To work side by side successfully, it's important for beekeepers and farmers to communicate openly.

Ian Steppler, Chairman of the Manitoba Beekeepers' Association, says a good relationship with his neighbouring farmers helps make the bees in his apiaries thrive.

Steppler operates his own farm, so he has a lot of bee yards on his own property. He says, however, he counts on his neighbours to provide him with a little spot to put up an apiary.

He says it's kind of like a give and take relationship between the beekeeper and the farmer. "The farmer provides the flowers, and we provide them with the pollination. And then we give the farmer a bit of honey to boot at the end of the year for thanks."

Ian Steppler covered in honey bees.

With advancements in agriculture, and different management practices with chemical use, Steppler says it's important to communicate with each other to avoid some of the problems that might arise from some of those practices. He says pretty much all of those problems can be relieved just be reaching out and letting the farmer know they are there.

Steppler says so far this spring, it's been a season of ups and downs in the local bee industry. He says the bees came out of winter in very good shape with indications of an early start to the season. A few cold events then came through, stalling things, putting pressure on the quality of hives.

With the warmer weather as of late, Steppler says conditions are starting to rebound, and he's optimistic it will be a good season. He adds the rainfall this week will also help with flowering, which will also be great for the hives.

Manitoba has roughly 115,000 hives, and in 2020 cracked the 20-million pound mark for honey last year, which represents a $50-million industry.

The Manitoba Beekeeping industry uses 8.2 billion bees to collect 20-million pounds of honey off of thirty to forty trillion flowers right across Manitoba landscape.

"Our contribution towards the agricultural industry, we figure, it's around $150-million where we are able to increase crop production and put money directly into farmer's' pockets. That simple act of pollination is so important to Manitoba, and I think that's why farmers appreciate our industry so much."

Wednesday, May 20 was World Bee Day.