logo
N.B beekeepers suffered above-average honey bee losses this year

N.B beekeepers suffered above-average honey bee losses this year

CBC11 hours ago
Nathan Mutch stood in disbelief when he opened his honey bee hives this spring.
The commercial beekeeper said it was heartbreaking to discover he had lost about three million bees and all but one of 60 hives.
"It was incredibly depressing because we love our bees, just like they're our pets," Mutch said.
Mutch is the co-owner of Halcomb Honey & Hives, near Miramichi. He and his wife, Kristen, sell honey and products made of beeswax, and they also rent their bees to blueberry producers for pollination.
WATCH | Mites, climate change hurting bee population:
This beekeeper started last winter with 60 hives. Only one survived
5 minutes ago
Nathan Mutch said they would normally expect to lose anywhere from five to 25 per cent of their bees in a year.
"This was the worst year by far," he said. "Pretty much everyone seemed to have really high losses."
Chris Lockhart, president of the New Brunswick Beekeepers Association, said this year's high bee loss was an issue across the province.
"I know of beekeepers that lost well over 50 per cent."
Bee population on declining trend
Kaushal Rathnayake, a pollination biologist at the University of New Brunswick, says declining bee populations are a "widespread problem."
According to Rathnayake, many types of bees have been in record decline in recent years because of climate change.
"The bees die suddenly without any reason because they cannot withstand our long winters, or the high temperatures or the fluctuation in temperature," Rathnayake said.
Pascale Michaud, co-owner of AgroGene Solutions. detects infections in hives and honey bees.
"There's not one reason why all the bees are dying," Michaud said.
This season, she said, a lot of bees died because of viruses brought into hives by varroa mites, a parasite that attacks honey bees.
But infections are hard to predict.
"Because of climate change, we're seeing new things appear," she said.
If nothing is done to slow the spread of viruses, Michaud said, they will only get worse.
"I just think there needs to be more tools, more treatments."
Honey bees and the N.B. blueberry industry
Michaud said above-average bee losses have a wide impact.
"We're still missing thousands and thousands of hives to be able to pollinate everything," she said. 'So, you know, if we keep losing 30 to 50 per cent of our hives each year, it's a big stressor on the beekeepers, of course, but really on everyone because it's directly tied to food security.
Mutch said the blueberry industry is important in New Brunswick, "and without the bees, the blueberry industry wouldn't really survive."
According to Bleuets NB Blueberries, an agency representing the province's largest blueberry producers, in 2021 the wild blueberry industry contributed $81 million to the provincial GDP.
The New Brunswick Wild Blueberry Pollination Strategy aims to increase the number of bee colonies available for pollination by 60 per cent by 2029.
But Lockhart said that because of this year's losses, beekeepers across the province sent out less than 30 or 40 per cent of what they would normally send to pollinate crops.
The provincial honey bee expansion program can provide beekeepers with a maximum $20,000 a year to grow their operations.
Mutch said the funding helps, but it won't be enough to meet provincial targets.
Insurance programs fall short
This year's bee deaths also have a significant financial impact on beekeepers.
Mutch estimates he is out $50,000 between lost revenue for bee pollination rentals and the cost of replacing 99 per cent of his bees.
AgriStability is a national insurance program designed to support Canadian producers facing large income losses.
But Mutch hasn't applied.
"You pretty much got to be a huge operation for it to really be worthwhile for you."
Lockhart, who owns a 1,000-hive operation called Atlantic Gold Honey, applied to AgriStability, but not without hurdles.
He decided to apply after losing about 30 per cent of his bees, costing him $100,000.
"The downside about AgriStability is it takes about 18 months to get back the revenue that they're going to support you with," he said.
"You could be bankrupt already."
Lockhart said only a handful of beekeepers apply to the program.
The program can be complicated to understand, so Lockhart had his accountant apply for it, which is another expense.
Agriculture and Agri Food Canada said in a written statement that they have made changes to AgriStability to make it more accessible.
The changes include increasing the coverage rate from 70 to 80 per cent, making parts of the application similar to the process of filing taxes, providing participants with their coverage notices early in the year and digital improvements making it easier for participants to communicate with staff and track their application.
"The service standard for AgriStability is to process 75 per cent of applications within 75 days of receipt," the statement said.
The New Brunswick Department of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries said in a statement that it was exploring honey bee insurance.
In other provinces, bee mortality insurance covers 100 per cent of unexpected losses.
"It would have helped a lot of beekeepers this year," Mutch said. "I'm hoping it comes in."
Mutch said he now has 45 hives and so far, the new bees are looking healthy.
"When you have everything invested into it, it's scary where it could go."
If he loses a significant proportion of honey bees again, he might just give up beekeeping.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Colleen Bready's Forecast: How long will the rain last?
Colleen Bready's Forecast: How long will the rain last?

CTV News

timean hour ago

  • CTV News

Colleen Bready's Forecast: How long will the rain last?

