Agriculture committee  There are 3,000 beekeepers in Ontario. Like anything, you would have to ask for their personal reasons. Some people take their time to inform themselves about particular situations and others do not. Often, we find beekeepers are in places in Ontario where they are not very agri

Agriculture committee  There was a program the province had over the past two years that reimbursed us. I think it was about $115, give or take, per colony. The problem was that you had to lose 40% of your colonies before you could get it. If I had 1,000 colonies, I'd have to lose 400, and then I would

Agriculture committee  There is insurance available. Also, a new program that came out this year had much less of a buy-in. That did become available, so there is crop insurance or livestock insurance available here in Ontario.

Agriculture committee  It just came out last year. I don't know what the uptake was. Last I heard, only a few dozen people were enrolled in that program—there are number of insurance programs—and I personally know some beekeepers who have partaken of it.

Agriculture committee  Nucleus colonies, which are basically starter colonies, are valued at about $180 to $200 now. That's not including the equipment you put them in. The value of the bees and the equipment you put them in is somewhere between $350 and $500. If you're a beekeeper and you're having

Agriculture committee  To say that pesticides are safe for bees, they are pesticides. They kill insects. I believe personally that this is a bit of a diversion. All we've really been asking for, and the Province of Ontario has been asking for, in this legislation.... The best agronomists or soil s

Agriculture committee  The official numbers are not out for our winter losses. We had a very mild winter in Ontario this year. I can say personally that I've had one of the best overwintering successes this year thanks to that mild winter. However, as corn gets planted, we are continuing to see poisoni

Agriculture committee  Yes. That largely depends on who you ask. If you ask the people who are selling the seeds, they will tell you untreated seeds are readily available. But I've spoken to many growers, and they say they have asked for untreated seeds. One person actually switched seed dealers becaus

Agriculture committee  I'll start with the response to that, if it's okay. We've seen an increase in the need for pollination services across the country, in the Prairies for canola and in eastern provinces and Ontario for blueberry pollination and cranberry pollination. We've seen a very large increa

Agriculture committee  I'm André Flys. I am vice-president of the Ontario Beekeepers' Association, as well as a commercial beekeeper here in Ontario. The Ontario Beekeepers' Association thanks the chair and honourable members for inviting us to present to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agri