Excerpts

> As revenues decreased from lower honey prices and yields, so too did per colony profit. The opportunity to accrue additional income from pollination rental contracts, particularly lucrative contracts such as canola, provides a beekeeping operation with stable income to supplement the less predictable profits provided by honey production; yield and price are largely exogenous variables beyond the control of the beekeeper.

> Our results indicate that there is no one fixed profitable level of colony winter loss in commercial Canadian beekeeping. Beekeeping operations’ profitability is a function of many endogenous and exogenous variables. It is important that apiculturists and beekeepers recognize the multi-faceted nature of a colony’s profitability and how colony winter loss rates play a role in a beekeeping operation’s economic viability ...

> Beekeepers can leverage this research to make informed management decisions such as engaging in lucrative commercial pollination contracts, participating in educational programs that teach and encourage queen rearing and split making, and advocating for policy changes that support long-term growth.

Bixby, M., Scarlett, R., & Hoover, S. E. (2023). Winter mortality, diversification, and self-sufficiency affect honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) colony profit in Canada: a model of commercial Alberta beekeepers. Journal of Economic Entomology, 116(3), 686-696.

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