A focus on improved management has allowed Alberta beekeepers to put the “dark days” of massive winterkill behind them, says provincial apiculturist Medhat Nasr.

A close call averted for Alberta beekeepers

A decade ago, winterkill was up to 40 per cent annually — a rate that could have ravaged the beekeeping sector

Reading Time: 2 minutes The good news is Alberta’s bee populations are currently strong and healthy. The deeper story is just how close the province came to losing this priceless resource. Medhat Nasr, provincial apiculturist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, has been closely involved in the challenges and comeback of the province’s bees in recent years. “Over the past […] Read more

Alberta is home to nearly half of the honeybee colonies in Canada.

Alberta honeybees are busy — but not well understood

Researcher says there’s a lot to learn about how honeybees could be used to further boost canola yields

Reading Time: 3 minutes Having bees around your canola field might be good for your yield, but the exact details of how and why are not known yet. That’s where people like Shelley Hoover, apiculture researcher with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry in Lethbridge, comes in. Hoover’s research deals with bee health, bee pollination, and the impacts bees have on […] Read more


Uploaded pics of diseased honeybees will boost pest surveillance.

App offers instant link to bee disease info

The free app will be enhanced to allow picture uploads, 
and that will boost the bee pest surveillance database

Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta beekeepers will have better access to bee disease and treatment information through a new mobile app developed by Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. The free app for iPhone and Android is an easy-to-use tool that will link beekeepers to pictures and current information about pests, diseases and recommended management practices. “Our province has one of […] Read more

(Photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Ont. books drop in bee death ‘incidents’ at planting

Early data from federal pesticide regulators appear to suggest Ontario’s bee yards are moving past a spell of unusually high death losses seen around the 2012 and 2013 planting seasons. Combining the numbers of acute honey bee mortality “incidents” by bee yard in Ontario in the 2015 pre-planting and planting periods, up to June 11, Health Canada’s […] Read more