Wet start to the season and wildfire smoke affects bees

August 26, 2025, 9:28 am
Ryan Kiedrowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

With the peak of summer fast approaching, beekeepers are in the busiest part of their year. But the spring and summer of 2025 have been a real mixed bag with a cooler, wetter season plagued by intermittent wildfire smoke.

“The smoke definitely has a detrimental affect on the bees,” said Lance Strong of B. Strong Apiaries located just outside of Rocanville. “Honeybees require a certain light intensity in order to leave the hive to forage. On the days when smoke is thick, it definitely shrinks the foraging window.”

According to numbers from 2023, Saskatchewan produced 22 per cent of the 91.8 million pounds of honey (20 million lbs.) produced in Canada, exporting around $4 million (down $6.6 million from the year previous).

It not just the bees being affected by the smoky conditions, blocking out the sun’s rays can affect the plants as well.

“The reduced light also affects the photosynthesis of plants, making it less efficient and therefore producing less nectar and pollen,” Strong said. “This results in weaker colonies and smaller honey crop yields.”

As with many producers across Saskatchewan, B. Strong Apiaries raises their own bees—a practice that means multiple mating flights need to happen for each virgin queen.

“The queen has a window of opportunity for her mating flights, and when that window closes, she doesn’t mate again for her entire life span,” Strong explained. “If that mating window happens to overlap with a smoky week or two, the result is a sub-par batch of queens at best. There is anecdotal evidence from various producers that their mating success rates have lessened in these smoky years.”

Across the border in Manitoba, bee producers are seeing some of the same consequences as smoky summers become more intense.

“These last five years, we’ve been seeing more and more smoke through the summer, almost becoming a normal thing now,” said Ian Steppler, Chair of the Manitoba Beekeepers’ Association and a producer near Miami, Manitoba. “In regards to bees, we are quite concerned about it.”

Every year, Manitoba beekeepers produce around 20 million pounds of honey with an approximate value of $50 million into the provincial economy, courtesy the efforts of 250 producers and billions of bees. In total, the Prairie provinces accounted for 73 per cent of all honey exports in 2023.

Smoke may also have benefits
While the negative effects of wildfire smoke are quite obvious, there may be somewhat of a silver lining to be found.

“Every year is different,” Strong said, when asked about this season compared to 2024. “I can say that for our area at least, it’s been a great start to the year for bees.”

One huge benefit to all the rain received this spring is the resulting proliferation of other plants, growing at a time when usually things would not be as abundant.

“Typically, we have a dearth period after dandelions and caraganas until clover and canola, however this year we had a lot of wildflower along with early clover and alfalfa that kept the bees going without having to slow down,” Strong said. “This has provided us with strong colonies going into the canola bloom - good for us and for the canola grower!”

Some studies suggest that adding three honey bee hives per hectare of canola increased yield by 46 per cent compared to fields without hives.

In addition to more foliage around, Steppler also suggests that nasty smoke may actually have given some cover for our buzzing friends.

“It might actually help the bees because it’s provided that little bit of a shield from the scorching, hot sun; protecting the crop a little bit, which allowed the crop to not get burnt off,” he said, adding that the cover might have even made for a longer blooming period. “I’m hearing that more and more, actually, where it might be just a little bit of protection from the scorching sun. It depends on who you talk to, some beekeepers are very concerned about the environment and the smoke - and that I understand, they’re more on the side of this smoke is bad for the bees - but the commercial guys talking to me are just a little bit indifferent. Maybe it actually helps us, but with the caveat that we’re not in the heart of it.”

Beekeepers located closer to the thick of the heavy, orange smoke are the ones in trouble, as Steppler said.

“The bees stay in the colonies, and they kind of sit and lose weight,” he explained. “They don’t fly and they don’t forage, so they think it affects the queen mating and such.”

As a result, some producers have had to relocate their bee yards in order to protect the hives.

Steppler described the growing season as ‘very interesting’, adding that the spring had begun tough with colonies experiencing a dwindle initially, due to the cool conditions.

“But then this spring turned around, and we had very favourable conditions come through,” he said. “The colonies turned around and they started to grow; they exploded and growth right through until now, they haven’t stopped growing. I don’t think I’ve seen the colonies in such great shape.”

Dandelions and berry trees began to bloom at the right time in Manitoba with flora becoming quite lush.

“Every flower plant has an extra flower, and the grass - we’re still mowing our bee yards because the grass just won’t quit growing,” Steppler said. “You look at the crops around here, and they’re just spectacular. We got timely rains come through in central Manitoba. I know there’s some dry places in Manitoba, maybe the growth isn’t as dramatic, but I’m hearing from beekeepers this is a clover year, one of those years where you have the clover grow just tremendously and produce a lot of nectar. Beekeepers across Manitoba are like, ‘all right, the clover years, we just love these years!’ nectar is flowing into the colonies, and if you were to count the rings in a tree, this would be one of those growth years.”