The 2026 pollination season is fast approaching. Across the Maritime region, beekeepers are starting to prepare for the movement of thousands of honey bee colonies to wild blueberry fields. This week’s blog post will highlight some of the expectations of the 2026 pollination season and provide key future considerations for beekeepers and wild blueberry growers.
Looking to the 2026 Pollination Season and Beyond
Over the past month or more, beekeepers have been
working hard to care for colonies. When weather has permitted, beekeepers have
been assessing winter loss, checking food stores, feeding if necessary, and are
now starting the process of balancing colonies for the coming pollination
season. Winter losses and spring
management will determine the number of colonies available for
pollination. The hope is that the region’s
pollination capacity this spring has increased in comparison to last. Under ideal conditions, around 35,000 Maritime
colonies will be sent to wild blueberry pollination for the 2026 season. Breaking this optimistic goal down by
province, Nova Scotia may approach 20,000 colonies for pollination this
spring. New Brunswick is well placed to
have 10,000 colonies available, and PEI could approach 5,000 colonies. These speculative numbers will depend on
winter losses and will only be determined after blueberry bloom.
Honey bee pollinating wild blueberry flower (ATTTA©2022).
The demand for wild blueberry pollination
remains high across the Maritime region. Last year, New Brunswick imported over
30,000 honey bee colonies to provide pollination services, Prince Edward Island
imported nearly 3,500 colonies, and Nova Scotia imported 864 colonies. It is
expected that each Maritime province will import an equal, or increased, number
of colonies to help meet the pollination demand in 2026. Nova Scotia may extend
the Pollination Pilot Project, introduced in 2025, with possibly an expanded
number of pollinating colonies permitted to enter the province in 2026. The
other two Maritime provinces may have an increase in demand for imported
colonies as is often seen when there is confidence in a robust market price for
blueberries. This strong demand for pollination units sees blueberry producers increasingly
looking outside the region to meet their need for pollination units. As blueberry producers lean more on imported colonies,
as well as non-apis pollinators, the market share held by Maritime
beekeepers is worth exploring.
According to a leading business magazine, the
Harvard Business Review, in any business, market share is the main determinant
for profitability due to economies of scale, market power, and the quality of
management.
Often the individual sales may be a single
company selling a specific product into a larger market, but this can also apply
to a market sector. A relatable example
is the report by Stats Canada that, in 2024, lowbush blueberry production was
94,111 metric tons against an overall fruit production for the country of
930,982 metric tons. This indicates that
the lowbush blueberry sector represented a 10.1% market share of overall fruit
production in Canada. This sort of model can be applied to other aspects of
wild blueberry production and commercial beekeeping.
When looking at pollination for wild
blueberries, the market share held by beekeepers has changed over the
years. An interesting example can be
found when looking at some statistics from the New Brunswick wild blueberry
industry generally and the current Wild Blueberry Pollination Strategy
specifically. As reported in the
executive summary of the strategy1,
on average for the period from 2018 – 2023, New Brunswick beekeepers
supplied 9,500 colonies out of the total 32,500 used for wild blueberry
pollination (29.23% market share). The
projections in the strategy estimate that by 2029, New Brunswick beekeepers
will supply 17,000 of the 57,000 honey bee colonies required for wild blueberry
pollination. This would maintain market
share at roughly 29.82%. Currently, when
reviewing the estimates of the 2025 season, New Brunswick colonies only made up
9,958 of the 40,300 bee hives used overall.
This is a 24.72% market share. This indicates that New Brunswick
beekeepers have lost overall market share and are not matching the trajectory expected
to maintain the estimated market share proposed in the pollination strategy.
The circumstances in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island differ somewhat from those discussed above. The planned increase in blueberry production acreage for NB, with more need for pollination services, is not matched by the other two Maritime provinces. Nonetheless, there is pressure across the industry for production efficiencies, gained in part, through increased yields for existing acreage. To achieve this increase in yield, more pollination units will be required. The resulting increased demand for pollination services in Nova Scotia is evidenced by the importation of 864 colonies into the province in 2025 through the Pollination Pilot Project. The number of colonies imported into NS is likely to only increase for 2026 and into the future. Even with NS having record breaking hive numbers in the fall of 2025 (approximately 30,000) the importation will decrease the market share of for the provinces beekeepers by an estimated 5 – 7% for this season compared to prior years. Prince Edward Island has seen a slight downward trend in the number of hives managed in the province for the past several years. So, if demand remains constant on the Island, market share for the province’s beekeepers will be lost equivalent to the decrease in provincial hive numbers.
When discussing the pollination market share,
it is important to recognize that non-apis pollinators, such as bumble bees and
alfalfa leaf cutter bees, are a growing portion of the market. Each year an
increasing number of bumble bee quads are being imported into the Maritime
region, and, although the specific number of imported quads is not recorded, it
is recognized that bumble bees and other managed non-apis pollinators are
gaining market share of the pollination industry. The strong market share of non-apis pollinators
can be seen in New Brunswick with the province projecting that by 2029, bumble
bees and alfalfa leaf cutter bees will make up 24% of the total pollination
capacity.
Globally, the demand for wild blueberries,
and, therefore, pollination services, remains high. More acres going into
production and increasing production efficiencies will also push demand for
pollination of wild blueberries. Market
share is only one consideration, especially as there is still a strong, growing
need for honey bee colonies in the region.
With this, comes opportunities for beekeepers and sector growth. Loss of market share may be inevitable as, in
some areas, factors like forage availability, limit growth capacity of
commercial beekeepers. This will mean that
the demand cannot be met from within the Maritime region. Alternatively, the advantages of market share,
such as economy of scale and the associated demonstration of the quality of
management, should not be ignored. The
other important aspect of market share is market power. Currently the strong relationship between the
Maritime beekeeping and wild blueberry industries is due to local honey bees
being a foundational pollination provider.
As the share of the market alters due to importation of honey bee
colonies, and with the expanded use of non-apis pollinators, market power may shift. It is yet to be seen how the 2026 pollination
season will unfold but the hope is that local honey bees will perform, as
always, to support a successful wild blueberry production season.
1. 1. New
Brunswick Wild Blueberry Pollination Strategy (Executive Summary) (2024) https://www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gnb/Departments/10/pdf/Agriculture/WildBlueberries-BleuetsSauvages/nb-wild-blueberry-pollination-strategy.pdf
Connecting with ATTTA Specialists
If you’d like to connect with ATTTA specialists or learn more about our program, you can:
visit our website at https://www.perennia.ca/portfolio-items/honey-bees/
Email attta@perennia.ca
