Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I want to begin by thanking the committee members for allowing the Canadian Honey Council the opportunity to address you this afternoon.
The CHC is truly a national organization, representing all beekeeping organizations from British Columbia to the Maritimes. Our membership is made up of the provincial beekeeping associations.
In 2010-11, there were approximately 7,200 beekeepers in Canada, wintering 641,990 colonies. Approximately 75% of those colonies are located in western Canada. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has indicated that our sector provides direct and indirect economic benefits of nearly $2.7 billion to the economy a year.
The honeybee, honey production, and the pollination industry play an important and growing role in Canada and the world. Worldwide attention to the health of the honeybee has helped focus public attention on the industry itself.
In 2011, the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturalists devised a new survey procedure that facilitated the direct comparison of key winter loss data across regions in Canada. In a statement on honeybee losses in Canada in 2011, based on the results from nine provinces, “29.3% of the colonies that were wintered during 2010-11 died or were deemed [to be] too weak to be commercially productive.” This ranged from a high of 43% in Ontario to a low of 22% in Saskatchewan. This represents twice the long-term winter loss rate for Canada and a substantial increase over the loss rate for 2009-10, which was 21%. This loss is greater than the 2009-10 mortality figure of 21.0%, and is similar to the three winters previous, where the mortality rates were 33.9%, 35%, and 29%.
There is good news, however, this year, in that it appears the winter losses have dropped dramatically, with the exception of some individual and regional variances. Regarding the long-term trend of winter losses, according to CAPA, a number of common reasons were reported by extension professionals in Canada. These include higher numbers of weak colonies in the fall months while preparing for winter, ineffective varroa control leading to higher mite populations on bees over the wintering period, higher than normal rates of queen loss, and high levels of nosema. Varroa is a pest; nosema is a spore. In addition, weather, environmental factors, pesticides, pests, pathogens, and management all contribute to the declining bee population, and according to CAPA, further research is needed to establish conclusive links to ongoing patterns of colony death.
I want to stress that this pertains to ongoing patterns of winter losses and not the acute event of bee deaths that occurred in Ontario earlier this spring.
In January, the Canadian Honey Council held a national symposium to discuss the state of the industry. Representatives from all provinces attended, and for these purposes two recommendations were put forward. First, we need to develop a national strategy addressing stock replacement and hive health, focusing on domestic self-sufficiency. Second, we need to develop a national baseline on the state of health of our bees. The U.S. has done this, and it's my understanding, with the support of the U.S. government, that it's time we do the same.
Despite the importance of honeybee pollination and the honey sectors, it's important to point out that much of the responsibility for the sector lies in the hands of the provinces. Provincial apiarists do an outstanding job looking after the sector.
Recently, the National Bee Diagnostic Centre, which is located in Beaverlodge and is funded by the federal government, has been a positive step by the federal government in the right direction. But Canada still lags far behind other countries. And until recently, only one researcher-scientist, on AAFC staff was there to study honeybees.
There are no federal bee programs in Canada. Much needs to be done. Whether this year's low winter losses represent the start of a promising trend or are an aberration remains to be seen. I would assume that the good fortune many beekeepers are experiencing this year does not address the underlying factors that have impacted beekeepers over the last five years. We need to be diligent in ensuring that beekeepers have options for success.
Thank you.