Alberta’s honey industry is receiving more help from the provincial and federal government in order to encourage the production of honey over the next year. This news comes after the passing year’s winter caused many colonies to experience losses and create hardship for Alberta beekeepers who are currently the largest producer of honey in Canada.
For small farmers who are engaged in apiculture and have lost queens over the last seasons, new queen replacements will be covered by the new funding in order to keep the bee populations in Alberta high and healthy. With the rapid decline of bee colonies caused by a variety of natural and man-made issues honey production and proper keeping of honeybees has become an environmental priority.
Bee pollination is incredibly helpful for farms, domestic plants and ecosystems, improving the growth of plant species within Canada helps to sustain our wildlife and improve the foraging ground for livestock and wild animals. Bees help farms to produce and regulate the ecosystems around them in many ways, for example, when there are enough plants deer have enough to eat, when deer populations grow predators have food sources and don’t need to venture to farms for meals.