Death in the Beehive

A tiny killer is threatening Alberta’s nation-leading bee farms – and it’s not just honey production that’s suffering

Sep 1, 2009  

by Darrell Winwood

But just as it seems the buzz is fading from Alberta’s honey industry, there is also hope coming in the form of a new miticide called Apivar. Introduced into Alberta on an emergency basis late last fall, the chemical was made available to a small number of beekeepers, including Greidanus, to treat their hives. After suffering a large winter kill in 2008, things were looking promising for Mountainview Honey at the start of this season in May.

“I have not seen a single varroa mite going through my bees yet this year,” says Greidanus, a mixture of hope and apprehension in his voice. Apprehension because the industry has been here before, finding a successful chemical treatment only to have the mites develop an immunity.

It’s a problem Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development is fully aware of, says Paul Laflamme, head of the Pest Surveillance Branch and Crop Diversification Centre North in the Agriculture Research Division of the ministry. At least part of the reason the mites keep becoming immune to the treatments is that only one type of hard chemical at a time has been licensed for use in Alberta, he adds. “That’s a really bad practice in agriculture. We always recommend farmers rotate [chemical treatments]. There may be only one [mite] in a million that has a natural immunity [but] it survives and breeds.”

Another problem for beekeepers is that there has been little incentive for pesticide makers to invest in research and development to create multiple types of miticides for such a small, niche industry, says Laflamme. “There’s just not a lot out there.”

Alberta Agriculture received only emergency permission from the Pest Management Regulatory Agency, a branch of Health Canada, to allow the use of Apivar, a relatively new chemical. That permission expired at the start of April 2009 and as of the end of May, Alberta did not have clearance to use the chemical again this year. “It may not happen until this next year, but we’re trying to get emergency clearance again for this year,” Laflamme says.

However, Alberta Agriculture has now embarked on a $400,000 study, bankrolled by the government, large agriculture companies and beekeepers themselves, to find or create new miticides for licensing in Alberta. It’s a big undertaking for a small industry, but the benefits are obvious. In May, at the time of this research, the ministry was still gathering information on 2008-09 winter kill rates across the province, but early results showed two distinct groups, says Laflamme. Those that were able to access Apivar had a 10% to 15% loss and those that didn’t fluctuated between 30% and 50%. “The Peace region has been hit the hardest this year; they’ve had the highest losses the last two years,” he says.

So what does this mean for consumers? Will there suddenly start being honey shortages in stores? The answer is no, not really. On a global basis, Canada’s honey production is a drop in the jar compared to giants such as China, the United States and Argentina. Mexico also produces more honey than Canada.

Honey supplies will not dry up, but so far this year, prices are up. According to Greidanus, honey prices were averaging $1.70 per pound early this season, not an all-time high but a good price for those who can produce. One hive can produce 150 to 200 pounds of honey in a good year.

“We need more tools,” laments Greidanus. “What happens when they [mites] develop a resistance to Apivar? With prices high, people want to capitalize on the situation, pay some bills that have accumulated.”

There are other reasons beekeepers have fallen on hard times: recent severe winters and cooler springs have not been ideal conditions for breeding honeybees; they like temperatures in the 20 degree range before they venture far from their hives. But it’s important to note that a severe disease plaguing U.S. beekeepers, colony collapse disorder, has not been diagnosed in Canada, says Laflamme. The symptoms of CCD include bees abandoning hives and not returning. What’s more, unlike the mites, the American phenomenon is still largely a mystery.

“They haven’t diagnosed the primary cause yet. They have some ideas, some guesses, but they haven’t been able to pinpoint it,” Laflamme says.

Back outside of Girouxville, Benoit only shrugs the weary shrug of an experienced farmer when asked what he will do if his hives continue to die from varroa mites. He will buckle down, work as hard as he can and let nature take its course, he says. He plans to apply for newly created winter-kill insurance, just in case that’s not enough. “We’re used to [uncertainty]. We have a lot of up and down years,” he says. His success this season will be judged by the amount of buzzing that surrounds him come fall. Insect hordes, now that would be comforting.

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