Colleen Bready has your current conditions and updated weather forecast for July 22, 2025. Showers, storms and smoke continue Tuesday in Manitoba and northwestern Ontario. Showers arrived early Tuesday morning in Brandon before spreading east into Winnipeg by late morning. Showers or thunderstorms will end in the afternoon in southeastern Manitoba and northwestern Ontario, potentially leaving as much as 10-20 mm of precipitation behind, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada. Expand Autoplay 1 of 46 Steinbach Ella Mae enjoying getting to know Sandy Ridge Stables. (Photo by Kevin Friesen) Pinawa Pinawa suspension bridge (Photo by Kimberly Guiboche) Beautiful Rural Manitoba Beautiful rural Manitoba (Photo by Doug Collins) Cloud formation over Lowe Farm, MB Cloud formation over Lowe Farm, MB (Photo by Elva Dyck) Twins having lunch Twins having lunch by the lake (Photo by Leigh-Anne Peterson) Pleasant Valley Canola field at Pleasant Valley. (Photo by Nancy Cruikshank) Matlock Pier Seagulls at the Matlock Pier (Photo by Diane Romanson) Mist over Caddy Mist over Caddy Lake against that beautiful sky! (Photo by Barb Bobychuk) Peguis , MB Peguis , MB (Photo by Cynthia Favell) Seagulls at Matlock pier Seagulls at Matlock pier (Photo by Diane Romanson) The Little Sask River A cool breeze getting ready for whatever is next. (Photo by Ray Baloun) Pinawa Pinawa clouds (Photo by Lea Bangert) Monday morning Monday morning at Dunnottar, Manitoba (Photo by Bill Miller) Clouds over Gardenton Clouds over Gardenton (Photo by Kim Okapiec) Jaeger and Wilson Jaeger and Wilson enjoying the warm, relatively smoke free morning. (Photo by Barb Lavallee) Ship docking Ship docking at the Port of Churchill (Photo by April Lundie) American Mink American Mink at the Seiner river (Photo by PAULETTE PINSONNEAULT) Rainbow Beautiful rainbow over Pelican Lake (Photo by Jamie Paquin) Gull Harbour Gull Harbour Lighthouse (Photo by Brett House) Notre Dame de Lourdes Beautiful and happy owl on perfect day. (Photo by Diane Simon) Great Balls of Peonies Gator and Harlow wholeheartedly agrees to the heavenly scent. (Photo by Pat Payjack) Lake Red Squirrel We feed the lake red squirrel corn on the cob on his special feeder. (Photo by Tania Kruk) Storm Storm last night near St-Pierre (Photo by Genevieve Hacault) Breezy morning Breezy morning and quite smokey (Photo by Andrew Ashett) Lightning flash on Caddy Lake Lightning flash on Caddy Lake, Whiteshell Prov. Park. (Photo by Mariam Bernstein) Beautiful Sunset Beautiful sunset in the Durban area. (Photo by Ryan Mccullough) Bald Eagle Bald eagle is drying its feathers after going after something in the river. (Photo by Allan Robertson) Red Sunset Red sunset (Photo by Ben Holyk) Mallard duckling Mallard duckling in action catching insects. (Photo by Wade Munro) The gulls are everywhere The gulls are everywhere (Photo by Pat Payjack) Rainbow Rainbow over St. Malo. (Photo by Linda Gay) Bird River No better way too start our holidays than coffee on the dock! (Photo by Tania Kruk) Split Lake Fire, smoke, Northern lights and the moon from my backyard. (Photo by Taralee Beardy) An artist touches up a mural An artist touches up a mural on the Gimli seawall as a storm rolls through in the distance. (Photo by Desiree Rantala) Northern lights Northern lights over Split Lake (Photo by Taralee Beardy) Sparkles and water Sparkles and water (Photo by Sheryl Twardoski) North Kildonan North Kildonan (Photo by Shirley Wark) Near Gimli Near Gimli (Photo by Cynthia Morrow) Rainbow Rainbow over Rainbow RM of Elton (Photo by Lacey Burdeniuk) Lee river sunset Lee river sunset (Photo by Ken Horn) Near Morris Near Morris (Photo by Sandra Harder) After the storm After the storm in Dropmore (Photo by Dan Watson) Rainbow Rainbow over Altbergthal, Manitoba (Photo by Jennifer Klassen) Stormy Sky Stormy sky Near Elm Creek (Photo by Tina Doell) Somerset storm Somerset storm (Photo by Amber Hacault) Mother Nature's own fireworks for Canada Day Mother Nature provided some spectacular fireworks for Canada Day! (Photo by Kat Hedges) In northern Manitoba, wildfire smoke is widespread. An air quality warning issued by the weather agency remains in effect for several northern regions, extending south into central areas. As precipitation moves out of the south, expect it to be replaced by widespread smoke along a cold front. ECCC says smoke is spreading east and south along the front and expects to issue an air quality warning for Winnipeg by the end of the day on Tuesday. Widespread smoke will continue on Wednesday across most of Manitoba, except for areas furthest into the northeast. Temperatures in Winnipeg will begin to climb again soon, with forecast highs in the mid-20s on Wednesday and Thursday, before heating up close to 30 C on Friday through the weekend. Aside from any smoke, sky conditions will be sunny or a mix of sun and cloud the rest of the week. There is a low chance of showers or thunderstorms on the weekend.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store