This past weekend, the Atlantic Tech Transfer Team for Apiculture attended the 2026 Atlantic Bee Tour, hosted by the Prince Edward Island Beekeepers Association in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. With 50 attendees, the event brought together beekeepers, industry members and researchers from across the region. As in previous years, the Atlantic Bee Tour served as an important opportunity for beekeepers to network, learn, and share knowledge. This event included industry updates, hands-on demonstrations and visits to local businesses, all showing the essential role of honey bees in the Atlantic region.

Review of the Atlantic Bee Tour 2026

The first day of the tour consisted of presentations and educational learning about current challenges, industry updates and important information to help other beekeepers. Stephen Farmer, a local beekeeper from PEI and executive member of the PEIBA board, started off the event with an introduction and to say thank you to everyone involved. Cameron Menzies, PEI Provincial Apiarist, opened the morning with an update on the state of beekeeping in the province. He noted that PEI is home to roughly 5,000 commercial hives, used for honey production, pollination, or both, and that the province continues to face significant overwintering challenges. The 2025-2026 winter losses were driven primarily by weak colonies going into fall, harsh weather conditions, poor queens, and starvation. Despite these setbacks, Cameron shared encouraging results from the 2025 summer inspections, which showed low Varroa mite levels, no small hive beetle, and only low levels of European foulbrood. He also emphasized the importance of wild blueberry pollination in PEI, which relies on a 1:1 ratio of local hives to imported hives, showing how important local pollinators are for growers across the province.

Figure 1: Cameron Menzies Presenting (ATTTA ©, 2026)

Following Cameron’s update, attendees heard from Lauren Park of the Canadian Honey Council, who provided a national perspective on current industry priorities. She outlined topics the council focuses on, like miticide registration, pollination issues, and national policy discussions. Lauren also addressed concerns surrounding honey adulteration and importation issues. Lauren also highlighted upcoming industry events, including the 2027 Pollination Symposium in Quebec.

Figure 2: Lauren Park Receiving a gift on behalf of the PEIBA (ATTTA ©, 2026)

The Atlantic Tech Transfer Team for Apiculture shared updates on disease monitoring and research, including Varroa mite surveys, amitraz efficacy testing, and ongoing work related to emerging pathogens such as Vairimorpha (formerly Nosema) and Lotmaria passim. These updates offered attendees a clear picture of the scientific work underway to support evidence‑based management practices throughout the region.

Jeff Lee from Honey Bee Zen Apiaries discussed his own operation in British Columbia, sharing his knowledge of different forages and cover crops to improve forage density and pollinator pathways; this approach is used to strengthen both honey bee and wild pollinator health. Amanda Goodman Lee shared an engaging session on honey marketing, explaining why local honey remains a strong competitor in the market and how producers can communicate value to customers. Also, Jeff and Amanda both talked about tricks they have learned from their beekeeping experience.

The afternoon sessions shifted toward practical demonstrations and applied learning. Karen Thurlow led a microscopy display, showing participants how to prepare slides, identifying Vairimorph, and showed different types of pollen found in colonies. She also shared practical tips from her own operation, offering guidance on efficient equipment use and management strategies. The first day was filled with a balance of scientific and practical learning, providing attendees with lots of informational knowledge.

Figure 3: Fireweed Pollen Under a Microscope (ATTTA ©, 2026)

The second day of the Atlantic Bee Tour brought participants on a bus, showing diverse beekeeping and honey-related companies in PEI. The morning began at Ella’s Forest, where attendees toured the facility and learned about the dried wild blueberry products made. Then followed an in-hive demonstration for determining hygienic behaviour. From there, the group travelled to Red Island Cider for a behind-the-scenes tour of their production facility. The cidery even created a special honey-infused cider for the Bee Tour!

Figure 4: Products from Ella’s Forest (ATTTA ©, 2026)

Figure 5: In-Hive Demonstration of UBeeO® by Stephen Farmer (ATTTA ©, 2026)

After lunch at Founder’s Hall, the tour continued to Island Honey Wine Co. where participants sampled a variety of meads, learned about the business and had a chance to tour the area. This trip showed the diversity of how honey and in-hive products can be transformed into innovative products! The final destination of the tour was at a local beekeeper’s operation, Jason and Monica Campbell. Then the tour ended at New Glasgow for a delicious lobster supper!

Figure 6: Photos from the Island Honey Wine Co. (ATTTA ©, 2026)

The Atlantic Bee Tour was a great event for beekeepers across the region, offering valuable opportunities for learning and meeting members of the industry. The ATTTA team extends sincere thanks to the PEI Beekeeper’s Association for hosting this amazing event. We will look forward to the next Atlantic Bee Tour in 2028.

