After being hit hard over the past few years, bee keepers in our area are anxiously checking their colonies to see how they fared through the winter.
Peter Dickey has several bee colonies in Simcoe County and says some of his bee colonies survived the winter and some didn't.
“I have 13 hives here, two are dead. That's a normal stat - 10 to 15%. I have five strong ones and six very week ones.”
Bee keepers expect some losses over the winter but winter mortalities have been much higher than normal over the past few years. Last winter 58% of the bee colonies in province died. Cold weather, starvation and chronic exposure to pesticides were considered factors in the high mortality rates.
Bee keepers are still evaluating the outcome of this past winter but early indications are that the bees have done better than last year with mortalities in the 30% to 40% range.
Even so Dickey says mortality rates are too high and it's been that way since neonicotinoid pesticides started being used widely in agriculture. Neonics are extremely toxic to pollinators and are used to protect corn and soybean seeds from chewing insects.
The chemicals are approved by Health Canada but the province has introduced new regulations that aim to reduce their use by 80% over the next two years.
In an email statement on Thursday, a spokesperson from the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) called the draft regulations “unworkable because of the short timeline and the immediate lack of third party oversight.” But the OFA says it is willing work with the government to come up with solutions that will suit all parties.
The Grain Farmers of Ontario are also firmly against the proposed regulations.
Dickey says the rest of the world is watching to see what happens.
“The United States are watching us closely, I feel for the farmer too! He has to grow a crop that's affordable but the beekeeper keeps loosing bees he can't sustain that either.”
The public can comment on the draft regulations online at Ontario’s Environmental Registry until May7th.
