Fall
2015
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bees,” said Mark Brock, chair of the GFO. The GFO represents
28,000 corn, wheat, barley, oat and soybean farmers.
It’s also unclear how farmer can be expected to follow the
regulations for the next planting season, Brock said. Ontario
farmers who want to use neonics on more than 50 per cent of
their crops next year are being asked to submit pest assessment
reports. Since those farmers have already used neonics in their
fields this spring to rid themselves of pests, there might not be
enough evidence of pest pressure to justify using more than
their allotment of neonics next year.
“You can’t just flip the switch and change,” Brock said. “To
have a policy developed in six months, and implemented, isn’t
quite a workable timeframe.”
In September 2014, litigation firm Siskinds LLP filed a class-
action lawsuit seeking $450 million in damages from neonics
manufacturers Bayer and Syngenta on behalf of Sun Parlor
Honey and Davis Bryans’ Munro Honey. More than 100
beekeepers fromOntario and Manitoba have since joined the
lawsuit.
The Ontario Beekeepers’ Association has stated that its
members “face excessive and unprecedented losses of
colonies” from neonics use, and supports both the reduction
measures and the lawsuit. In contrast, the Alberta Beekeepers
Commission does not support the lawsuit or a neonics ban, and
has said that it prefers to work with the agriculture industry.
“We continue to believe that neonics are a safe way to treat
crops and prevent exposure to bees,” said Kevin Nixon, chair
of the Canadian Honey Council and a director for the Alberta
Beekeepers Commission. “Every family
of chemicals or pesticides over the years
has gotten more targeted and safer for
the user.” If farmers and beekeepers
communicate effectively, they can work
together to protect bee populations, he
added.
ACCUSATIONS FROMALBERTA
Alberta beekeepers have been critical of
Ontario’s response to its high bee losses.
Part of the divide in opinion stems from
the very different beekeeping dynamics between the two
provinces.
Alberta produces more than 45 per cent of the nation’s
honey. That’s twice as much as both Ontario and Saskatchewan,
which are tied for second place in honey production. The
majority of Alberta’s beekeepers are commercial operations,
with hundreds or thousands of hives and strong ties to the
agriculture industry through pollination contracts.
Although Ontario produces half the honey Alberta does, it
has twice the number of registered beekeepers, the majority of
which are small or hobby operations with fewer than 50 hives.
Albertan farmers and beekeepers also frequently mention that
although Alberta has vast fields of neonic-treated canola, they
haven’t seen bee losses like Ontario has.
Ontario doesn’t grow much canola, but it does grow a lot
of corn and soybeans. It’s generally agreed that corn and
soybeans are not good foraging crops for bees. Corn is a wind-
pollinating crop and produces no nectar. Soy is self-pollinating
and likewise offers little nectar or pollen. Canola, on the other
hand, offers plenty of both.
In addition, despite different amounts of seed being used at
planting, the amount of neonics applied per acre for corn and
soybean isn’t much greater than the amount applied in canola
plantings.
Alberta beekeepers like Stony Plain’s Lee Townsend, who
keeps 3,300 hives, argues it’s a great time to keep bees. “While
the beekeeping industry in Canada is always facing struggles
and changes from year to year, this industry has never been
stronger,” he said.
The very dry summer has caused some stress on his hives, but
Townsend is optimistic he’ll have an average honey crop with
some co-operation from the weather.
That optimism is not shared in Ontario and elsewhere.
WORLDWIDE WORRIES
The sense of crisis in Ontario is part of an international anxiety
about the long-term health of pollinators, such as bees and
butterflies. Grim reports of high honeybee winter losses
abound. Bees are recognized as playing a vital role in crop
pollination and are commonly estimated to be responsible for
one-third of global food production.
In the United States, beekeepers talk of
“colony collapse disorder,” a syndrome
first observed in 2006 in which hives are
found nearly deserted in the spring, with
only a few worker bees, the queen and
bee larvae left behind.
Europe, facing similar public concern
about pollinator health, announced a
moratorium on neonic use in 2013. Crop
yields in Europe have since dropped, and
there’s considerable pushback against the
ban in some regions. Recently, oilseed
rape farmers in several counties in the U.K. have been granted
permission to use neonics on their fields after demonstrating
significant pest damage.
Beekeepers, experts and farmers opposed to blaming
neonics point to an increase in honeybee numbers in Canada
over the last 10 years. Despite the sharp regional losses of
recent winters, there has been no overall drop in worldwide
honeybee numbers. In Western Canada, the beekeeping
industry is booming.
Ontario beekeepers say the numbers reflect frantic efforts to
replace dead or unproductive hives. Furthermore, they say their
losses are unsustainable, and fingers have pointed persistently
at the widespread use of neonics.
“Every family of
chemicals or pesticides
over the years has gotten
more targeted and safer
for the user.”
–Kevin Nixon
