Good summary about CDD Last Modified: 10/01/2012

[Finman]

Last Modified: 10/01/2012
............................

little is known for sure about the cause(s) of CCD, mitigation must be based on improving general honey bee health and habitat and countering known mortality factors by using best management practices. This includes supplemental feeding in times of nectar/pollen scarcity.

reasons

1) Pathogens: Among others, scientists are considering Nosema (a pathogenic gut fungi), Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus, and possibly unknown pathogens as possible culprits in CCD. ARS research has indicated that no one pathogen of any class directly correlates with the majority of CCD incidents. Rather, a higher total pathogen load of viruses and bacteria correlates more directly with CCD than any one specific pathogen.

2) Parasites: Varroa mites are often found in honey bee colonies that are affected by CCD. It is not known if the Varroa mites are directly involved or if the viruses that Varroa mites transmit (similar to the way mosquitoes transmit the malaria virus) are a factor in causing CCD.

3) Management stressors: Among the management stressors that are possible contributors to CCD are poor nutrition due to apiary overcrowding and increased migratory stress brought on by the honey bees being transported to multiple locations across the country.

4) Environmental stressors: Such stressors include the impact of pollen/nectar scarcity, lack of diversity in nectar/pollen, availability of only pollen/nectar with low nutritional value, and limited access to water or access only to contaminated water. Stressors also include accidental or intentional exposure to pesticides at lethal or sub-lethal levels.

(FIN: thousands of hives are collected to south on fields. There are summer temperatatures and bees have nothong to forage.

 

[Finman]

.

Canada has followed their CCD. They have not found even if they have had big losses.

The reason to Canacdian big losses has been failed varroa treatment.
In theory formic acid and thymol kill 95% out of mites but in practice it varies from 70% t0 100%. 30% mite load after winter is huge.

The percentage of Canadian professional beekeepers is very high.

Read more
Beekeeping in Canada: Honey and Pollination Outlook 2010

61 pages. Tight stuff.

6. Summary
The Canadian beekeeping industry, like other agricultural industries, has been undergoing two profound structural changes. First, it is no longer dominated by hobbyists managing a few hives, but rather full-time commercial apiarists managing thousands of hives. About four-fifths (80%) of
Canada’s bee colonies are currently managed by full-time beekeepers. Although this change may have been the result of economies of scale in honey production, the growing importance of pollination services for commercial apiaries may have also had a significant effect on farm size. Second, it has evolved and become a more complex industry in that there are multiple bee species which are managed on nearly one quarter of all bee farms in Canada. The growth in the cultivated area of pollination-dependent crops such as fruits, berries, and seeds may have increased the demand for bee colonies and fueled the growth of both apiaries and pollination farms. As the sector of pollination-dependent crops shows no sign of slowing down, the demand for pollination is expected to increase and the structural change in the beekeeping industry will likely continue, creating the opportunity for expanding use of non-Apis bees as primary pollinators of Canada’s major crops.

Honeybee and non-Apis bee farms have different size distributions. While honeybee farms have a unimodal size distribution with large number of small farms and small number of large farms, non-Apis bee farms have bimodal size distribution with many small and large farms. The vast majority of non-Apis bee colonies are commercial compared to about 60% of honeybee colonies.

Overall, non-Apis bee farms are bigger businesses, more capital- and labor- and land-intensive, and more diversified than the honey farms. However, large commercial honeybee farms are usually bigger businesses than their non-Apis bee counterparts. Pollination farms are more likely involved as partnerships and corporations than sole proprietorships, the dominant form of farm organization for the honeybee farm. Regionally, they tend to concentrate in the Prairies, whereas honey farms tend to concentrate in Ontario and British Columbia. Finally, non-Apis bee farms are slightly more likely to be operated by multiple operators and younger male principal operators.

The success story of the honeybee sector has been tempered by disease issues. In each of the last three winters, around one-third of honeybee colonies in Canada were lost to harsh weather, increased mite and viral infestation, unbalanced diet, and increased exposure to chemicals and pesticides. More threatening is an unknown endemic coming from the USA that is raising concerns among Canadian beekeepers about the health and survival of their honeybees. Although, scientists have yet not found a case of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in Canada, they remain cautious about the possibility that this disorder may infect Canada’s bees.

In a nutshell, the Canadian beekeeping industry is facing opportunities as well as threats. The reliance on the honeybee for providing pollination is becoming increasingly risky. Non-Apis bee species have become increasingly popular among beekeepers for the provision of commercial pollination. They are potentially more effective and efficient pollinators and less susceptible to mite and viral infection than the honeybee.

Taken as a whole, this all suggests that the industry is currently undergoing large shifts. In order to better understand these shifts, and their implications for trade, agriculture, and the environment, it will be important for further research, encompassing economics, biology and other fields, to take place to analyze different aspects of the industry in greater detail