Honey bee shortage could pose 'challenge' for wild blueberry growers
The end of August typically brings an abundance of wild blueberries in the province. And if you ask second-generation commercial beekeeper Chris Lockhart, New Brunswickers have honey bees to thank.
"They say one in every three bites of food has to do with pollination," said Lockhart, who is the owner of Lockhart Apiaries.
That's why blueberry growers rent honey bee colonies from Lockhart and other beekeepers, who bring worker bees to pollinate their fields each year in May.
The process is vital to ensuring a hearty crop for August, he said.
"For the blueberry growers, absolutely; that is their biggest investment, is pollinators."
But Lockhart said the wild blueberry industry is growing so fast that beekeepers in the province can't provide enough pollinators to meet demand.
"It could stunt the growth of the blueberry industry," he said. "If they don't have pollinators then what's the sense in growing blueberries? It's just not economical at that point."
Lockhart's company, which also makes products through Atlantic Gold Honey, manages around 1,000 colonies and sends almost all of them to blueberry fields. In recent years, he has turned away growers asking for more.
"That demand is just going to go up, and trying to fulfil it is going to be a challenge for the blueberry growers."
As wild blueberry growers have been gaining access to new Crown land across the province, Lockhart said some have no choice but to look outside of the province for help.
Growers 'push further' to import bees
According to data from N.B. Blueberries, wild blueberry production in the province is trending upward.
Despite a lagging harvest last year due to heavy rain, New Brunswick produced 38 million kilograms of wild blueberries in 2022. That's up from 25 million kilograms in 2021.
While no one from the Department of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries was made available for an interview, its website states that the province has about 10,000 registered bee colonies.
Lockhart said blueberry growers have been looking to other provinces for more.
The department said in an email statement that blueberry growers import 25,000 colonies, mainly from Ontario, and some growers buy their own bees to supplement pollination needs.
Lockhart, who also volunteers with the New Brunswick Beekeepers Association, said even that has not been enough.
"Even Ontario, they're kind of maxing out the people that are willing to come down for pollination there, so they're starting to have to push further into the country to get some hives."
He said importing honey bees can bring costs and hassles: travelling great distances with livestock can pose risks to the honey bees and importers must also go through a diligent inspection process.
To Lockhart, the ideal solution is to raise more honey bees locally to expand colonies that have been bred to face the Atlantic climate.
But one expert said climate change and the amount of disease that impacts bees in New Brunswick makes that a challenge.
Fighting wintering loss
Pascale Michaud, a research associate at the University of Moncton, said beekeepers face huge losses each year due to the fragility of bees.
"Some years, you just open your hive and either they're all dead or there's very few left."
Michaud is developing tools for beekeepers to test their hives for disease.
She said infection is one of the leading causes of what experts call wintering loss — an issue that she said can kill off 20 per cent to 50 per cent of a hive during winter months.
Michaud said New Brunswick is beset by almost all of the insects and infections that harm honey bees. While it's hard to pinpoint why, she said it could be partly due to the high number of imported bees, which may be transporting diseases into the province.
Climate change is also having a big impact on worker bees, she said.
"If [during] winter days it's really hot outside, the bees will go out, they fly, they'll think it's time to get out of the hive," she said. "And then the mercury drops again and they don't have time to make it back to the hive in time."
Spring temperatures arriving earlier in the year with persistent chilly nights also sends mixed signals to bees.
"It's a bit confusing for the bees, so that's also a reason why we see more losses."
As for Lockhart, he said he is working with the provincial government as part of his role with the New Brunswick Beekeepers Association to create a strategic plan for pollination.
He hopes the plan will focus on getting funding to growers, maximizing foraging land for bees to feed and getting new beekeepers involved in offering pollination service.
