Manitoba wildfire smoke putting honeybee hives under stress

The smoke from Manitoba wildfires is having an impact on honey producers in the province. Danton Unger reports.

From farmers’ fields to honey bee hives – producers worry thick wildfire smoke is having a hefty impact.

Kon Paseschnikoff has been keeping honey bees since he was a boy. The owner of Bee Boyzz Honey and Meadery keeps hundreds of thousands of bees buzzing on his property southwest of Winnipeg.

The honey they produce goes into all sorts of products like flavoured honey, craft mead, and sparkling tea.

But this year, Paseschnikoff said wildfire smoke has been impacting his hives.

“With the heavy smoke, you could see the small activity here in the bee yards,” he said. “They weren’t as active.”

According to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), it’s been one of the smokiest years on record, prompting several air quality warnings so far this year.

“Winnipeg, for example, we’re actually at our third smokiest year on record,” ECCC Meteorologist Crawford Luke told CTV News.

He said so far this year, Winnipeg has recorded 172 hours of smoke this year. The only years that saw more smoke have been 2021 (262 hours of smoke) and 1961 (304 hours of smoke).

Paseschnikoff said thick smoke makes the bees more docile – keeping to their boxes rather than venturing out. It can also mess with their sense of smell and direction.

“It’s a little challenging for them to find the nectar,” he said.

That means less honey.

“We are seeing dramatic effects of climate change on our honeybees. The bees are under stress from weather events,” said Paul Gregory with the Manitoba Beekeepers’ Association.

Gregory said the smoke – paired with other environmental threats like drought and pests – could lead to a big drop in yields for the province’s roughly 200 honey producers.

“I would guesstimate between 25 and 30 per cent,” he said.

It’s not just the apiaries that would feel the hit with the loss of these expert pollinators.

“Crop farmers, farmers that are growing clovers, tree foil, buckwheat, fruit crops – they’re all impacted because they don’t have the honeybees. They’re not going to get the seed yield,” he said.

Paseschnikoff said he expects his harvest will take a hit, though he won’t know just how bad until the end of the year. But like the bees themselves, Paseschnikoff said beekeepers are resilient.

“Every day is a learning curve. You can come to a yard and the bees look really, really good, or they look really weak, and then they just turn around overnight,” he said. “Sometimes it’s a funny creature.”