Quebec cranberry farmer Luc Decubber has finally found enough honey bees to pollinate his vines this year. But it wasn't a simple feat, and he worries it could become even harder in years to come.
But there aren't enough native pollinators to cover the farm's expanding footprint anymore, so like many fruit producers, Decubber has been forced to rent honey bees to pollinate the small white flowers that eventually turn into cranberries. "We get calls every day for either blueberry, cranberry. We just don't have any bees right now to contract out," he said.and across Canada have found nasty surprises when they opened their hives this spring.
Paul Kelly, manager of the University of Guelph's Honey Bee Research Centre, says honey bees are crucial for agriculture in Canada. He said about a third of the food that we eat is pollinated by bees.Honey bee losses have gone up since about 2007, according to Kelly. It's a trend that worries Decubber.