Starting next year, blueberry growers will have to set up 2.5 hives of honeybees per hectare if they want to be fully covered by Financière agricole du Québec (FADQ) crop insurance, a program that provides indemnities during bad seasons.
The new requirement aims first of all to ensure “adequate pollination” according to established good practices, indicates the FADQ. It also aims to encourage a greater presence of pollinating insects on agricultural land and thus support the balance of ecosystems.
Only producers who comply with these requirements will be able to receive, if necessary, all of the compensation provided for in the event of poor harvests. As for those who do not comply with these conditions, they could see their compensation reduced by an amount equivalent to the pollination costs included in the unit price, which is $464.70/ha for 2023.
The number of hives needed to qualify for insurance changes depending on a grower’s preferred pollinator. Established at 2.5 hives per hectare for honeybees, it increases to four hives for bumblebees and five gallons — equivalent to one hive — for leafcutters, a stockier type of bee.
“In normal times, crop insurance is used to cover climatic risks or elements that producers do not control: frost, droughts and lack of water or natural pests”, explains Gilbert Lavoie, co-founder of the firm. consultants specializing in Forest Lavoie agriculture.
The agronomist adds: “Basically, what the Financière agricole says is: ‘To ensure a return and curb your risks, you are asked as a condition to set up beehives’. It’s the equivalent of an insurance company asking for firebreaks near a home before insuring someone. »
“But at present, the real issue is more in the availability of pollinators,” recalls Gilbert Lavoie, who adds: “Blueberry producers want to install them and beekeepers want to put them in the fields, but we don’t do not find. »
And indeed, beekeepers go through some difficult years. In Quebec, 48% of bee colonies did not survive the last winter, a mortality rate twice as high as the national average for the past fifteen years, according to data from the Canadian Association of Professional Beekeepers.
This year, beekeepers in the province have had to rebuild their stock by transferring a percentage of existing hives to new ones or by trying to import more queens. These usually come from California, Chile, Australia and New Zealand.
The new FADQ requirements alone will not be able to solve beekeepers’ problems, believes Raphaël Vacher, owner of Miels Raphaël and president of the Association des apiculteurs et apicultresses du Québec: “The factor that limits pollination is lack of hives. »
In fact, he says, the requirements may even favor beekeepers from other provinces. “Who will blueberry producers turn to if there are not enough hives in Quebec and they want to be insured? They could go somewhere else, like Ontario. »
In addition, the price of hives could increase. “The fact that the demand is going to increase, maybe the price is going to go up, and all of this against the backdrop of inflation. »