Alberta honey bee farmers will receive compensation from the federal and provincial governments after huge bee losses in recent years due to extreme cold weather and varroa mite infestations.
The Canada-Alberta Bee Colony Replacement Assistance Initiative will compensate eligible commercial beekeepers that purchased replacement colonies, bee packages or queens between Jan. 1, 2022, and May 1, 2023.
Alberta has the biggest bee industry in Canada and winter losses in 2022 hit 49.9 per cent, well above Alberta’s average of about 27 per cent.
Kevin Nixon, co-owner of Nixon Honey near Innisfail, said 2021-22 was hard on a lot of beekeepers and costs to replace stock has gone through the roof. The industry appreciates the government support.
“Beekeeping is not always front and center within agriculture, but it’s part of the system for producing food, and beekeepers work hard to try and supply the bees that are needed,” said Nixon about crop producers who rely on bees as pollinators,” he said.
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Nixon noted the biggest challenge to the industry is the varroa mite which is developing some resistance to one of the most common treatments.
“There are people in the research community trying to find an alternative treatment for us, but nothing happens quickly. I really hope that we’re able to get this under control and we’ll start seeing some more encouraging numbers next year,” he said.
Connie Phillips, executive director of the Alberta Beekeepers Commission, said the AgriRecovery program will help producers recover and rebuild a viable and thriving beekeeping industry.
“The Alberta Beekeepers Commission is grateful for the effort and support of Agriculture and Irrigation and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in advocating on the commission’s behalf following one of the most devastating overwintering losses in 2021-22,” Phillips said in a statement.
Last year, Alberta beekeepers produced more than 30 million pounds of honey, down nearly 11 per cent from 2021.
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Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation Minister RJ Sigurdson said AgriRecovery will help beekeepers mitigate some of their costs after a tough couple winters and continue to produce the honey in demand across the world.
In 2022, Alberta international exports of honey totalled $18 million, up 49.3 per cent from 2021. Japan was the leading market for provincial honey exports, followed by the United States.
AgriRecovery is a federal-provincial-territorial disaster relief framework to help agricultural producers with the costs associated with recovering from disaster situations. Eligible costs will be supported on the 60/40 federal-provincial cost-shared basis.
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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