowek, who operates 350 hives near Vernon, B.C.
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Nowek said the average losses are approximately 33 percent once spring losses are counted.
“That’s like a third of all the bees,” he said.
“There are still areas that haven’t come back and it takes awhile to compile all the information accurately.”
Annual spring losses have typically amounted to 15 percent in the 20 years since varroa and tracheal mites first appeared in Canada. However, the mites have started developing resistance to traditional control measures and beekeepers wonder what the future may hold.
“If you could imagine a cattle farmer losing 15 percent of his cattle every year, he’d be pretty alarmed,” Nowek said.
“But we’ve kind of put up with it so far.”
He said bee producers are able to recover from losses of up to 75 percent by splitting and combining their remaining hives. However, this practice sacrifices production in a recovery year, he added.
Manitoba apiculturalist Rheal LaFreniere said beekeepers will face tough choices this spring.
“Do I go out and buy some more colonies? Do I split hard and lose a bit of honey? Or do I just run the colonies that I have left and try to do the best I possibly can?”
Buying replacement bees might be too expensive for producers who have suffered steep losses, he added.
“Personally, I try to put myself in their shoes, and I have no idea what I would do.”
Nowek said losing one-third of the country’s bees could significantly affect other agricultural sectors. Many high value crops are already feeling the pinch from a shortage of pollinators, he added.
“The blueberry growers did not get enough bees. I don’t know if the hybrid canola growers in Alberta are going to get enough bees,” he said.
“You take a third of the bees out of production for a season, that’s serious.”
Although honey prices have edged higher in recent months to $1.15 per pound from 85 cent, many beekeepers are throwing in the towel after several years of low prices and rising costs for replacement bees and fuel.
“If we don’t get some relief from the government for restocking and rebuilding those hives, a lot of people won’t return to beekeeping,” Nowek said.
“You don’t find too many young people deciding to be a beekeeper anymore.”
LaFreniere, who is also president-elect of the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists, said it’s not just Canadian producers who are suffering.
This year, producers in the United States have suffered 36 percent losses overall, which is higher than last year when apocalyptic reports of the mysterious colony collapse disorder (CCD) made front-page news around the world.
“It’s scary, especially when you hear there’s losses in Argentina, losses in Germany, Italy and all around the world,” LaFreniere said.
Canada hasn’t seen the kind of CCD losses reported in the United States, where entire colonies suddenly vanish, leaving virtually no adult bees left in the hive and no tell-tale piles of dead bees nearby.
“Part of it could be that we may not have all the conditions here that are causing it in the U.S.,” LaFreniere said.
“We may have many of the same problems, but it looks different because our winter doesn’t allow the bees to go out. They are either going to die in the hive or die in front of the hive.”
A new, disturbing problem in Canada that might be related to CCD is the failure of hives weakened by winter losses to recover in spring, he added.
