Question Period Note: SUPPORT FOR BEEKEEPERS

Q1 - What financial support is available for beekeepers?

R.1 - Beekeepers have access to a comprehensive suite of business risk management programs, to help manage risks that threaten their operations and beyond their capacity to manage.
As of mid-August 2024, the AgriInsurance program has paid honey producers $9.6 million for indemnities for the 2023-24 crop season for bee and honey losses, and $15.7 million in indemnities for the 2022-23 crop season.

Support for Beekeepers
• The Canadian beekeeping industry is an important part of agriculture and plays an important role in the production of certain crops that benefit from the application of managed pollinators, notably hybrid canola seed production, blueberries, orchard fruits and other fruits and vegetables.

• Beekeeping is primarily regulated at the provincial level. Provinces are responsible for registration of hives and beekeepers, inspection of hives, extension education, and most regulatory aspects of beekeeping.

• While Canadian beekeepers produce most of the honeybees that make up the total population, industry relies on supplies of imported bees, particularly early in the season. Losses vary from year to year. Losses are related to weather, pest pressures such as varroa mites, and a number of other factors.

• CFIA regulates imports of honeybees including evaluating the risks posed by bee imports from source countries and regions. Queen bees are allowed to be imported to Canada from seven source countries, and almost all come from California and Hawaii. Package bees (two or three pounds of bees with a mated queen) are currently permitted from four source countries: Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and Chile.

• These bee health challenges have brought provincial and federal governments and industry together to seek to help improve the resilience of the beekeeping industry, and to explore potential actions in the short and longer term which could help improve the industry’s ability to safely sustain and grow honeybee populations and maintain and improve honeybee hive health.

• AAFC’s Science and Technology Branch is currently engaged in several bee-health related projects. These include using gene expression for real-time diagnostics of colony health, testing new compounds for controlling varroa mites, examining factors governing the transmission of honeybee viruses and American foulbrood disease, and evaluating new genetic queen stocks for beekeepers.

• AAFC convened a Working Group on Canadian Honeybee Sustainability, which included representatives from the CFIA, industry stakeholders, and provincial governments and apiculturists.

International sources of honeybees
• Bee health is complex, and it is important that honeybee imports be controlled in such a way that they pose no unacceptable risk to Canada’s beekeeping industry.

• Import restrictions on honeybee packages are in place to protect Canada’s honeybee stock given their importance to all Canadians.

• Permit requirements:
o Honeybees (including queens, package bees) must be imported under permit from CFIA - approved countries of origin, and with a CFIA - recognized health certificate from the originating country.

o CFIA-approved countries for importation of honeybee queens: Based on scientific evidence and risk assessments, Canada currently allows the import of handpicked, healthy honeybee queens from the U.S., Chile, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Italy and Malta.

o CFIA-approved countries for importation of packaged honeybees: Honeybee packages present a higher disease and pest risk than hand-picked queens and can, therefore, only be imported from Chile, Australia, Italy, and New Zealand at this time.

• The CFIA continues to work alongside the Canadian Honey Council, the United States Department of Agriculture, provincial apiculturists, the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists, as well as a wide range of other stakeholders and members of industry. From July to October 2022, the CFIA solicited a call for submission of any new, science-based evidence regarding honeybee health in Canada and the U.S. The CFIA has decided to conduct another risk assessment with an estimated completion in 2024.

Government Support:

AAFC has provided funding to the bee industry as noted below:

BRM programming:
Beekeepers have access to a comprehensive suite of business risk management programs to help manage risks that threaten their operations and are beyond their capacity to manage.

AgriInsurance provides timely, affordable and predictable assistance to producers enrolled in the program. Bee mortality insurance is available in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Prince Edward Island.

Both federal and provincial governments contribute to the cost of insurance premiums but each province delivers its own AgriInsurance program. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Prince Edward Island have implemented bee mortality insurance plans.

In the 2023-24 period, federal contributions to bees and honey production premiums were $7.8 million, up 23.8% from 2022-23 ($6.3 million).This increase in premium contributions is generally indicative of increased participation in the program by the sector.

