Evidence of meeting #79 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was bees.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Director, Canadian Honey Council, Alberta Beekeepers
Yes, I think there's definitely room for some help in research. One thing that keeps coming up is the need for independent research. We as an industry don't have a lot of dollars for research, and some of this research is very costly. There's some research that could be done, or is being done, by some of the chemical companies, and it keeps coming up that people question their credibility. At the end of it all, I would trust that science is science and that the people who are doing it are doing a good job. The good laboratory practices have been demonstrated to us; the chemical industry has shared that with us. Perhaps there's a group out there that doesn't fully understand it, I'm not sure. If it needs to be third-party, independent research, there's some room for help from the federal government in that area, just so it's credible to all people.
NDP
Ruth Ellen Brosseau NDP Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
I have one more question. I know in the States they have well-documented cases of the colony collapse disorder. In Canada, we don't seem to have as many documented cases, and I think that's part of the problem. We're not investing enough in research, and we're not doing enough follow-up with Statistics Canada. You mentioned nutrition. How are these bees being fed, and how are they being treated? This research is something that we need to do.
Can you comment on why colony collapse is happening in the States, and why it hasn't happened in Canada?
I know every part of Canada is different. You guys have more mites, and in Quebec it was a problem with neonicotinoid pesticides. It's a very complex issue, but I'm wondering if you can elaborate on why it's important to continue with research.
President, Alberta Beekeepers Commission
From the research side, it is fairly obvious. But I'd just like to reiterate what Kevin suggested about the role of the federal government in research. We access industry and other stakeholders in the pollination field for research dollars. But it's for grain breeding and variety breeding and that sort of thing. There is a role for independent bodies such as the federal government that could keep an arm's length from industry and thus lend credibility to the independence of the research.
As to the CCD comparison, it is not a disease; it's a collection of symptoms, an evolving collection of symptoms. So it's probably more a technicality than a definitive difference between north of the 49th parallel and south of the 49th parallel. The fact that we have much harsher winters probably sweeps a lot of what might be CCD in the southern U.S. into a wintering loss here in Canada. But I don't really have a good answer for you on that question.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
Thank you, and my thanks to the witnesses for being here this afternoon.
Mr. Hicks, you were talking about the fascination of working with bees. I actually did that for a couple of years when I went back to the farm in the early 2000s. I thought that for a grain farmer bees would work really well. We gave it a good shot, and it was a good experience for me and my son to work together on it. Bees are fascinating creatures to work with and to nurture. I was lucky. I had Murray Hannigan working next to me. He was a great producer I could learn a lot from, especially about wintering.
We've just gone through eight months of winter in Saskatchewan. We're looking forward to the four months of summer, because spring and fall have disappeared. I'm sure it was a problem getting protein and sugar water out to the hives. How would this affect the bee colonies?
Director, Canadian Honey Council, Alberta Beekeepers
Well, because he goes to the sunny Okanagan Valley, I'll try....
It's had a huge impact, and there are still numbers to come in.
In Alberta we were in a very similar situation. I started my bees on March 13. It usually takes me 10 days to get around the over 7,000 colonies I run, and it took us over four weeks to get around because of the weather, the snow, and digging out bees to get protein supplements onto them. That stimulates the queen to start laying eggs. From March 13, when we started, we were seeing an average of about a 10% loss, which I was happy with—good news. Six weeks later we started our second round and we're at over a 30% loss now.
That four to six weeks is absolutely critical. I've been keeping bees for 17 years and I've never seen a spring dwindle like this. Bees are designed to live for six weeks, so we are asking the ones that hatch out in October or November to live for six months. To live anything past that is really pushing it, and for the queen to start laying eggs again, we have to get that protein to her. Usually when bees are coming out of winter and queens start laying eggs, you get a little bit of an overlap that carries them through, because it takes 21 days for eggs to hatch to get that process going again. But when those old bees are dying off and the queen hasn't started laying, you have that gap.
