Thank you, Chair and committee members, for the opportunity to discuss honeybee mortality in Canada.
As an industry, the honeybee sector packs a punch far greater than people realize. The multi-billion-dollar canola industry relies on 60,000 to 80,000 colonies each year to pollinate seed canola in southern Alberta, and the industry is now expanding into Saskatchewan. Well over 100,000 colonies pollinate blueberries and cranberries in eastern Canada. About 30,000 pollinate highbush blueberries in B.C.
Even with that, we know we are short of colonies that are dedicated to pollination, and there's an ongoing discussion as to how short we really are. Nevertheless, these things, combined with honey production and pollination of various other fruits and vegetables, make our sector an integral component of the agricultural sector in general and an absolutely key contributor to agricultural sustainability in Canada.
As a commercial beekeeper, every spring I am unsure as to what my stock losses will be until I get the chance to open the lid of the hive and inspect the colony. Some years are better than others. In 2022 there was a historically bad loss across most of Canada, with 45% of the honey bee colonies dying. That stock loss had devastating impacts on many beekeepers. While they are not exactly comparable, it is hard to imagine any other managed stock operations losing even half of that number. That 45% loss was 10% higher than the next-highest recorded loss in 2008. It is still too early to tell this year, but many beekeepers are banking on having significantly better overwintering results.
The most frequently cited causes of colony losses are ineffective varroa control, poor queens and weak colonies in the fall.
To address bee mortality, in April of 2022 the federal government launched the industry-government honeybee sustainability working group, comprising federal and provincial representatives, industry partners, researchers and beekeeper representatives. A smaller subgroup worked on putting together a report that was finalized earlier this year. They prioritized recommendations that would go a long way in addressing honey bee mortality issues.
The first priority was for support for provincial and regional tech transfer teams. Tech transfer teams help beekeepers identify bee health risk issues in their stock and do applied research. They are a key resource with respect to treatment options. Currently nearly every tech transfer team's future is in doubt, as funding is difficult to secure and the industry cannot handle the financial burden alone.
In support of this priority, the Canadian Honey Council has put together a proposal for the federal government to single-source fund each tech transfer team with $150,000 per year to allow for the hiring of one person and to cover expenses to conduct projects that are national in scope on things such as using the same testing parameters to gauge the efficacy of Apivar across Canada, our main varroa control product.
This leads nicely into the second priority item, which is actions to accelerate the development of new varroa control products. Beekeepers know that it's only a matter of time before Apivar loses its efficacy, and currently there is no replacement available. We know that research is being conducted on some active ingredients that may prove effective and that new and innovative treatments are in the works, but the reality of the situation is that nothing is certain and the future is in doubt.
Supporting increased domestic stock production and addressing the challenges of importing stock round out the top four priorities. The COVID crisis highlighted the precariousness of the sector as it relates to both stock and labour, as flights were cancelled, impacting imported queens and packaged supplies and the manpower needed to efficiently handle apiary activities. While imported stock supplies remain a hot topic, the absolute need to increase domestic stock supplies should and does remain a key issue in maintaining a healthy supply of bees.
I look forward to questions and discussions concerning bee mortality.