To conclude the 2025-2026 winter meeting season, the Atlantic Tech Transfer Team for Apiculture attended the New Brunswick Beekeepers’ Association Annual General Meeting in Dieppe, NB. The event was well attended with over 90 attendees, including hobbyist and commercial beekeepers, beekeeping equipment and product supplies, government representatives, researchers, and others who work to support the New Brunswick beekeeping industry. Read this week’s blog for a summary of the excellent meeting that took place.
Review of the New Brunswick Beekeepers' Association Annual General Meeting 2026
The New Brunswick Beekeepers’ Association
(NBBA) annual general meeting took place last Friday and Saturday (March 13th
and 14th) in Dieppe, NB. On the Friday evening, a tradeshow took
place with a variety of companies in attendance including; beekeeping equipment, product supplies, and research groups, which provided an opportunity for
companies to network with beekeepers and share information about how they
support the industry.
It is important to mention that prior to the
NBBA AGM their was a Tropilaelaps mite education session with excellent talks
from Heather Broccard-Bell
(NOD Apiary), Dr. Andrew Byers (Atlantic Tech Transfer
Team for Apiculture), Rodd Scarlet (Canadian Honey Council), Michel Melanson (New Brunswick
Department of Agriculture), and Pascale Michaud (Agrogene Solutions). There
will be a blog in the weeks to come highlighting current Tropilaelaps mite research,
including discussions and talks from this session.
On Friday evening, Maggie Lamothe Boudreau
(Rayons de Miel / Rays of Honey Apiary) gave a presentation on the benefits of
local queens. Maggie discussed her queen production operation including her Varroa
mite treatment and monitoring program.
Every year at the NBBA AGM a Beekeeper of
the Year is announced. On Friday evening, the New Brunswick Beekeeper of the Year
was presented to Ronda Arrand who is the owner of River Bend Bees and the
founder of the At Ease Bees program - a program dedicated to supporting
Veterans and First Responders through the therapeutic benefits of beekeeping.
Day two of the annual general meeting
started with the NBBA business meeting. During the business meeting the NBBA
president (Chris Lockhart) gave a report, the financials of the association
were presented, the nominations and election of new board members took place,
and the Agri-Commodity Management Association (ACMA) discussed their new role
supporting the activities and function of the NBBA.
Rodd
Scarlett (Canadian Honey Council) gave a presentation on national trends for
beekeeping and honey production and sales. The Canadian Honey Council has an
important responsibility of mitigating honey fraud on a national level.
Additionally, the Canadian Honey Council is currently advocating for
appropriate maximum residue levels (MRLs) for honey testing and ensuring that
Canadian honey remains prominent on Canada’s and the global market.
Michel
Melanson (NB provincial apiarist) provided an update on the beekeeping industry
and the wild blueberry industry of NB. In 2025 there were a reported 10,615
colonies from 431 beekeepers. There were an approximate 6,800 honey yielding
colonies in 2025 with an average of 39.6 lbs. per colony. The province
continues to import hives for pollination of wild blueberries with 30,342
colonies imported into the province.
Dr. Andrew
Byers (Atlantic Tech Transfer Team for Apiculture) provided a research and
extension update on behalf of the ATTTA team. Overall, the team has had a busy
winter and is nearing the start of the 2026 field season. One of ATTTA’s
projects that was highlighted during the update was their Varroa mite regional
survey and amitraz efficacy testing. For the second season, ATTTA conducted a
regional Varroa mite survey to assess temporal trends in mite levels and to
assess the efficacy of amitraz (active ingredient in Apivar®). The results of
the 2025 survey determined Varroa mite levels across the Maritime region
increase throughout the beekeeping season as expected. Their research continues
to assess the efficacy of amitraz and with another season of data collection
the project will help determine the baseline efficacy of amitraz throughout the
region.
Mitchell
Schriver (NBBA executive member) discussed installing honey bee packages.
Mitchell highlighted the importance of preparing your equipment before you pick
up your packages. He also discussed the importance of treating packages for
Varroa mites. Finally, Mitchell had a video demonstration of installing a
package and provided his own views on the benefits and disadvantages to
purchasing packages over purchasing nucleus colonies or full hives.
Heather
Broccard-Bell (NOD Apiary) gave a presentation on Formic Pro. Formic Pro has
the active ingredient formic acid, which Heather explained the chemistry of a
formic acid molecule. Some of the key properties of formic acid that make it an
effective miticide is that the chemical in not lipophilic which prevents
build-up of product residues in wax. Formic acid also diffuses quickly, which
allows the chemical to penetrate the brood cappings and target mites within the
cells. The diffusion properties of formic acid not only make it an effective
treatment for Varroa mites, but there is ongoing research about the
effectiveness of the chemical to treat and manage Tropilaelaps mites, which
will be further discussed in a future blog. Finally, regarding the use of
Formic Pro and formic acid, Heather discussed the importance of providing the
treatment at the correct temperature range, providing appropriate ventilation
and air flow during the treatment period, and only using this treatment on
strong full-sized colonies.
To conclude
the AGM, Maggie Lamothe Boudreau (Rayons de Miel /
Rays of Honey Apiary) gave a second presentation discussing her own queen
production research and program of banking queens indoors to help meet the
demand for good local queens each spring. Maggie’s own practices demonstrate
how banking queens can be an option to increase the sustainability of the
Canadian beekeeping industry.
Thank you to
all organizers of this great event, and to all of the presenters for their
knowledge and expertise they bring to the industry.
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 attta@perennia.ca