2023-06-19 13:55:12
On average, Quebec beekeepers sell their jars of honey at a loss, according to a recent study. Many of them, therefore, are in the process of revising their prices upwards, says the association of beekeepers and beekeepers of Quebec.
In the middle of tall grass, Alexandre Mainville lifts the colored lid of one of his fertilization hives and checks the condition of his queen.
“She’s already a laying bird, that’s good news,” he rejoices, wearing a veiled protective hat, but without gloves. Today, as the weather is warm and calm, the bees are calm.
Mr. Mainville’s main livelihood is raising queens. Beekeepers must change these female bees responsible for the reproduction of the hive approximately every two years.
“If you take a worker bee egg, [que] you put royal jelly in the cell and [que] you transfer your larva to a larger cell, it will become a queen. When the royal cell is about to hatch, I put it in a fertilization hive with bees that will take care of the queen,” explains the former theater manager.
When the queens are ready, he delivers them to other beekeepers in a crate, along with a close guard of worker bees individually or in packs of 100 queens.
In two years, the owner of La miellerie du petit bulldog has increased its price from $35 to $40 per queen. No choice, since its costs are increasing. That of sugar, in particular, has reached new heights, having more than doubled in three years. He needs 30 kg per hive to help the bees hibernate. Gasoline to walk from hive to hive and make deliveries, protein supplements for bees, treatments against parasites… it all jumped.
The selling price of the honey jar is not high enough to pay all the charges
A little further, sheltered from the wind in a wooded part of agricultural land, Mr. Mainville has also installed ordinary hives containing drones that can fertilize his queens. A constant hum rises above the dandelions, the first food of the season for these hardworking insects. Just over 10% of its income comes from the honey produced there. He sells some of it in jars that he sells himself in Christmas markets and small shops. This year, he will sell them a little more expensive than last year.
“I really wouldn’t get my money’s worth if I just did that,” says the beekeeper.
Its queens are themselves a more expensive input for honey producers. Indeed, 60% of beekeepers buy almost all of their queens from a third party.
Insufficient selling price
Raphaël Vacher, president of the Apiculteurs et apicultrices du Québec, explains that his association has asked the Center for Studies on Production Costs in Agriculture (CECPA) to analyze to what extent the pandemic and inflation have had an impact on their expenses. And the result was striking.
“The selling price of the jar of honey is not high enough to pay all the charges”, Mr. Vacher first noted.
Production costs vary greatly from company to company, depending on their size and business model. Some large companies are still doing very well. But the CECPA estimates that in 2021, beekeepers who sold their honey in jars paid an average of $15.44 to produce a kilogram of honey. However, the selling price is between $9 and $15 per kilogram, an average of $13.66.
For those who sell their honey in bulk, production costs of $12.07 per kilogram have been found, while one kilogram of honey earns them an average of $9.19.
The association has passed the word on to its members, who are revising their prices, says Vacher. “Following the awareness, beekeepers sent requests for increases to grocery stores. Having a study in hand, the retail businesses cannot really block us. But it will take some time before we arrive at the price we want to have, ”explained the president.
The latter wants consumers to continue to prefer Quebec honey, because imported honeys are often offered at lower prices. The survival of businesses here depends on it, believes Mr. Vacher. According to Statistics Canada, in 2020, Quebec imported 3 million kilograms of honey, while it produced 1.6 million, of which nearly 1 million is exported.
Quebec beekeepers, however, have virtually no control over the price of bulk honey, which depends on the world market. Beekeepers therefore continue to suffer. Mr. Vacher fears that entrepreneurs will be forced to go out of business. In 2022, there were already fewer beekeepers and hives in Quebec than in 2021 and 2020, according to Statistics Canada. Moreover, the winter of 2022 had caused great losses for them, because a large portion of the bees had not survived.
Impacts on blueberries
To get additional income, a large number of beekeepers rent their hives to berry producers. They mainly pollinate blueberry and cranberry plants. But here again, the study confirms that beekeepers rent their hives at a loss, because this rental generates additional costs, in particular transport. Many of them have therefore asked for increases this year.
“We must at least charge the cost of production. Last year, we were talking about $200 per hive. There, it’s at least $225,” reports Mr. Vacher.
On the side of the Syndicat des producteurs de bleuets du Québec, it is indicated that pollinators are a major expense, representing 24% of the cost of production before harvest. Such increases are not acceptable, says general manager Gervais Laprise.
“The price of the hive has doubled in five years. There is a concern for producers to maintain their productivity in a very competitive market,” he says. Wild blueberries are mainly exported frozen to more than thirty countries, explains Mr. Laprise. Its price is also determined by global demand.
In order to survive, many beekeepers reduce their workforce, pay them little or pay themselves very little. The CECPA estimates that a skilled worker should receive more than $30 per hour. It is this wage that they have allocated to the hours worked in their calculation of production costs.
“I do not know anyone who is able to pay that, notes however Mr. Vacher. The average salary is down $20. »
Alexandre Mainville, for the moment, is doing all the work himself, helped by people who do wwoofing, that is to say, they provide free labor in exchange for accommodation and food. But the beekeeper must always train new people, who are not very efficient.
Since he does not have the means to offer competitive salaries, Mr. Mainville considers the possibility of hiring temporary foreign workers. In the meantime, days off are very rare.
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