title: Characteristics of honey bee and non-Apis bee (Hymenoptera) farms in Canada.
abstract: Here, we present a farm-level, Canada-wide analysis of Canadian bee farms in 2006; this article is the first report to distinguish between honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) farms and non-Apis bee (Hymenoptera) farms. Farms are characterized according to bee species, bee stocks, and whether the farm makes 50% or more of gross sales from bee-related activities. Farm characteristics, including bee stocks, gross sales, capital investments, land base, specialization, location, and operator demographics, are reported for the different farm types and sizes. Non-Apis bee farms are revealed to be a nontrivial part of the Canadian bee industry: 21.2% of Canadian bee farms have non-Apis bees and 16.6% have exclusively non-Apis bees. Important differences between honey bee farms and non-Apis bee farms also are found. These differences include the more land-intensive nature of non-Apis bee farms and the finding that non-Apis bee farms have greater diversity in terms of their primary commodity, even at higher bee stock levels.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food, Agricultural & Resource Economics, University of Guelph, J. D. MacLachlan Building, Guelph, ON, Canada N1G 2W1.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Daly
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Melhim
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weersink
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D056630:Beekeeping / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001516:Bees; D002170:Canada