There are a lot of busy bees out there, and we’re not just talking about the farmers.

Bees are important pollinators for crops like canola, and Saskatchewan is also a major producer of honey with 120,000 hives and 120 commercial beekeepers across the province.

Jake Berg, Vice-President of the Saskatchewan Beekeepers Development Commission, says things are looking good as they get ready for the new season.

"The hives have come out of winter looking fairly well, with our winter losses up a bit this year over the last couple years," he said. "The initial reports have it at about 20 percent. Other than that hives are really good and are growing really quickly, so it looks to be another great year."  

Berg says most of Saskatchewan’s honey production is exported to the US, adding a recent decision to source Billy Bee brand honey entirely from Canada is great news for our producers.

"Anytime we can get any backer to go strictly with Canadian product is great," Berg said. "We were very supportive of that move and hopefully they will stick with it. It should help the supply chain in Canada a little bit as well stabilize our pricing a little bit."

Our province is a major honey producer thanks to our climate and an abundance of flowering crops like canola and alfalfa.