 Written by Kaitlyn Newton, ATTTA Seasonal Apiculturist

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

The Atlantic Tech Transfer Team for Apiculture has recently organized/attended a couple of industry events on Prince Edward Island. Last Friday, January 17^th, the team held a drop-in clinic for PEI beekeepers and other interested industry representatives/partners, which provided an opportunity for PEI beekeepers to discuss a range of important topics with our team. Then, on January 22^nd, ATTTA attended the PEI Wild Blueberry Growers’ Association information day, which provided a series of industry updates regarding the wild blueberry industry. To learn more about these industry events read this week’s blog.

Report on Meetings with PEI Beekeepers and PEI Wild Blueberry Growers’ Association Information Day

The ATTTA team recently held a drop-in clinic for PEI beekeepers at the Charlottetown Library Learning Centre. The clinic took place on January 17^th, and it provided an opportunity for PEI beekeepers to come meet with ATTTA, ask our team questions about Maritime beekeeping, discuss future learning and research opportunities, and to learn more about the ATTTA program including upcoming training/research the team is providing for the industry. A wide range of important discussions took place between ATTTA, the PEI provincial apiarist, and the group of PEI beekeepers who stopped by the clinic. The group covered topics such as winter protection of hives, beekeeping equipment availability in PEI, Maritime queen production, overwintering colonies, climate impacts to beekeeping, pollination supply/demand, 2024 honey production, protecting pollinators from agri-chemicals and upcoming industry events. We would like to thank all beekeepers and industry representatives who participated in this event.

On January 22^nd, ATTTA attended the PEI Wild Blueberry Growers’ Association (PEIWBGA) information day in Charlottetown, PE. The event was well attended by association members and industry representatives, with over 50 in-person attendees. The event started with a welcome from the association president, Benny Nabuurs. Following that, the provincial apiarist, Cameron Menzies, provided an extension report on the wild blueberry industry. The 2024 wild blueberry yield was slightly below average at 20.5M lbs. harvested across the island, with a 5-year average of 21.3M lbs. In 2024, there was 6250 acres harvested in PEI, with an average harvest of 2880 lbs. of wild blueberries per acre. There was an estimated 9800 hives used for pollination services on PEI this past season (both PEI colonies and Canadian imported colonies), which provided an average stocking density of 1.5 hives per acre. The average hive rental price on the island was $226 this past season, which is comparable to 2023 ($225).

PEI provincial apiarist, Cameron Menzies, presenting at the PEI Wild Blueberry Growers’ Association information day in Charlottetown, PE (2025).

Menzies discussed various contributing factors to what makes a good or bad year for wild blueberry production, including crop protection during the winter months (snow cover), investment in land clearing, pollination supply, pollination weather, and the amount of mature wild blueberry fields. Overall, 2024 was a good year for pollination. However, the industry did experience inconsistent yields across the province. Weather may be a significant contributing factor to the below average yield in 2024. This is partly due to weather experienced during the 2023 growing season, which included record high temperatures during the month of July, and above average precipitation throughout the 2023 growing season. Research indicates that extended periods of high temperatures (air temperature is greater than 25^◦C and leaf temperature is greater than 28^◦C) can impact wild blueberry plant development. Increased amounts of rainfall lead to increased disease pressure, and disrupts plant phenology and development (delayed tip dieback and lack of fruit bud set). The mentioned weather conditions can impact sprout year fields, which directly affects the following year’s crop. Additionally, during the winter of 2023/2024 the amount of snow cover to protect wild blueberries was below average, which could have caused damage to plants and impacted the 2024 crop.

Menzies also discussed pest monitoring occurring on the island, including blueberry maggot, spotted wing drosophila, and cranberry fruit worm. Finally, the presentation concluded with a summary of various funding programs available to PEI growers, including the Agriculture Resiliency program, Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS) program, Agriculture Stewardship program, and the Pollination Expansion sub-program.

Next, Ahmad Khan (Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture) discussed the PEI wild blueberry cost of production study. The study has incorporated both variable and fixed costs associated with wild blueberry production, and can be used to determine the cost of production for low to high yielding fields. The model developed from this study is expected to be available to PEI growers at some point during 2025.

