The proprietor of a northern Manitoba honey farm says Canadian producers are in a sticky scenario as China’s tariffs on Canadian canola might imply much less meals for bees this yr.
Steven Larocque and his household have operated Arctic Gold Honey in Thompson for about seven years, producing round 1,300 to 2,200 kilograms of honey a yr.
Arctic Gold Honey’s bees do not pollinate canola as they make their honey, however Larocque says China’s 100 per cent tariff on Canadian canola exports — imposed final month in response to Canada’s duties on electrical automobiles, aluminum and metal — will sting different honey producers.
Whereas Canada’s honey business hasn’t been topic to any particular tariffs, bees collect nectar — a major meals supply — and pollen from the flowers of the canola plant, which in flip can produce advantages for the canola, according to a provincial fact sheet.
However “in case you’re impacted as a canola farmer, and you can’t promote that canola, [you’re] not going to seed canola in that area,” Larocque informed CBC Information on Wednesday.
“If they are not planting these sorts of crops, the place are the bees going to go and make honey?”
Larocque stated his enterprise will, nevertheless, really feel the pinch of Canada’s trade war with the U.S. in packaging supplies, since it might be tough to search out different sources for the five hundred circumstances of jars he imports from the U.S. every year.
“It isn’t like you should purchase them from a distinct provider for cheaper,” he stated. “The issue with, say, locations like Amazon is that it isn’t constant. You might be able to get containers one time, however subsequent time, they may very well be bought out.”
He hopes to stockpile packaging supplies so he can keep constant shelf costs over the following yr or two.
“On the finish of the day, all of it comes all the way down to [whether] the shopper goes to pay that worth for that jar of honey, no matter how a lot is taxed from completely different avenues.”

The chief director of the Canadian Honey Council says the potential of U.S. tariffs on Canadian honey exports can also be inflicting nervousness amongst honey farmers, as tariffs would “in all probability decimate” their market.
Any main commerce disruptions to Canada’s honey business could be “felt dramatically” on the Prairies, stated Rod Scarlett.
“If we won’t displace that market, then that manufacturing that beekeepers have on the Prairies both could not get bought or could must get bought at dramatically decrease costs, which is under the price of manufacturing, which then jeopardizes the operation fully.”
Manitoba accounted for 19 per cent of the 92 million pounds (roughly 41 million kilograms) of honey produced throughout Canada in 2023, in line with Statistics Canada.
However Manitoba exported essentially the most honey of all Canadian provinces the identical yr, delivery out 38 per cent of the nation’s honey exports, Statistics Canada says.
The 2 foremost patrons, the USA and Japan, purchased $46 million price of exported honey in 2023 — 95 per cent of Canada’s exports, the info reveals.
Some markets in Southeast Asia could also be considering Canadian honey, stated Scarlett, however that pivot cannot be carried out at a second’s discover.
Farmers additionally worry Canada could introduce retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports of queen bees, sugar syrups to feed bees within the spring and beekeeping tools, he stated.
Queen bee imports from the U.S. permit beekeepers to introduce them to new hives — and start manufacturing — sooner, Scarlett stated. About 260,000 of the 343,000 queen bees that Canada imported in 2023 got here from the U.S., in line with Statistics Canada.
‘Cumulative impact’ on crops
Canadian honey producers additionally face a commerce barrier unrelated to tariffs in relation to the European Union, which has strict rules across the use and labelling of merchandise that include genetically modified meals, stated Scarlett.
That features honey from bees that got here into contact with canola pollen, he stated.
Pollination itself would turn into one other concern if Canada’s bee inhabitants is affected by the commerce conflict, as they seem to be a main pollinator of blueberries, cranberries and canola, stated Scarlett.
“It is a cumulative impact right here,” he stated. “Though we’re a small business, we actually, , strike above our heads within the influence that it has within the agricultural group.”
Beekeepers typically ship their bees throughout the nation to farmers who want them to pollinate their crops, and any hit to the inhabitants might imply a bee scarcity, in line with Rob Currie, professor emeritus on the College of Manitoba’s entomology division.
It might even have penalties worldwide, he stated, impacting “the bees accessible for pollination of crops on a extra world scale past Manitoba.”
Scarlett stated the honey business has been protecting an eye fixed out for information because it pushes the federal authorities to exempt queen bees from any potential countermeasures.
“We as an business — and similar to everyone else, type of, within the agricultural sector — simply haven’t got an actual good deal with about how a lot in depth these tariffs will go, and the way a lot in depth will the retaliatory tariffs must go,” Scarlett stated.
However there’s a silver lining, Scarlett says, as gross sales of Canadian honey have gone up in elements of the nation amid heightened curiosity in regionally made merchandise.
“That has a big effect on the power of beekeepers to keep up an financial degree that’s above the price of manufacturing.”
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