Alberta’s Budget 2025 earmarked a total of $5.2 million for repairs, upgrades, replacements and operational support for CDC North and CDC South.

Alberta crop diversification centres receive funding

Upgrades and replacements to greenhouses, labs and administrative buildings supported in Edmonton, Brooks

Reading Time: < 1 minute The Government of Alberta has pumped $5.2 million of provincial funding into crop diversity research centres in Edmonton and Brooks.

Some insects are bee mimics. These are actually flies, but they look like bees, explained Shelley Hoover, associate professor in the Biological Sciences Department at the University of Lethbridge, during a webinar hosted by Living Labs.

Pollinators play a crucial role in Alberta

Beelieve it? Bees of all kinds play a crucial role in Alberta’s economy and landscape

Reading Time: 4 minutes Bees: Unsung heroes of our food system. Learn how they contribute billions to Canada’s economy, boost crop yields, and impact human nutrition. University of Lethbridge research reveals the crucial role of diverse bee species.



Bee losses were spotty this past winter, the Canadian Honey Council says.

Beekeepers take stock of surviving hives

Alberta has the largest amount of overwintering loss, Canadian Honey Council says

Reading Time: 3 minutes Alberta honeybee losses over winter have yet to be tallied as beekeepers continue to collect data. Rod Scarlett, executive director of the Canadian Honey Council, says full numbers will be known by late June. “We’ve had some locations and operations that have been very good and overwintered losses of 10 per cent or less, and […] Read more


“We need to be a little bit more certain about supply.”

‘We’ve always taken for granted that the sugar’s always been there’

Sugar shortage highlights beekeeper feed vulnerability, Praire beekeepers say

Reading Time: 4 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – Beekeeping groups on the Prairies say it’s a good thing Western Canada’s sugar shortage didn’t happen a few months ago. The bees are now tucked away for the winter, but August and September are prime feeding seasons when beekeepers condition their colonies for winter and natural nectar sources are drying up. “We’ve […] Read more

“If there are still the bacteria present in the hive, other bees can come and rob that colony and potentially bring that bacteria back to their hive.” – Samantha Muirhead.

American foulbrood vaccine gets green light for Canadian beekeepers

Producers will be able to get the vaccine in spring 2024

Reading Time: 3 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – Canadian beekeepers are about to have the first vaccine for their stock. “It’s very exciting,” said Canadian Honey Council hive health specialist Osee Podolsky. The new vaccine targets American foulbrood, a spore-producing bacterial disease that gets its name from the unpleasant smell in infected hives. The disease is serious enough that standard […] Read more


The McDougall Creek wildfire burns outside West Kelowna, B.C. on Aug. 18, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Chris Helgren)

AgriRecovery feed, freight, breeding herd aid set for Alberta, Saskatchewan, B.C.

Feds, provinces announce combined $365 million in aid programs

The federal and Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia governments are jointly putting up $365 million to support ranchers and farmers up against this summer’s drought and wildfire damage. The feds on Friday announced their 60 per cent, or $219 million, share of AgriRecovery program funding for the three westernmost provinces. “I’ve had the opportunity to […] Read more

According to Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation, Alberta produces more honey than any other province, accounting for nearly 41 per cent of Canada’s 2022 total.

Recovery funds available to beekeepers for 2022 disaster

However, outdated importation policies still place producers at risk, says sector leader

Reading Time: 5 minutes Alberta beekeepers devastated by colony losses are getting a hand up through a new funding agreement. Agriculture Financial Services Corp., through the AgriRecovery program, is compensating commercial beekeepers for “extraordinary costs” incurred during the winter of 2021-22, when extreme cold and a parasite outbreak ravaged the sector. Overall, beekeepers lost 50 per cent of their […] Read more


A ban on bee replacements from the U.S. needs to be reviewed because of
severe overwintering losses here, says Alberta Beekeepers Commission
vice-president Lorne Prins, pictured with wife Alida at their operation near
Lacombe.

Open the border to replacement bee packages, say Alberta beekeepers

Producers need ‘a lifeline’ when winter losses soar

Reading Time: 2 minutes It wasn’t the worst winter they’ve seen, but Alberta beekeepers struggling with hive losses say Ottawa should allow imports of American bee replacements. “It’s important for Canadian beekeepers to have that lifeline, in the event that we have catastrophic losses,” said Lorne Prins, vice-president of the Alberta Beekeepers Commission.  “In all fairness, most producers will […] Read more

(FatCamera/iStock/Getty Images)

Beekeepers call to reopen cross-border package bee trade

Ten years after the last risk assessment, some say it’s time to re-evaluate

Canadian beekeepers are calling for the federal government to reopen the border to the importation of U.S. package honeybees. Witnesses at a meeting of the House of Commons standing committee on agriculture and agri-food last Wednesday presented recommendations for what the government could do to resolve issues of honeybee health decline and bee mortality. The […] Read more