Gilbert Lavoie (Forest Lavoie Conseil) provided a wild blueberry market report. Wild blueberry production was below average in 2024 for North America (286M lbs. versus 301M lbs. ten-year average). Wild blueberry inventories are down in 2024 and are decreasing at a good pace. Lavoie also highlighted current importing and exporting quantities of wild blueberries between the United States and Canada. In 2024, Canada exported 23M lbs. of frozen product to the US, and an additional 11M lbs. of fresh product to US processing plans. In comparison, the US exported 13M. lbs. of frozen product to Canada, and an additional 20M lbs. of fresh product to Canadian processing plans.

Next, the team from Stiletto (Jenna Evans, Cailee Mousek, and Rosalynd Mitchell) presented on their PEI wild blueberry industry economic impact study. The full report will be provided to the PEIWBGA, and it will include a summary of various direct impacts to the industry (ex. on farm jobs), indirect impacts (ex. jobs in wild blueberry supply chain), induced impacts (ex. distribution of worker income), spin-off impacts (ex. events/activities outside of production and processing), and future impacts. The Stiletto team also had attendees participate in an activity where they were asked to identify the biggest challenges and opportunities of the wild blueberry industry.

The final presentation of the day was from Rob Dover (Fresh Media) who discussed the PEI wild blueberry brand awareness plan. Dover explained how PEI wild blueberries can better promote their product, including the development of a brand, the use of social media, promoting value added products, partnerships with other associations and reputable health organizations, community involvement and signature wild blueberry events.

Thank you to all members of PEIWBGA who helped organize this great event. Also, thank you to all those who work to support the wild blueberry industry of PEI.

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

This spring, ATTTA has been pleased to attend wild blueberry meetings across the Atlantic provinces. These meetings highlighted guest speakers and key industry members who presented on topics about the state of the industry and disseminated recent research findings around wild blueberries and production. Read on for an overview of the major themes that came out of these meetings and a glimpse into the outlook of Atlantic Canada’s wild blueberry industry.

The Blueberry Industry Goes Wild!

There were several themes that rang through the wild blueberry meetings held throughout New Brunswick (Moncton, Bleuets NB Blueberries), Nova Scotia (Truro, Wild Blueberry Producers Association of NS) and PEI (Charlottetown, PEI Wild Blueberry Producers Association) this spring.  Theses provincial meeting also aligned with the discussions held at regional meeting in Tracadie, Pennfield and Parrsboro.  Overall, there is a great positivity in the wild blueberry industry and also an understanding that the future will present some challenges.

In terms of research, Dr. Scott White reported on significant developments in weed management.  There are proposed products in the pipeline, particularly for fescue. CHICARA® is a new group two herbicide that has proven effective and can be considered by producers as an alternate in their integrated pest management regime. There have also been technological advances in application techniques. Dr. David Percival and other researchers at Dalhousie are developing smart applicators which will improve the efficiency of herbicide use by training computers to detect the target vegetation and spray it directly as opposed to conventional widespread application. 

There was a sense of optimism and celebration at these meetings, as well! The wild blueberry industry is in a position where good markets and prices for berries are supportive of growth. The potential for expansion was discussed in all provinces with New Brunswick seemingly very well placed for increased capacity.  Furthermore, recent research has revealed positive news for wild blueberries from a consumer perspective. Health research consultant, Dr. Wihelmina Kalt presented research that wild blueberries have demonstrated to have an overall preferable flavor profile when compared to high bush blueberries, for example in sweetness and consistency of flavor. Not only this, blueberries have proven to hold exceptional health value. Commonly praised for high antioxidant content, blueberries are perhaps even more beneficial due to high concentrations of anthocyanins which help in mitigating cardiovascular and neurological deterioration (Kalt et al. 2019). 

However, with this encouraging potential for growth there is also concern. The common concern through the industry appears to be around providing pollination units to support expansion. There is worry around the high winter losses reported throughout the country and the impact that this will have on our local wild blueberry industry this season. There is also considerable discussion around the future availability of pollination units as new fields come into production.

The solution to this concern is not just increasing honey bee hives available for pollination but also, and importantly, to improve the efficiency of our available pollination units. This was the focus of ATTTA’s discussions at these meetings and has been featured in our most recent blog postings. By using appropriate stocking densities, hive placement, and hive strength, we can maximize the pollination capacity of honey bee hives that we currently have for wild blueberry pollination and strengthen our regional pollination industry. 

Reference

Kalt, Wilhelmina, Aedin Cassidy, Luke R Howard, Robert Krikorian, April J Stull, Francois Tremblay, and Raul Zamora-Ros. 2019. “Recent Research on the Health Benefits of Blueberries and Their Anthocyanins.” Advances in Nutrition, July, nmz065. https://doi.org/10.1093/advances/nmz065.

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