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Bee health front and centre at Innisfil farm (6 photos)

Innisfil beekeeper says funding announcement is reassuring, but still approaching with cautious optimism

A local apiary was all abuzz today as two provincial ministers made a visit to Innisfil Creek Honey to announce a grant program for bee farmers across Ontario. 

Alongside local MPPs Andrea Khanjin and Doug Downey, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Ernie Hardeman and Minister of Environment, Conservative and Parks Jeff Yurek visited Brian Scott's 10 Sideroad business to announce the funding details. 

"Pollinator health is huge," Scott said, adding pesticides are a main factor. "They don't like to talk about pesticides, because it's an area where it impacts other areas of the agriculture industry

"The pesticides they're spraying on the fields aren't just killing negative insects, they're killing the positive insects also," he added. "You can see that in the absence of native bees that are flying around, or butterflies. It doesn't seem like Ontario is doing enough real work to do that."

Scott said something similar happened in the 1960s when the bald eagle and condor were threatened, and it became apparent that certain pesticides were the root cause for declining populations of those birds. 

"I'm hoping that the attention that the honey bee and pollinators are being given is the bald eagle for the new millennium," he said. "It could be the one thing that makes us rethink what we're doing to our environment."

Khanjin, who represents Barrie-Innisfil, said bringing the ministers to town gave them a first-hand look at beekeeping and what it means locally. 

"It was nice to have everyone see the benefits of the honey industry to economies like Innisfil," she said, adding the business also has a tourism and educational component to it.

"Bees are integrated within our environment and within our economy, so if you have a healthy bee population, you have a healthy environment. It's that fine balance."

The provincial and federal governments unveiled a cost-sharing program they hope will strengthen the health of the beekeeping sector. Through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, up to $500,000 will help support beekeepers to better manage pests, such as Varroa mites, diseases and other factors that stress their colonies to help grow their bee-related businesses. That includes access to sampling and lab testing.

"The work of pollinators is incredibly simple," Yurek said. "Yet when a honey bee transfers grains of pollen from one plant to another, it sets off a chain of actions that have huge benefits for all of us. They're helping to grow much of today's crops and plants that are consumed by humans and almost a third of what we eat every day.

"When honey bees and other pollinators are threatened, it means trouble for our environment and our economy," he added. "We do know it causes habitat loss, increases diseases and throws off growing seasons, causing possible mismatches between the growth of plants and the pollinators available to fertilize."

Hardeman noted bees are responsible for pollinating around 80 per cent of all agricultural crops: "Managed honey bees are very important to Ontario's economy," he said. 

The new program will cover 50 per cent of the costs for equipment and projects, up to $3,500 per applicant. Eligible beekeepers must be registered under the Bees Act and have at least 10 colonies. Applications will be accepted beginning Sept. 3.

Scott said the funding announcement is reassuring, as long as there's relatively easy access to the new funding. 

"But if it's like most government programs that come out where there's a big announcement but no ease of access, then it'll just be what it was last time," he said.

"We'll see what goes forward, but it is promising that they actually got this many ministers together to discuss one (topic) and they actually showed up. So that is the promising part of it."

Scott says the media attention in recent years around bee and pollinator health is also crucial, and possibly "pressured" government into taking action. 

"It could turn into something very beneficial," he added. "When you're dealing with government, you always have to have a little cautious optimism."

Over the last few years, beekeepers have faced challenges, including low winter survival rates, Hardeman said. However, he noted bee loss was "down significantly" this past year and the ministry's annual survey found that winter mortality averaged around 23 per cent this year, "half of what it was last year."

"That's good news and encouraging that we're moving in the right direction in improving bee-colony health," Hardeman said.

However, Scott said he thought Hardeman's figures were "flawed."

"Last year, upwards of 50 per cent of all honey-bee hives were dead in the spring," Scott said. "I never had it that bad. I was at about 38 per cent last year. I was at around 22 per cent this year. I know beekeepers that lost 50 per cent, 70 per cent, 90 per cent of their bees.

"Like any industry, people don't want to admit failures, so when people are filling out these unsunstantiated surveys, they might not want to admit they lost as many as they did," he added. 

Scott's business includes a honey store, a classroom and a supply store. He also breeds queen bees and starts hives for other beekeepers. He has been in the commercial end of the business for around nine years, having first been a hobbyist. Innisfil Creek Honey operates 850 bee hives, spread throughout York Region, Caledon and up into Oro-Medonte Township. 

As a supplier of bees, Scott sees firsthand how the deaths affect other beekeepers. 

"My major business is selling bees to other people, that's what my business is," he said. "So in the spring, the worse the winter is and the worse the winter losses are, the more money I make because I supply bees to those people that had deaths. I find that getting bigger and bigger and bigger every year. Even with just my own hives, I can see the negative effect."