It was a good winter for bee colonies, reports the Canadian
Association of Professional Apiculturists.
Ontario colony losses were 18 per cent, slightly higher than
the Canadian average of 17 per cent.
Mark Brock, chairman of the Ontario Grain Growers
Association, said the loss rate was less than half the rate the year before.
Losses range from 12 to 30 per cent, depending on the
severity of winter weather.
Brock noted that the higher survival rate happened before
Ontario’s restrictions on neonicitinoid seed-treatment pesticides came into
force.
The Grain Growers of Ontario have lobbied vigorously against
the restrictions, saying they are not based on sound science. They lost court
challenges, so the restrictions that get tighter each year, remain in force.
One of the restrictions requires farmers to prove they have
a threat of insects in their fields before they are approved to buy treated
seed.
Unlike overwintering rates, there are no reliable rates of colony losses due to neonicitinoids. But pesticides, even though they are highly valuable to society, are not politically correct.
