New numbers from Statistics Canada confirm Alberta as the top honey producing province in Canada._x000D_
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“Alberta produced 42.8 million pounds in 2015, which up 20.4 per cent from 35.5 million pounds in 2014,” says Medhat Nasr, provincial apiculturist, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, Edmonton. “As well, yields rose from 125 pounds to 145 pounds per colony.”_x000D_
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Nasr says Alberta was also the top province for bee colony numbers in 2015 with over 295,000 colonies. “Winter mortality was also the lowest in the past 15 years, at about 10 per cent. That compares to the national average of a 16 per cent loss and the American average of 23 per cent.”_x000D_
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Farm cash receipts from honey sales in Alberta are approximately $75 million per year, in addition to $12 million per year from pollination service fees. The market value of honey bee contributions to the pollination of pedigree hybrid canola and canola crop production is estimated to be $650 million per year in Alberta._x000D_
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Canadian beekeepers produced 95.3 million pounds of honey in 2015, up 11.4% from 2014. There were 8,533 beekeepers in 2015, 365 less than in 2014.
