Honey bee queen production: Canadian costing case study and profitability analysis

Bixby, Miriam; Hoover, Shelley E; McCallum, Robyn; Ibrahim, Ahmed A.; Ovinge, Lynae P; Olmstead, Sawyer; Pernal, Stephen F.; Zayed, Amro; Foster, Leonard J.; Guarna, M. Marta

doi:10.1101/2020.01.14.906461

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 22 publications

(5 reference statements)

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“…The price to purchase an imported or domestic queen for our beekeeper is $45/queen, a price that is consistent with the current retail market as well as the 2020 Alberta survey results ( Laate 2020 , CBS 2023 , DBE 2023 , RQ 2023 ). If the beekeeper produces their own queens within their operation, we assign a cost to this production of $18.75/queen, an inflation-adjusted cost based on a recent Canadian queen production cost case study ( Bixby et al 2019 ). Different queen producers will have a range of production costs, and these should be factored into any customized economic analysis.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Honey bee colonies in Canada and around the world have experienced significant winter mortality rates over the past few decades due to several environmental and biological factors including the parasitic mite, Varroa destructor ( Guzman-Novoa et al 2010 , Le Conte et al 2010 ), and honeybee queen health ( CAPA 2010 , Genersch et al 2010 , Spleen et al 2013 , vanEnglesdorp 2013 , Liu, et al 2016 , Bixby et al 2019 , Brown and Robertson 2019 ). Canadian beekeepers reported an average winter colony mortality of 45% in 2022 and a 15-yr average loss rate of 27% ( CAPA 2022 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Winter mortality, diversification, and self-sufficiency affect honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) colony profit in Canada: a model of commercial Alberta beekeepers

Bixby

Scarlett²,

Hoover

2023

Journal of Economic Entomology

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Canadian beekeepers faced widespread levels of high honey bee colony mortality over the winter of 2021/2022, with an average winter loss of 45%. To understand the economic impact of winter colony mortality in Canada and the beekeeping management strategies used to mitigate these losses, we develop a profit model of commercial beekeeping operations in Alberta, Canada. Our model shows that for operations engaging in commercial pollination as well as honey production (compared to honey production alone), per colony profit is higher and operations are better able to withstand fluctuations in exogenous variables such as prices and environmental factors affecting productivity including winter mortality rates. The results also suggest that beekeeping operations that replace winter colony losses with splits instead of package bees accrue higher per colony profit than those importing packages to replace losses. Further, operations that produce their own queens to use in their replacement splits, accrue even higher profit. Our results demonstrate that the profitability of beekeeping operations is dependent on several factors including winter mortality rates, colony replacement strategies, and the diversification of revenue sources. Beekeepers who are not as susceptible to price and risk fluctuations in international markets and imported bee risks accrue more consistently positive profits.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Winter mortality, diversification, and self-sufficiency affect honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) colony profit in Canada: a model of commercial Alberta beekeepers

Bixby

Scarlett²,

Hoover

2023

Journal of Economic Entomology

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“…Bee products that have socioeconomic value include honey, beeswax, propolis, pollen, royal jelly and bee venom 9,10 . Live bees are also traded as queens or swarms for breeding 11 . In some cases, bees are used as protein sources in human and animal diets 12,13 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Upward global trends in managed honey bee colonies and production: a six-decade viewpoint, 1961-2017

Phiri¹,

Fèvre

Hidano

2022

Preprint

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We conducted a retrospective study to examine the long-term trends for the global honey bee population and its two main products: honey and beeswax. Our analysis was based on the data collected by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations from 1961 to 2017. During this period, there were increases in the number of managed honey bee colonies (90.7%), honey production (236.2%) and beeswax production (115.8%). The amount of honey produced per colony increased by 50%, signifying improvements in the efficiency for producing honey. Concurrently, the human population grew by 135.3%. Whilst the absolute number of managed colonies increased globally, the number per capita declined by 19.9% from 13.6 colonies per 1000 population in 1961 to 10.9 colonies per 1000 population in 2017. Beeswax had a similar trend as the global production per capita reduced by 8.5% from 8.2 kg to 7.5 kg per 1000 population. In contrast, the global honey production per capita increased by 42.9% at the global level. The global human population growth outpaced that of managed honey bee colonies. Continuation of this trend raises the possibility of having a shortfall of pollinators to meet the increasing consumer demand for pollinated crops. To mitigate these challenges locally-driven solutions will be key as influencing factors differed geographically.

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“…Over the winter of 2019-2020, the national colony mortality average was 30.2%, more than double the sustainable threshold for winter losses of 15% (Furgala and McCutcheon 1992, van Engelsdorp et al 2007, Ferland et al 2020, demonstrating the need for robust stock replacement systems. Canada's cold northern climate has historically limited the scale of domestic queen breeding (Bixby et al 2020), thus beekeepers in Canada rely on the importation of bees across international borders to support and often replace losses from their roughly 700,000 colonies each year. Certain provinces were affected by COVID-19 disruptions more than others, for example, thirty-three percent of survey respondents manage their bees in Alberta, where in 2020, beekeepers managed 285,000 colonies (38% of Canada's total), producing 36% of the nation's honey that year (Stats Can 2020b).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of COVID-19 on Canadian Beekeeping: Survey Results and a Profitability Analysis

Bixby

Polinsky

Scarlett³

et al. 2021

Journal of Economic Entomology

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To gauge the impact of COVID-19 on the Canadian beekeeping sector, we conducted a survey of over 200 beekeepers in the fall of 2020. Our survey results show Canadian beekeepers faced two major challenges: 1) disrupted importation of honey bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) (queen and bulk bees) that maintain populations; and 2) disrupted arrival of temporary foreign workers (TFWs). Disruptions in the arrival of bees and labor resulted in fewer colonies and less colony management, culminating in higher costs and lower productivity. Using the survey data, we develop a profitability analysis to estimate the impact of these disruptions on colony profit. Our results suggest that a disruption in either foreign worker or bee arrival allows beekeepers to compensate and while colony profits are lower, they remain positive. When both honey bee and foreign workers arrivals are disrupted for a beekeeper, even when the beekeeper experiences less significant colony health and cost impacts, a colony with a single pollination contract is no longer profitable, and a colony with two pollination contracts has significantly reduced profitability. As COVID-19 disruptions from 2020 and into 2021 become more significant to long-term colony health and more costly to a beekeeping operation, economic losses could threaten the industry’s viability as well as the sustainability of pollination-dependent crop sectors across the country. The economic and agricultural impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic have exposed a vulnerability within Canada’s beekeeping industry stemming from its dependency on imported labor and bees. Travel disruptions and border closures pose an ongoing threat to Canadian agriculture and apiculture in 2021 and highlight the need for Canada’s beekeeping industry to strengthen domestic supply chains to minimize future risks.

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Honey bee queen production: Canadian costing case study and profitability analysis

Abstract: 17 45 46

Cited by 3 publications

References 22 publications

Winter mortality, diversification, and self-sufficiency affect honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) colony profit in Canada: a model of commercial Alberta beekeepers

Winter mortality, diversification, and self-sufficiency affect honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) colony profit in Canada: a model of commercial Alberta beekeepers

Upward global trends in managed honey bee colonies and production: a six-decade viewpoint, 1961-2017

Impacts of COVID-19 on Canadian Beekeeping: Survey Results and a Profitability Analysis

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