‘You can’t lay bees off.’ Canadians will see cheap honey in trade war, but the sting will come

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“The economic impact may not be extreme yet, but if this extends, let’s say, into the new year, then we have a completely different set of problems that will impact not only honey production but probably pollination and the pollination sector, which is quite a bit bigger than the honey sector,” says Scarlett.

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As Barbara Engelbart McKenzie, executive director of the Alberta Beekeepers Commission, highlights, flowering crops across Canada depend on pollination, from canola to blueberries — and that pollination comes from bees. “There’s a massive risk in the industry if we don’t have strong bee pollination. We could see lower crop valuations and crops actually decline as well.”

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Özbilge echoes this concern: “When we talk about honey, it impacts other industries due to that pollination. And having a drop in agricultural production, it will definitely have some side effects on other food items.”

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The industry is looking at ways to broaden its horizons with export partners and bolster homegrown honey with more domestic marketing. “But some of these things take time. They take a contribution from the government and action from the government,” says Scarlett.

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Gregory has been beekeeping since he was a teenager, for more than 50 years. At his family-run operation, Interlake Honey Producers Ltd., in Fisher Branch, north of Winnipeg, he has roughly 1,000 colonies. He has exported comb honey to Japan — Canada’s second-largest export market at 44.1 per cent by value in 2025, versus the U.S.’s 52.9 per cent — and sees the greatest opportunities for growth in developing other export markets for Canadian honey, such as the Middle East, India and other countries in Asia. “We’re known for quality honey, and we just have to do more work to that end.”

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Canada imports more honey than it exports, “and those imports are coming in cheap,” says Scarlett, who sees an opportunity to displace foreign products with domestic ones — especially when it comes to commercial users of industrial honey.

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The Canadian Honey Council has called on commercial users of industrial honey, including General Mills and Kellogg’s, “to proudly proclaim that they use Canadian honey in their products.” Neither company responded to National Post’s request for comment.

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“We know that there are these huge amounts of imports coming in for the industrial market. We don’t know exactly where it’s being used, but one would hope that Canadian companies recognize the stress that this industry is under, and would proudly display one of their ingredients,” says Scarlett.

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Engelbart McKenzie also sees opportunities to boost the domestic market. “Alberta could actually supply all of Canada’s honey demand, so Canada can supply itself with honey. We’re currently seeing honey imports, but some of those imports are adulterated honey, so they’re not 100 per cent pure honey, and that’s what’s coming up and winding up on consumer shelves.”

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According to a 2019 Canadian Food Inspection Agency report, 21.7 per cent of imported honey samples were adulterated — often diluted with syrups, such as corn or rice. Gregory highlights the need for better testing at the border and, if honey is identified as fraudulent, that it be destroyed.

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“Overall, we just want to encourage consumers to really buy Canadian honey,” says Engelbart McKenzie. “We also definitely are supporting the idea that we get these tariffs removed and that we get back into a regular flow of goods across the border.”

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