That's what I'm finding in my personal experience right now in Alberta. I was wondering what I had done, but I started calling around, and the story is very common from central through northern Alberta. I've heard from only a couple of beekeepers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and they have similar scenarios so far.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
Is there anything you can do in that 21-day period when you have those bees dying off? I guess you would have looked at that and asked if there is a management practice that we could have shared among ourselves. I guess you talk among yourselves to try to figure out what that practice would be. Have you any advice or any knowledge?
Maybe that's not a fair question. I'll ask a fairer question.
When we start looking at the importation of queens in that whole area, do you think maybe we've been too reliant on Australian queens, New Zealand queens, or other queens coming from other parts of the world, and not having a variety of genetics here in Canada?
Director, Canadian Honey Council, Alberta Beekeepers
I'll take a quick stab at that.
We are reliant on importing stock because we need queens so early. We need maximum population by July 1 to make a honey crop, so with 21-day intervals, we need that queen as early as possible. We cannot breed them early enough ourselves here, so we are purchasing queens.
Australia and New Zealand are a couple of options with packaged bees, and we also purchase queens from Hawaii. There is a handful of producers from California that are able to meet the protocol to export to us, and some come from Chile.
Stocks can vary and the quality of queens can vary because of weather conditions where they come from as well. A lot of the queen production is a result of the quality of mating, and there is a lot of variance in that as well.
Would you like to comment?
President, Alberta Beekeepers Commission
We do raise queens in western Canada. The way the weather falls in Canada, there really isn't an area that can get an early jump on the spring. Even in the Okanagan, you might get a 10-day jump on queen rearing. For queen rearing you need 75-degree weather and lots of drone population for proper mating, and it all seems to fall within a 7- to 10-day period when that starts in any given area.
To have a Canadian queen rearing industry, you can do it anywhere. In the Peace River district, which is what I am familiar with, we have 40,000 or 50,000 hives in the area and we probably raise 30,000 queens in June. Unfortunately, that's good for next year. For this year, we need that queen around May 1, in ballpark terms, so we are reliant on the importation of queens for early use.
Liberal
Frank Valeriote Liberal Guelph, ON
Thank you, gentlemen, for coming before us today. I think you arrived early enough to hear the discussion with the previous witnesses, who talked about the possibility, at least in Ontario, of the coming together of a number of factors that brought about what we colloquially called the perfect storm: the combination of the varroa mite, the viruses, bacteria, poor nutrition, genetics, the weather, and indeed the pesticides, the neonicotinoids. I understand that storm may not have happened out west, nor did it apparently happen in Australia or South America. Notwithstanding, we need to mitigate against some of these factors because it could happen to you.
I'm curious about a number of things. How much regard is given to your presence by farmers around you? When they're seeding, do they let you know? Do they introduce you to the kind of equipment they might be using and the efforts they're making to reduce the drifting of the dust? That apparently is the problem, if there is a problem. That's apparently the problem with the neonicotinoid. That's one question.
Secondly, Kevin, you mentioned there are discussions going on in various regions, although you're aware there are some regions where these discussions have not taken place. I'd like to know what regions they are.
And thirdly, I'd like to know what efforts are being undertaken...because you talked about training, or somebody talked about training. Maybe it was Grant. I'd like to know to what degree farmers are being trained in the measures that are intended to reduce the risk. Is it timing of seeding? Is it watching the weather conditions? Is it buying something that you can attach to your equipment that might reduce the drifting?
Maybe either one of you can take a shot at those three questions.
Director, Canadian Honey Council, Alberta Beekeepers
You have to refresh my memory as I go through.
On point number one, are you asking about western Canada?
Liberal
Director, Canadian Honey Council, Alberta Beekeepers
We have not seen any negative impact from the use of neonics in western Canada so far. There hasn't been much communication among growers and beekeepers in the seeding times. There hasn't been a recognized need for that communication necessarily. It's more so during times of foliar applications of chemicals where that communication exists. In my local area last year they sprayed basically all the canola on the west side of the Highway 2 corridor. I have lots of bees in that area. For me to move all those bees within the window they need to spray in is just not realistic.
