MAY 2019 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC
Beekeepers see potential in
technology transfer
Program could offer support to small producers
by TOM WALKER KAMLOOPS – BC Honey
Producers Association (BCHPA) meetings are a hive of activity. Indeed, the semi- annual business and education days in Kamloops on March 22-23 was so popular that it moved to a larger venue to accommodate this year’s 140 participants. The business day included
executive and committee reports, as well as a presentation on provincial technology transfer programs, an update on the bee health in blueberries project and a report by the provincial apiarist. “We are really pleased to see the enthusiasm for our association that is building across the province,” says BCHPA president Kerry Clark. “In the past, we would start to wonder this time of year where we would have the next AGM. Well, we are booked for Prince George this October and we already have a group in Langley planning to host next year. It’s almost like we are starting a bidding war.”
Bees are riding a wave of public support matched by government funding. “Bee BC provided a total of $150,000 in funding for community-based bee health projects last year,” says Clark. “In addition, we have been able to fund $25,000 in bee research through the Investment Agriculture Foundation for 2019.” Clark explained that
priorities were established by the research committee in the fall for five projects. They will include further research of the effects blueberry pollination has on bees, which began last year. Additional projects will support honey
authentication, study of a mystery brood disease which is not testing as either American Foulbrood or European Foulbrood, testing of a novel Varroa control compound and testing the quality of queens raised within BC. BCHPA may also look to
further government support if it considers developing a technology transfer program similar to those operating in Ontario, Saskatchewan and the Maritimes, along with programs that are being established in Alberta and Manitoba this year. “We produce way below our potential here in BC,” says Creston beekeeper Jeff Lee, first vice-president of the BCHPA, explaining what he sees as an industry pattern. “We have a number of small producers who are in the business for a few years, but
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A number of bee colonies that appeared to be in trouble after a bitter February are responding well to warmer weather. TOM WALKER PHOTO
they run into difficulties and their hives crash and they leave the industry because they just don’t have the technical support to solve the problems in their hives.” Lee thinks the solution might be a technology transfer program.
“I became curious if we could do something in BC, similar to what is developing in other provinces,” he says. Les Eccles of the Ontario
Beekeepers Association presented on Ontario’s technology transfer program. “The mandate of the TTP is to conduct research for
Ontario’s beekeeping industry as well as to facilitate a honey bee breeding program in Ontario and to transfer information, skills and methodologies to the beekeepers,” explains Eccles. “Our program is a real collaborative effort with good energy. So much good comes out of it, and producers really call it their own.” Program funding comes
from both the federal and provincial governments as well as industry. “Industry contribution is
critical,” says Eccles. “Governments want to hear
that you are investing in your own industry.”
Colony losses Provincial apiculturist Paul
van Westendorp provided a preliminary report on spring colony losses. A survey of 5,500 colonies
in the Lower Mainland and southern Interior indicates an overall mortality rate of 48% (colony losses last year averaged 35%), but it’s not the full story. Van Westendorp says that as spring progresses, some
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