A crisis is looming in the Canadian honey industry with far-reaching implications. The producers’ tiny, tireless workers — the humble honey bees — are dropping dead by the millions and business is not so sweet.
But experts warn the dilemma could extend well beyond the hives, and put a sting in Canadian food production. The plight of the dwindling honey bee is also being felt worldwide, prompting the United Nations to raise an alarm over a possible global food shortage and skyrocketing prices for produce.
Bees, domestic or wild, serve an all-important role in transferring pollen from one flower to another, a natural process that supports at least 30 per cent of the world’s food crops and 90 per cent of our wild plants, says the U.S.-based Natural Resources Defence Council.
In Canada, the “deadly enemy” has been linked to a commonly-used poison in the neonicotinoid class of pesticides, which were banned in the U.K. in May.
Agriculture Canada is now under pressure to follow suit. Neonicotinoid pesticides have been allowed here since 2004.
While natural factors play a role in killing bees, pesticides play a prominent role. In 2012, more than 200 bee yards in Ontario and Quebec experienced a high bee kill; about 70 per cent of the bodies contained residue from neonicotinoid pesticides, says a Health Canada report.
More recently, this week it was reported that several million honey bees were found dead on a single farm in Elmwood, Ont. Beekeeper Dave Schuit lost at least 600 hives representing at least 37 million honey bees — and he’s pointing the finger squarely at neonicotinoid pesticides. The deaths occurred shortly after local canola and corn crops were sprayed with two neonicotinoid-based insecticides.
“I guess you can call this a bee holocaust,” said an incensed Schuit.
Albert Einstein once said: “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, man would have only four years to live.”
While such apocalyptic scenarios are overblown because the staples of corn, wheat and rice are all pollinated by wind, the bee crisis demands to be addressed with haste.
A massive international study, involving the University of Calgary and 600 fields from 20 countries, warns that the deaths of domestic and wild bees is hurting global food production, including fruit and seed crops in Alberta.
The UN says it’s urgent to know if the plight of the honey bee risks “further exhausting our already thin margin of food global security.”
Wild bees and other insects, which play a major role in the pollination scheme of things, are also dropping dead.
In mid-June, upwards of 50,000 bumble bees were found dead or dying in a Wilsonville, Ore., parking lot after nearby flowering linden trees were sprayed with an insecticide — despite warnings not to use the poison where bees were present. Authorities called it “one of the largest mass deaths of bumble bees known in the United States.”
The international study warns that “as agricultural development, pesticides and viruses continue to diminish wild insect populations, crop harvest size and quality will continue to dwindle.”
Dr. Lawrence Harder, a biological science professor at the U of C, was among 50 researchers in the study that analyzed data from 41 crop systems around the world. They examined what impact the declining numbers of wild bees and other insects had on crops. “Our study demonstrates that production of many fruit and seed crops ... is limited because their flowers are not adequately pollinated,” said Harder. The study, recently published in the prestigious journal Science, also concluded that adding more honey bees often does not fix the problem, but increased service by wild insects would help.
Harder stresses that while the majority of global food crops, such as grains and cereals, do not require pollination by insects, foods that make our diets “interesting” certainly do. “We’re talking about blueberries, canola, sunflowers, field tomatoes, cherries and strawberries — all of which are grown in Canada.”
The Canadian government’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency has announced it is reviewing the use of pesticides in the neonicotinoid class.
Alberta’s agriculture industry has a particular interest in bee populations. It’s Canada’s biggest honey producer with a 14-million-kg-a-year output worth up to $45 million annually. And the expanding hybrid canola seed pollination market is worth tens of millions more.
Who would have guessed so much rests on the fragile wings of the tiny, humble bee?
Rick Zemanek is a retired Advocate editor.