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Bixby MEF, Polinsky M, Scarlett R, Higo H, Common J, Hoover SE, Foster LJ, Zayed A, Cunningham M, Guarna MM. Impacts of COVID-19 on Canadian Beekeeping: Survey Results and a Profitability Analysis. J Econ Entomol 2021; 114:2245-2254. [PMID: 34545929 PMCID: PMC8500005 DOI: 10.1093/jee/toab180] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
To gauge the impact of COVID-19 on the Canadian beekeeping sector, we conducted a survey of over 200 beekeepers in the fall of 2020. Our survey results show Canadian beekeepers faced two major challenges: 1) disrupted importation of honey bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) (queen and bulk bees) that maintain populations; and 2) disrupted arrival of temporary foreign workers (TFWs). Disruptions in the arrival of bees and labor resulted in fewer colonies and less colony management, culminating in higher costs and lower productivity. Using the survey data, we develop a profitability analysis to estimate the impact of these disruptions on colony profit. Our results suggest that a disruption in either foreign worker or bee arrival allows beekeepers to compensate and while colony profits are lower, they remain positive. When both honey bee and foreign workers arrivals are disrupted for a beekeeper, even when the beekeeper experiences less significant colony health and cost impacts, a colony with a single pollination contract is no longer profitable, and a colony with two pollination contracts has significantly reduced profitability. As COVID-19 disruptions from 2020 and into 2021 become more significant to long-term colony health and more costly to a beekeeping operation, economic losses could threaten the industry's viability as well as the sustainability of pollination-dependent crop sectors across the country. The economic and agricultural impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic have exposed a vulnerability within Canada's beekeeping industry stemming from its dependency on imported labor and bees. Travel disruptions and border closures pose an ongoing threat to Canadian agriculture and apiculture in 2021 and highlight the need for Canada's beekeeping industry to strengthen domestic supply chains to minimize future risks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miriam E F Bixby
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of British Columbia, 2125 East Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Matthew Polinsky
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of British Columbia, 2125 East Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Rod Scarlett
- Canadian Honey Council, #218, 51519 RR 220, Sherwood Park, AB, T8E 1H1, Canada
| | - Heather Higo
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of British Columbia, 2125 East Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Julia Common
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of British Columbia, 2125 East Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Shelley E Hoover
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Drive West, Lethbridge, AB, T1K 3M4, Canada
| | - Leonard J Foster
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of British Columbia, 2125 East Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
- Michael Smith Laboratories, University of British Columbia, 2125 East Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Amro Zayed
- Department of Biology, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada
| | - Morgan Cunningham
- Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Beaverlodge Research Farm, Box PO 29, Beaverlodge, AB, T0H 0C0, Canada
- Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8W 2Y2, Canada
| | - M Marta Guarna
- Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Beaverlodge Research Farm, Box PO 29, Beaverlodge, AB, T0H 0C0, Canada
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Guarna MM, Hoover SE, Huxter E, Higo H, Moon KM, Domanski D, Bixby MEF, Melathopoulos AP, Ibrahim A, Peirson M, Desai S, Micholson D, White R, Borchers CH, Currie RW, Pernal SF, Foster LJ. Peptide biomarkers used for the selective breeding of a complex polygenic trait in honey bees. Sci Rep 2017; 7:8381. [PMID: 28827652 PMCID: PMC5566959 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-08464-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2016] [Accepted: 07/12/2017] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
We present a novel way to select for highly polygenic traits. For millennia, humans have used observable phenotypes to selectively breed stronger or more productive livestock and crops. Selection on genotype, using single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and genome profiling, is also now applied broadly in livestock breeding programs; however, selection on protein/peptide or mRNA expression markers has not yet been proven useful. Here we demonstrate the utility of protein markers to select for disease-resistant hygienic behavior in the European honey bee (Apis mellifera L.). Robust, mechanistically-linked protein expression markers, by integrating cis- and trans- effects from many genomic loci, may overcome limitations of genomic markers to allow for selection. After three generations of selection, the resulting marker-selected stock outperformed an unselected benchmark stock in terms of hygienic behavior, and had improved survival when challenged with a bacterial disease or a parasitic mite, similar to bees selected using a phenotype-based assessment for this trait. This is the first demonstration of the efficacy of protein markers for industrial selective breeding in any agricultural species, plant or animal.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Marta Guarna
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, and Centre for Sustainable Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Beaverlodge Research Farm, Beaverlodge, AB, Canada
| | - Shelley E Hoover
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, and Centre for Sustainable Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Beaverlodge Research Farm, Beaverlodge, AB, Canada
- Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, Lethbridge, AB, Canada
| | | | - Heather Higo
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, and Centre for Sustainable Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Kyung-Mee Moon
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, and Centre for Sustainable Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Dominik Domanski
- University of Victoria-Genome British Columbia Proteomics Centre, Victoria, BC, Canada
| | - Miriam E F Bixby
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, and Centre for Sustainable Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Andony P Melathopoulos
- Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Beaverlodge Research Farm, Beaverlodge, AB, Canada
- Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, Lethbridge, AB, Canada
- Department of Horticulture, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Abdullah Ibrahim
- Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Beaverlodge Research Farm, Beaverlodge, AB, Canada
| | - Michael Peirson
- Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Beaverlodge Research Farm, Beaverlodge, AB, Canada
| | - Suresh Desai
- Department of Entomology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
| | - Derek Micholson
- Department of Entomology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
| | - Rick White
- Department of Statistics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Christoph H Borchers
- University of Victoria-Genome British Columbia Proteomics Centre, Victoria, BC, Canada
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
- Lady Davis Institute, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Gerald Bronfman Department of Oncology, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Robert W Currie
- Department of Entomology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
| | - Stephen F Pernal
- Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Beaverlodge Research Farm, Beaverlodge, AB, Canada.
| | - Leonard J Foster
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, and Centre for Sustainable Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
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