Did you know that 1/3 of our food depends directly on bees? In fact, bees have an important role to play in our own food chain. Without them, a big part of our fruits and vegetables wouldn’t have grown. The bees, flying from flower to flower, drop pollen residues that were on their bodies. When mixing the pollen from two flowers, a fruit is created. It’s the fertilization of plants. Over the last few years, an alarming lack of bees was noticed in Quebec, because of two main reasons: the rude winter we had and the overuse of pesticides.  

According to the Canadian Association of Professional Apiarists (CAPA), in collaboration with the provincial ministers, a little more than 16% of the bees died during the last winter, in Mauricie. In fact, beekeepers from Mauricie lose an average of 4/30 of their hives, every year. A new report on the health of honey bees in Canada even says that 58% of the colonies did not survive the last winter.

In Canada, Quebec is the third most affected province by the decline of bees, after the Ontario, and New-Brunswick.

Ontario’s bee mortality rate :                            37.8% of the bees

New-Brunswick’s bee mortality rate :             22.8% of the bees

Quebec’s bee mortality rate :                             18.7% of the bees

The more rigorous Winter in the East of the Canada is, according to a survey from the CAPA, the principal factor of the high bee mortality rates with the use of pesticides. Other factors could be the weakness of the queens, or a lack of food.

Pesticides

A reason for the decline in populations of bees is pesticides (Neonicotinoids) used by vegetable farmers, growers and seed companies (mostly on corn, canola and soybeans). Beekeepers, supported by scientific research, say the neonicotinoids, known as neonics, are weakening beneficial insects. The chemicals dedicated to protect crops against worms and pests make them more vulnerable to parasites, viruses, and loss of food supply. “This is a systemic pesticide that is designed to kill somethings that tries to eat it. So when a bee tries to eat from a flower, there’s still a little bit of poison there”, said Dan Davidson, president of the Ontario Beekeepers’ Association and a beekeeper in Watford.

In conclusion, the reasons of the big lack of bees are the winter, and the overuse of harmful pesticides. So if we want to save the bees, and by the time, help our own food chain, we should stop or at least limit the use of neonicotinoids in our farming.