Thank you very much.
On behalf of the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, we appreciate this opportunity to discuss the department's ongoing work to help improve the health of honeybees and to provide you information on our diagnostic capacity for testing and measuring bee health in Canada.
Domestic bees are the main source of agricultural pollination around the world. Without them, it would be difficult and even impossible to produce a large number of crops. As a result, bee health is important to beekeepers, to farmers, and to Canada as a whole.
There are many factors that influence bee health.
Parasites and pests, such as varroa mites, impact bee health.
Healthy queens are important to maintaining vigorous productive hives. Queen health can be compromised by factors such as inadequate selection in mating and exposure to pathogens and pesticides.
Long harsh winters or cool extended springs can result in higher levels of overwinter beehive losses.
Management techniques vary among beekeeping operations and can influence honeybee health.
Bees can also be infected by unintentional exposure to agricultural pesticides used to protect crops and by pesticides used in hives to protect bees from parasitic mites and other pests.
Another factor that can indicate challenges to bee health is the magnitude of annual overwinter colony losses. Overwinter losses vary widely from year to year, place to place, and beekeeper to beekeeper.
In 2015 the national average percentage of colony winter loss was 16.4%. Overall, the reported national colony loss this year is one of the lowest since 2006-07.
A further indicator of bee health is honeybee population levels and productivity. The most recent numbers available show that Canada's 8,533 beekeepers produced about 95 million pounds of honey in 2015, and that's up by around 11% from 2014. Over the same period, the number of colonies increased by 3.6%.
Improvements to bee health require action from a wide range of stakeholders. AAFC established the bee health round table on March 25, 2014, to bring together a diverse group of stakeholders, including beekeepers, grains and horticulture crop producers, researchers, input suppliers, and provincial and federal officials. The bee health round table provides a means to allow for a national cross-sectoral dialogue to identify specific actions related to bee health.
Maintaining and improving bee health is a multidimensional, long-term issue. It requires a great deal of time and resources, and efforts must be coordinated.
The bee health round table members identified four pillars: a pollinator strategy with a vision for the future of beekeeping in Canada as a valued part of agriculture; a research strategy that identifies and addresses gaps and priorities for the beekeeping industry; products and solutions for beekeepers and other agricultural producers that are both effective and sustainable; and knowledge transfer between all stakeholders, including producers, beekeepers, regulators, researchers, and the broader public, to ensure timely awareness.
Within AAFC, scientists are supporting a variety of issues related to bee health across the country. In July 2015, AAFC and the U.S. Department of Agriculture began formal research collaboration to assess stressors causing bee population declines in North America and develop the necessary tools to detect widespread pests, pathogens, and parasites.
In addition, in July 2014, AAFC announced funding for a million-dollar four-year nationwide surveillance project to document the health profile of honeybee colonies in Canada. AAFC looks forward to continuing to work with stakeholders to ensure a sustainable future for beekeeping in agriculture.
Dr. Pernal will now provide further details on the work undertaken by AAFC as he explains the research under way and our diagnostic capacity to assess bee health.