I have a relationship with the local chemical distributor. They also coordinate custom application or they sell the products directly to the growers. He will actually scope fields, watch out for my bees, call me and give me a head's up or ask me for my opinion on how to deal with it. I probably have had some foraging workers killed, but I've never had any significant kill. In some areas, that exists; in some areas, it doesn't.
Your next question was the relationship with....
Liberal
Frank Valeriote Liberal Guelph, ON
The second question was, what regions haven't had those conversations that you were talking about?
Director, Canadian Honey Council, Alberta Beekeepers
Right. Going through this process, I think it has identified a great need for us as an industry, the Canadian Honey Council, to address that gap. In Saskatchewan there was some kill in alfalfa. When bees were present, the alfalfa was sprayed. It was a heavy kill. There were a few beekeepers affected, and it was significant. That relationship started that day. In the areas where there's been mutual benefit, such as a pollination contract business, that relationship has been there. Outside of that, if the mutual benefit is not recognized, it may be lacking there.
President, Alberta Beekeepers Commission
What he missed was the dust issue you brought up. Just so the committee is very clear about this, canola seed is small and round. It rolls gently through the seeders, and it doesn't require a talc. The corn is irregular, larger and coarser, so apparently the talc and graphite is used to help it flow through the system. With canola there is no dust required. What was such a devastating situation for Ontario beekeepers is not really part of the experience on the canola side—just so you're clear on that.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Wild Rose, AB
Thank you.
It's always good to have a couple more fellow Albertans here. Welcome today.
I'll talk mainly back and forth a little bit in questions with you, Mr. Nixon, because you've been working on a committee that you've been a part of to try to accomplish some suggestions on how to minimize some of the losses, etc. I see that you've put together a pretty extensive list of recommendations in that committee, and obviously that means you've put a lot of time and a lot of thought into that. I want to commend you for that.
I have just a few questions. One of them is in regard to the reporting aspects in the recommendation. Obviously, these things can always get interesting when you have different associations and different authorities in a number of the provinces. I'm just wondering what your thoughts are on setting up a standardized reporting and investigation system, whether you think there are concerns for jurisdictional issues in that. If so, how you would propose to deal with those, and if not, why not? Why do you feel there wouldn't be any issues there?
Director, Canadian Honey Council, Alberta Beekeepers
We're fortunate that every province has a provincial apiculturist, and the industry is small enough that most beekeepers are well aware of who their provincial apiculturist is and how to reach him. That's been identified as the key primary contact. From that point it will be up to the beekeeper to call PMRA, but the provincial apiculturist will also call PMRA to report the incident, make sure the proper forms are filled out, and, if required, that an investigation occurs.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Wild Rose, AB
You see it just as a linear situation, where in the appropriate province, because the industry is small enough in each province, every beekeeper would already know who the proper point of contact is, and then from there the information flows to where it needs to flow. Is that basically what I'm hearing?
Director, Canadian Honey Council, Alberta Beekeepers
Right, and all provincial organizations have a monthly newsletter. The Canadian Honey Council also has a quarterly magazine, where they have printed the contact and the proper process to communicate incident reporting.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Wild Rose, AB
With our earlier witnesses we focused a bit more on Ontario and some of the issues they had there. I know that both of our earlier witnesses spoke about canola—and I believe you did, too, Mr. Hicks—and how there have certainly been some very positive effects in relation to the trend of growing canola in our province. Obviously there are a variety of reasons why canola has been a very attractive crop, but it's certainly something that you believe has been beneficial for your industry as well.
I'm just wondering, are there places in Alberta or in western Canada where you've seen bigger issues with losses, and what do you see as the reasons there? I know when we had the panel earlier, it seemed to be pretty commonly agreed that certainly there's no one particular silver bullet that's a problem—it's a combination of factors—but have you seen pockets or places in the west where we've seen this, or in Alberta, and what do you see the causes being, or is it a variety of factors?
Whoever would like may answer it.
