From: The Québec weekly paper: La Terre de Chez Nous (13-19 November 1997), pp 9-10.

Québec Has Lost Seventy Five Percent of its Honey Producers

by

Rénald Bourgeois

Translated and excerpted by Dr. Tom Sanford, Extension Apiculturist, University of Florida

The number of beekeepers is in free fall. In a score of years, the number of hives in Québec has fallen from 100,000 to 30,000, while the number of beekeepers has been reduced from 4,000 to 700. At the same time, the average number of colonies has increased from 25 to 43. Honey production level, however, has been maintained through more intensive management.

There is also a tendency for operations to become larger; those with over 500 colonies and into the thousand colony range have all increased their numbers. These operations have diversified their sources of revenue by offering pollination services and products to the agro-tourism trade, including mead, wax, pollen and royal jelly.

Going out of Business:

The small and side-line beekeepers have gone out of business in large numbers in the decade of the 1980s, characterized by weak honey prices. Smaller-scale beekeepers were forced out quickly. Packers profited from an abundance of inexpensive, imported honey, causing a weak local market price of one dollar per kilo ($.45.55 a pound). In the face of these prices, beekeepers had no choice but to abandon their craft. Higher production costs, difficulty in purchasing bees and getting colonies through hard winters all contributed to making beekeeping a much less attractive occupation.

Border Closure:

The closure of the U.S. border put an end to low-priced package bees. This measure was put in place because of fear of introducing both tracheal and Varroa mites. The parasites, nevertheless, crossed the border. Thus, beekeepers had to adopt production techniques to keep colony infestations low.

Feeding bees also became more costly and beekeepers had to leave more honey on at the end of each year. They split hives to keep colonies at low population levels to reduce food consumption. They also developed better economic management to keep their operations profitable.

Price rises to $2.20 a kilo ($1.10 per pound) over the last two years have caused beekeepers to increase colony numbers. They have bought queens and divided existing colonies to produce more honey in the short term.

Measures Taken:

Christian Macle of Intermiel, an important Mirabel producer, had to diversify his production when honey prices became unprofitable. He now manages 2,000 hives and is doing pollination, as well as marketing other bee products. He has also taken better measures to keep colonies healthy. Because package bees are expensive, he keeps 100 to 150 colonies for necessary nuclei to make replacements. He buys queens from local producers in Québec. Jean-Pierre Chapleau, queen producer in Saint-Adrien-de-Ham, has also taken measures to restructure and consolidate his operation and return it to profitability

The Api Club, an association of 26 beekeepers, has played a role in helping members modernize equipment and control product quality. Even though there has been a decline in hive numbers, therefore, production levels have been maintained.

Large-scale beekeepers continue to employ modernized equipment and more intensive management techniques like frequent queen replacement coupled with hive division and intensive disease treatments. Will honey production rebound? It is probable that the large operations will continue to prosper. However, acccording to Jean-Pierre Chapleau, the nectar potential in Québec is limited to about 100,000 hives harvesting an average of 40 to 50 kilograms (one kilogram equals 2.2 pounds). But nectar flora continues to decline with increased plantings of crops like corn in the provence.