The Alberta Beekeepers Commission is reporting the lowest honey yields some of their producers have seen in 40 years.

Executive Director, Connie Phillips, says over half of their beekeepers say they've seen at least a 50 per cent drop in this year's production compared to the three year average.

"Central Alberta North, the low crop is due to wet and cold weather and a bit of a slow start to the season as May was a bit smokey, so the bees don't really like that either," she said. "Then in Southern Alberta it was just too hot and dry."

Phillips says where dry conditions persisted, bees ran out of forage early, leading to less nectar collected and lower honey yields.

The packers and retailers set the price, according to Phillips who says economics suggest shoppers may see an increase in honey prices with the lower supply.

"The price of honey has actually been declining for the last five years, so it could go up quite a bit I think before consumers would see an impact."

However, she says a bit of an increase would be good news for producers who've been facing declining prices and rising input costs.

"It will depend on the threshold of what producers can tolerate. There may be some that may not be able to continue in the business if we can't get some compensation in some way."

Phillips says they'll be meeting with Alberta's Agriculture and Forestry Minister, Devin Dreeshen, on Monday, October 7, where they'll talk compensation and improvements to Business Risk Management programs for beekeepers.

 

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