Value Of Alberta Honey Increases In 2020

Dec 18, 2020

Statistics Canada's latest report shows Canadian honey production was down 4.3% in 2020 or 82.9 million pounds from a year earlier.

The pandemic this year resulted in import and travel restrictions which reduced the supply of queen bees, which are normally flown in commercial flights due to temperature requirements to keep the bees alive.

Those restrictions prevented some beekeepers from restoring their colonies especially in Alberta which had seen high winter losses.

Alberta is the largest honey-producing province and had 9.5% less producing colonies than a year earlier in 2019, mainly due to the poor spring and early summer conditions, as well as high winter losses.

Production in the province fell 4.8% from 2019 levels to 29.9 million pounds for 2020.

Alberta's producers received an average of $2.13 per pound for their honey, up from $1.85 per pound a year earlier.

Overall, the value of Alberta honey rose 9.5% to $63.7 million which was mainly due to the fact that there was less honey on the market.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.