Sask. beekeepers hope to avoid sting of killer parasite, tariffs on honey production

Jeremy Warren · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 09, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

Simon Lalonde warns the guests touring his apiary that the yellowish goo his bees are depositing connected their apparel isn't honey.

It's fundamentally bee poop, Lalonde says.

It's a sunny outpouring time astatine From Hives to Honey, an apiary a abbreviated thrust from Clavet, Sask., and the bees are leaving their hives for the archetypal clip since hibernation.

"They're doing their cleansing flights, which is … they haven't been capable to spell to the bath since November of past year," Lalonde said.

"They're stretching their wings again. They'll commencement drinking immoderate water, they'll commencement moving antithetic macromolecule sources conscionable to get the hive up and running. So these archetypal fewer days are going to beryllium immense to get the hive moving to summation their population."

Geoff Wilson is the agriculture ministry's apiculture specializer — the province's main bee inspector. He said aboriginal reports from Saskatchewan hives suggest wintertime was 1 of the worst connected grounds for the bee population.

"We're anticipating losses determination astir 35 per cent connected average," Wilson said successful an interview.

"That would enactment america close successful the highest we've ever had successful the province. This is conscionable guessing astatine the moment. We don't cognize for sure.… We'll person beekeepers that person done good and we'll person beekeepers that person mislaid much than they'd similar to."

Population diminution isn't the lone interest among apiaries. The hives are nether onslaught from a bee-killing parasite and present chromatic producers are bracing for impacts of a tariff commercialized war.

Natural chromatic is connected Canada's database of U.S. imports taxable to a 25 per cent tariff. There is not presently a U.S. tariff connected Canadian honey.

In 2023, Canadian hives produced 91.8 cardinal pounds of chromatic with a accumulation worth of $277 million, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Saskatchewan's stock of that was conscionable implicit 20 cardinal pounds.

Saskatchewan exported astir $4 cardinal of chromatic successful 2023, down from $6.6 cardinal the erstwhile year, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The Prairie provinces accounted for 73 per cent of each chromatic exports successful 2023.

Tariffs could impact beekeepers by raising prices connected equipment, supplies and adjacent queen bees, said Lalonde, who is besides the president of the Saskatchewan Beekeepers Development Commission.

New queen bees are developed by hives each year, but successful Saskatchewan that doesn't typically hap until June. Lalonde said apiaries present import queen bees from the U.S. to insert them into caller hives truthful chromatic accumulation starts sooner.

"[There are] astir 800,000 hives successful Canada and we brought successful astir 260,000 queens from the U.S. past year," Lalonde said. "So value-wise that's astir apt determination astir 2 to 3 cardinal [dollars] retired of beekeepers' pockets if a tariff happens to spell connected to the queen bees."

A honeybee parasite called the Varroa mite continues to ravage Saskatchewan hives. In 2022 the mites, which provender connected chromatic bees, proliferated during wintertime hibernation and the bee mortality complaint spiked.

That was the aforesaid fearfulness heading into this past winter, Wilson said. Summer drought conditions near honeybees little prepared for wintertime and much susceptible to the slayer pest, helium said. 

"Bee wellness is getting harder and harder due to the fact that there's getting to beryllium absorption to those power products that we usage for the Varroa mite," Wilson said. "It's getting harder and harder to power the pest."

From Hives to Honey lone mislaid astir 15 per cent of its bees implicit winter, Lalonde said. Even amid the uncertainty, he's feeling upbeat.

"At this clip of year, you're ever arsenic optimistic arsenic you tin beryllium and hoping to nutrient the champion hives that you tin for the chromatic harvest coming up."