It may be the dead of winter, but a recently announced pilot program that would provide insurance for honey bee loss has Saskatchewan beekeepers abuzz.

The bee mortality project, announced alongside other measures for farmers in the province in the 2014 Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation (SCIC) program, will cover loss of honey bees over the winter as a result of naturally occurring causes that are beyond the control of the producers.

The program is available to producers who run at least 100 colonies.

"Bees have always been kind of a small agricultural industry, and has kind of been left by the wayside a little bit," Jake Berg, president of the Saskatchewan Beekeepers Association, said.

"It's going to be nice insurance to have for the worst case scenario loss."

While there have been programs for honey insurance, bear fences, and wildlife damage, this will be the first time that a bee mortality insurance program is offered.

"The overwintering losses on bees have been a concern across Canada, probably a little bit less in Saskatchewan, but have been a concern for a number of years for our industry," Jeff Morrow, vice president of operations for SCIC said.

The pilot program, which will run for three years before being evaluated to decide if it will continue, will bring Saskatchewan in line with similar programs available in Manitoba and Alberta.

Producers have until March 31 to apply for an SCIC contract and can select coverage up until June 25. SCIC adjusters will visit the bee yards in the autumn to ensure that the colonies are ready for winter, and producers could see the first benefits of the program in spring 2015.

Most producers can expect to lose around 10 per cent of their colonies over the winter, but devastating losses up to 80 or 90 per cent can cripple a honey operation.

Last year's long, cold winter was especially hard on many producers, yet there is still growth in the industry.

"We are seeing slight increases year over year with the number of colonies in the province, the exception being last year because of a higher than normal winter loss," Geoff Wilson, the provincial specialist in apiculture, said. Despite the beekeepers' best efforts at preparing their hives for winter, dealing with disease, including parasitic Varroa mites, is getting more difficult all the time, Wilson added. Adding that to a winter like last year's, and even the bees that went into the winter months healthy struggled to make it to springtime.

Replacing a lost colony rings in at around $180, he added. When a producer loses more than 80 per cent of a 1,000 colony operation, the numbers can add up quickly.

Morrow noted that the premium to insure each hive is about $2.85.

Berg, who runs a 1,500 colony operation near Melfort, has in the past dealt with high overwintering losses.

"Luckily enough, we had ordered quite a few extra packaged bees in the fall, not expecting the loss. We were planning on expanding that year," he said. "Needless to say, we didn't expand at all that year; we actually went down in hive numbers instead of up."

Like many crop insurance programs, the pilot project will only benefit commercial producers, of which Wilson said there are about 110 in the province.

"Most of the colonies in Saskatchewan are commercially run, unlike some places like Ontario or further east where there are a lot of smaller beekeepers," Wilson said. "So we really have an agricultural bee-keeping system."

Hobbyist beekeepers - numbering around 650 in the province - tend to run only one or two colonies, he added.

But Andrew Hamilton, who has 60 colonies on his snow swept farm just north of Regina, would take the insurance program if it was offered to him.

"It would depend on the benefits and the expense, really," Hamilton said. "It would have to be comparable to make it worth it to the hobbyist."

Hobbyists face many of the same conditions when it comes to disease and winter temperatures as commercial beekeepers.

"Myself, last year I lost 75 per cent," Hamilton said. "This winter shouldn't be as bad. I attribute that to the harsh winter we had last year."

Crunching through thighdeep snow that acts as an insulator for the hives, Hamilton added he really won't know until April or May if all of his colonies survived.

A scattering of dead bees on the fresh snow around the hives is a good sign, though. That means the bees are alive inside and making brief sojourns outside to collect water and defecate.

Although frustrating, last year's loss didn't put Hamilton out of business - mostly because he works as an electrician and keeps bees on the side.

Hamilton's great-grandfather immigrated to Saskatchewan from Scotland and set up the family's first bee-keeping operation in the Qu'Appelle Valley. A few generations on, Hamilton said he wants to keep the tradition alive and introduce his young children to the practice.

"In this generation in my family, I'm the only one doing it," he said.

"It's not for the money," he added with a laugh.

But Berg, who at 1,500 colonies is eligible for the insurance program, said he hopes that the program means more newcomers can make a go of bee-keeping.

"It's like a lot of farming, there's not a huge number of younger people that are getting into it," he said. "Having something like this might make it a little more feasible for younger beekeepers to get into the industry."

Source - http://www.leaderpost.com/