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given time. So we are replacing about 35 per cent of the queens with Hawaiian queens every year. We also import queens from New Zealand, some from California and some from Chile.”


What Foster and his associates are doing now is called molecular bee breeding. The aim is to eliminate the need to


import queens, or do so with a smaller number.


“Right now most of the queen bees that are produced are not selected for any given trait,” says Foster. They are bees that survived, but not because of any given trait, be it disease resistance or honey production. “We are trying to help the beekeeper with a selection of bees that are going to be stronger in one trait or another.” They have developed a diagnostic test in particular for a disease-resistance trait in bees, “and we are now using that with beekeepers to start a selective breeding program in southwestern B.C. “Then we are going beyond that trait to develop these kinds of diagnostic tests for other traits that are important for B.C. producers —things like honey production and whether the bees can


survive the winter in Canada or not.” While Canada can usually meet its


demand for queens from Hawaii and other sources, he cautions that the bees are not adapted to Canada’s climate and to the pathogens and pests here. “It would be far better if Canada could raise its own queen bees, but the nature of the industry and our climate doesn’t allow that. “The big commercial honey producers need a very large number of queens in March and April. However, since we are still in winter in many parts of the country there is no way we can produce the number of queens required, so that is why we have to look offshore to fill the demand.”


The big increase in blueberry production in B.C. is going to increase the demand for pollinator bees, adds Foster.


“There is a growth in commercial bee operators in the Lower Mainland who are just focused on pollination because there is so much demand. There is a lot of opportunity for beekeepers just making sure that the supply of queens is there.”


The saving grace for the BC blueberry industry is going to be Alberta, he says.


“More and more beekeepers in


Alberta recognize the potential and so they are moving their bees to B.C. early in the spring to pollinate blueberries and then they move them back to Alberta to pollinate and produce honey.”


There are about 200,000 bee colonies


in Alberta and only a fraction of those currently come to B.C. Foster says while queen bee molecular research is a long-term endeavour, some practical outcomes should be realized fairly soon. “We are at the point with bee breeders right now where we want to implement this one test we have for disease resistance, which could mean there would be bees available in as little as a year or two.


“Hopefully that breeding will continue over many years and produce more and more bees that are disease resistant.” Foster says the researchers are working with Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island breeders to implement diagnostic tests and in parallel are also working with about a dozen bee breeders across southern B.C. They are also doing the same in five other provinces.


British Columbia Berry Grower • Fall 2016


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