In 2022-23, the province of Quebec introduced catastrophic loss coverage to their program. In addition, Ontario introduced similar catastrophic loss coverage for producers in the 2024-25 season. This added coverage means governments will cover a larger portion of the premiums costs associated with low-occurrence, high-severity events. The objective is to increase producer participation by reducing their share of the premiums.
AgriStability can also provide support for significant income losses caused by production loss, adverse market conditions, or increased expenses.

Producers, including beekeepers, that enrol in the program are eligible for payments if they experience a margin decline greater than 30% compared to their reference margin. Starting in 2023, the compensation rate under AgriStability was increased from 70 to 80 percent to provide more support to farmers in times of need.

AgriRecovery is federal-provincial-territorial (FPT) disaster relief framework intended to work together with the core BRM programs to help agricultural producers recover from natural disasters. The focus of AgriRecovery is the costs producers must take on to mitigate the impacts of a disaster and/or resume farming operations as quickly as possible following a disaster. AgriRecovery cannot provide support for loss income and duplicate or replace the assistance provided by private insurance or other governments programs.

The provinces of Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta received support under the AgriRecovery framework to assist impacted beekeepers with the extraordinary costs incurred for the purchase of replacement beehives as a result of the significant overwinter losses experienced in 2021-2022.
Other Support:

Through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, some provinces and territories have cost-shared programs designed to support best practices in a specific sector, such as the honeybee sector:

• In Manitoba, the Food Safety and Plant Health program supports activities to advance specific issues in the sector related to food safety, productivity, biosecurity, animal and plant health, traceability, animal welfare, farm safety, and environmental assurance practices such as antibiotic and pesticide use in the bee sector.

• Ontario’s cost-shared programming includes the Honeybee Health initiative, which is a targeted application intake to support beekeepers and help operational improvements for the purpose of reducing biosecurity risks, overwinter loss and to manage or prevent the introduction and spread of honeybee pests and disease.

• Prince Edward Island’s cost-shared programming supports the beekeeping industry as part of a set of broader livestock management strategies. The Pollination Expansion Sub-Program supports the sustainable increase of local Honeybee colonies that are available for pollination and the advancement of the beekeeping sector through strategic industry initiatives including investment in infrastructure.

• New Brunswick’s cost-shared programming includes the Honey Bee Industry Development Program that fosters the continued growth of honeybee sector. The program focuses on honeybee health, increasing colony numbers, expansion of honey bees for wild blueberry pollination and supporting beekeeping infrastructure.

• Nova Scotia’s cost-shared programming includes the Apiculture Sustainable Growth and Health Program, which promotes sustainable growth in the apiculture sector improving beehive health, pollination expansion, and adoption of efficient technologies that help with labour shortages. The program supports purchasing new hives, disease prevention initiatives, and expanding apiary operations.

• Three Atlantic Provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island) are supporting the Atlantic Tech Transfer Team for Apiculture project, with Sustainable CAP cost-shared funding. The project is delivered by Perennia Food and Agriculture Inc., with the aim to enhance the sustainability and productivity of the apiculture industry across Atlantic Canada. The project focuses on fostering the next generation of beekeepers through knowledge transfer, mentorship, and training, while also promoting sustainable practices and supporting the commercial entry of new beekeepers, including from underrepresented groups.

The AgriScience program has funded two projects on bee health since April 2018; a research project on the effect of probiotics on honeybee health and a project aimed to help improve adult and immature leafcutter bee health.

• Honeybee health is important to the sustained success of many agricultural sectors, such as horticulture and oilseeds.

• A working group, initiated by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, with representation from federal/provincial governments and industry, has worked towards developing strategies to help improve the long-term sustainability of the sector.

• Import restrictions on honeybee queens and packages are in place to protect Canada’s honeybee populations given their importance to all Canadians.

• The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has and continues to put significant effort into assessing, potential new international sources of honeybees and has recently approved imports from Italy and Malta.