Three Commodities to Create Climate Adaptation Strategies

Thursday 24 October 2024

In Nova Scotia multiple agriculture commodities are experiencing the effects of climate change, and honey bees are no exception. In recent years, changing weather patterns have had a significant impact on beekeepers in Nova Scotia. Recent wildfires and flooding have been highly destructive to apiaries across the province and has impacted forage available to bees at various time points throughout the season. Inconsistent amounts of rainfall throughout the season disrupt forage patterns for bees and can impact both honey crop and honey stores used to get colonies through winter. Additionally, the beekeeping season has been growing longer with climate change, which increases pressure of pests and diseases.

Given the importance of honey bees to our pollination industry, and the overall importance of honey bees to agriculture in Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia Beekeepers’ Association has been selected as one of three associations to receive support to develop climate change adaptation strategies. To learn more about this initiative read this week’s blog.

Three Commodities to Create Climate Adaptation Strategies

The Wild Blueberry Producers Association of Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia Beekeepers’ Association and the Nova Scotia Fruit Growers’ Association have been selected to receive support to develop climate change adaptation strategies.

These three associations were selected by the AG Governance Committee as part of a new four-year program funded through Nova Scotia’s Climate Plan for Clean Growth. This plan is managed by Perennia Food and Agriculture Corporation, in collaboration with the Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Climate Change and the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture.

“We’re proud to support our agricultural producers as they prepare for the future through the Climate Adaptation Leadership Program,” said Greg Morrow, Nova Scotia Minister of Agriculture. “This program helps find and implement strategies to help farmers and producers in Nova Scotia as they work to adapt to the changing climate and continue producing quality local food.”

The climate change strategies these commodity groups will develop will be designed to better understand risks and prepare themselves and their sectors to tackle climate impacts. It will allow them to identify concrete actions, implement solutions, and leverage resources to apply them for minimizing risk and building resilience to adapt to the changing climate.

“The various agriculture associations are often at the forefront of climate adaptation, as their members directly feel the impact of the changing climate on their crops,” says Tim Halman, Nova Scotia Minister of Environment and Climate Change. “The Department of Environment and Climate Change is proud to work with three additional associations to support this important work.”

The Department of Agriculture was the first department to pilot the Climate Adaptation Leadership Program, also known as CALP. It led to the development of climate adaptation strategies for cattle and sheep, Christmas trees, and horticulture. These commodities remain involved in the current program funded through Nova Scotia’s Climate Plan for Clean Growth, as they begin to implement their strategies with their own commodity-specific climate change coordinators.

Perennia’s Coordinator, Stuart Downie, will be working with all participating commodity groups on strategy development and implementation through the commodity association coordinators. Nova Scotia’s Department of Agriculture Climate Change Specialist, Terri MacPherson, will also play an active supporting role. The Atlantic Tech Transfer Team for Apiculture will have continued involvement in supporting the beekeeping and blueberry groups with the development of their climate adaptation strategies.

The AG governance committee has representation from Perennia, the Nova Scotia departments of Agriculture and Environment and Climate Change, the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Agri-Commodity Management Association (sheep and beef sectors), Horticulture Nova Scotia and the Christmas Tree Association of Nova Scotia.

For more information on the program, contact Allan Thomson at athomson@perennia.ca or 782- 370-2303.

Connecting with ATTTA Specialists

If you’d like to connect with ATTTA specialists or learn more about our program, you can:

visit our website at https://www.perennia.ca/portfolio-items/honey-bees/

Email abyers@perennia.ca