BEAVERLODGE, Alta. — A $6 million injection to the National Bee Diagnostic Centre will expand the reach and abilities of the Agriculture Canada Beaverlodge Research Farm, now in its 100th year of operation.
The project is an initiative of Grande Prairie Regional College, which established the centre in 2013 at the research farm. The centre will now triple in size and host Agriculture Canada’s bee research program, along with its own research pursuits.
“Becoming host to AAFC’s bee production management re-search program through dedicated and shared laboratory space will truly enable us to create the National Centre of Excellence for Bees,” Bruce Rutley, GPRC’s director of research and innovation, said in a news release.
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The announcement took place during the research farm’s 64th annual beekeepers’ field day June 23.
Stephen Pernal, Agriculture Canada research scientist and officer in charge of the farm, eyed the stakes in the ground for the new building as he discussed the farm’s history and future.
“It’s a period of change and a period of moving into the future. Governments come and go with their different initiatives but certainly in Canada right now, partnerships are highly desired and this partnership in terms of bee research with Grande Prairie Regional College has been very beneficial.”
The Beaverlodge research farm is Agriculture Canada’s most northerly site.
It conducts a variety of crop, agronomy and soil studies and is also known for bee research.
Pernal said the greater attention on bees and their value as pollinators in recent years has helped raise the farm’s profile.
“I think many levels of government and the general public have been quite receptive and supportive of trying to find ways to support bee health and support beekeepers,” he said. “I think that’s been very possible because of heightened concern about bees, heightened awareness, and realizing the importance of pollinators to agriculture.”
The Beaverlodge site was founded by W.D. Albright, who settled on the farm in 1913 and petitioned the federal government to undertake crop trials in 1917. By 1919, the site had been officially recognized as a dominion agricultural substation.
Albright was essentially “a one-man show” in the early years, said Pernal. He managed the site until 1945 and during that time undertook research and held field days that typically drew hundreds of farmers.
In 1965, Beaverlodge became head of Canada’s northern research group, controlling sites all over the north, into the Northwest Territories and the high Arctic. That was wound down in the 1970s.
The farm now has a permanent staff of 23, and levels rise to 50 people in summer, Pernal said. In addition to its crop and soil research, it is the only federal site in Canada with a honeybee research program.
“We’ve typically always had a honeybee program here. Albright brought the first bees in … in 1923, I think was the date.
“And what was really early recognized was the extremely high productivity of bees here in the Peace region compared to other parts of Canada or the world. Amazingly, they saw these colonies produce two and 300 pounds of honey per colony and certainly beekeeping really became a staple of the Peace region and still to this day is recognized as having some of the highest honey production anywhere in the world.”
Grant Hicks, past-president of the Alberta Beekeepers Commission and a major honey producer, said research at Beaverlodge is important. He said scientists here are able to work with others in North America to the benefit of beekeepers.
“They all work together, rather than compete. And that’s kind of refreshing in my experience. In the ’80s, they were all fighting for the same dollars and now they seem to be more co-ordinated. And I think that push has largely come from Beaverlodge. I view it as very vital,” said Hicks.
The national bee health survey initiated in Beaverlodge could also serve to protect international markets, he added, because standards will be comparable to those in Europe, a large importer of honey.
