The Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks is investigating a mass die-off of bees that occurred at the Mikkola family farm and apiary in Lively in early June.
Spokesman Gary Wheeler told CBC News in an email that staff visited the facility where the sudden deaths occurred in late August.
They are currently “assessing available information to determine what may have caused the bee deaths.”
Dawn Lalonde, who runs the family-run Mikkola farm and apiary, said about half of her 40 colonies suddenly died around June 14.
Dawn Lalonde of Mikkola Family Farm & Apiary in Lively is raising money to send samples of dead bees to a lab for further testing. She and others believe their sudden deaths are a warning sign that something is wrong in the environment.
A few weeks earlier, an annual inspection by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture found her bees to be healthy and free of any signs of disease or pests, leading Lalonde to conclude that an environmental chemical was the culprit.
Lalonde managed to raise $10,000 through a GoFundMe campaign to send samples to the University of Guelph's Agriculture and Food Laboratory for further testing.
The results were received in early August, and Lalonde said some alarming findings had emerged, although she did not specify what chemicals were found in the bees.
The ministry confirmed it was reviewing the laboratory results. It was also “conducting follow-up with local commercial pesticide operators to assess whether there were any local household pesticide applications around June 14, 2024.”
The Mikkola Family Farm & Apiary's fields are located far from agricultural land, so Lalonde believes the chemicals that killed the bees came from nearby homes.
“I feel a mixture of relief and concern that the department has launched an investigation,” she said. “On the one hand, they are doing this, but on the other, it is a signal that something is wrong in the environment.”
Ministry investigates another bee death incident
Ian Grant, president of the Ontario Beekeepers Association, previously told CBC news that the mortality rate in apiaries has been particularly high this year after the winter.
“Unfortunately, this year we are hearing about big losses in the beekeeping community and we cannot attribute it to any specific problem,” he said.
The ministry also confirmed it was investigating another incident involving bee deaths.
“We are reviewing the details of the incident to determine the potential source and whether it is related to activities we regulate, such as pesticides,” Wheeler wrote in an email.