2008 Communications Protocol to Prevent Bee Problems Associated with Sweet Corn Spraying

The Ontario Food Processors Association (OFPA) will send a list of counties and townships where processors plan to plant sweet corn to the OMAFRA Provincial Apiarist by May 1st of each year.

The OMAFRA Provincial Apiarist, upon receipt of the above lists, will send the London office of the Ministry of Environment (MOE) and the OFPA the latest list of beekeepers and beeyards with the available GPS coordinates that have been released by the beekeepers, under the Freedom of Information section of their registration form.

The OMAFRA Provincial Apiarist will send a letter to the all registered beekeepers in the counties where processing sweet corn will be grown. The names, addresses, phone numbers and fax numbers of the sweet corn processors will be included with this mailing. A list of counties and townships where each processor will have sweet corn fields will be included in the letter. A copy of this protocol will accompany the letter. The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs will also post the protocol on the OMAFRA Web site.

The beekeepers will review the letter to determine if they have beeyard locations (including pollination locations) with bees in them this season that are located within the townships in which the processors will have sweet corn fields. The beekeeper must first contact the sweet corn processor and discuss where the bees are located in relation to the location of cornfields. If necessary, the processor will send a map of where the cornfields are located to the beekeeper. Beekeepers will indicate on the map the location of their beeyards and return it to the processor. The beekeepers should also indicate if they want to be notified of planned spray operations within 3 kilometres of their beeyard locations if spraying is to be done via aerial application using Furadan.

Processors should avoid spraying during the time that the sweet corn plants are producing pollen. If aerial spraying is necessary with Furadan, it should be carried out after 7:00 p.m. in the evening or before 7:00 a.m. in the morning. After August 15th, the time of spraying (due to the shortening day length), may be moved up to 6:00 p.m. for spraying in the evening.

Communications: If spraying is to be carried out, those beekeepers that have requested notification should be notified of the planned spraying the day before the spraying occurs. It is agreed that it is not necessary to contact the beekeeper if the spraying is carried out after 7:00 p.m. or if ground application is used. If beekeepers want to be notified in these last two situations, they should make that clear to the sweet corn processor.

Honey bee pollination needs to be fluid, unrestricted activity that takes bees where they need to go to pollinate commercial crops. Beekeepers need to take into account fields of sweet corn that are in close proximity to where bees are placed to pollinate vine crops such as cucumbers. The bees should be placed in such a location as to minimise bee losses due to spraying of the sweet corn. There may have to be some compromise by the cucumber grower as to where the beekeeper places the bees to ensure that bees are available to pollinate his crop. Bees will fly a considerable distance and spread out to cover the field for adequate pollination. With mechanically harvested cucumbers, remove the hives as soon as pollination is finished (5-7 days) to minimise the spraying damage risks.

MOE will respond to complaints of bee kills from the public. These complaints can be lodged with the District or Area Office during normal business hours.

MOE District or Area Offices:

London: 519-873-5000 or 1-800-265-7672
Sarnia: 519-336-4030 or 1-800-387-7784
Windsor: 519-948-1464 or 1-800-387-8826
Hamilton: 905-521-7640 or 1-800-668-4557

For MOE after hours call the Spills Actions Centre at 1-800-268-6060.

Beekeepers will take appropriate precautions upon notification of a planned spray operation. Beekeepers may be able to move the hives if they happen to be palletised and a forklift is available. If moving the bees is not possible because of the weight of the hives etc, beekeeper may put wet bags in the entrance of the hives at 6:00 a.m. and take the bags out by noon of the same day after the spraying of the sweet corn. If the sweet corn processors can not spray, they will contact the beekeepers, as soon as possible, to prevent them from unnecessarily closing their hives. The beekeeper should leave at least one inch open at the corners of the entrances of the beehives to prevent suffocation (this method disrupts the flight of the bees for up to 12 hours). Two days of honey production is given up with this method. However, it will reduce the risk of serious bee losses due to insecticide applications. This method is also very labour intensive and to make it work there has to be very good communication between the aerial applicator and the beekeeper. Neither side should assume anything, call if there are any questions.

Concerns, if this protocol is not working, should be directed to:

Ontario Food Processors Association
RR 4, 7660 Mill Rd.
Guelph, ON N1H 6J1
Phone: 519-767-5594

Ontario Beekeepers Association
Bayfield, ON N0M 1G0
Phone: 519-565-2622

OMAFRA
Doug McRory, Provincial Apiarist
1 Stone Rd. West, 5 Floor NW
Guelph, ON N1G 4Y2
Phone: 1-888-466-2372 Extension 6-3595

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