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Photo by Gerry Kahrmann / PNG

“It’s a single fruit,” said Clark, retired fromthe B.C. Ministry of Agriculture and living in Dawson Creek. “It’s like going to a buffet and the only thing there is salsa. It doesn’t give you a balanced diet.”

In recent years, some honey producers have expressed concern that other factors might be at play, including the potential for fungicides to affect bee health, especially during a wetter spring, Clark said.

“Over the last few years, the big operators of bee colonies … have started to notice that the ones that went to the blueberry fields were not performing as well as the ones that didn’t. They were sick.

“It’s become less and less attractive, to the point where the beekeepers have decided not to bring thousands of colonies into the blueberries this year.”

A $120,000 study is being launched to determine whether the concerns of the beekeepers are valid and, if so, what can be done about it. “We’re looking for answers and solutions,” Clark said.

Marta Guarna, the federal research scientist heading the study,noted that Canada’s blueberries are grown in wild lowbush and cultivated highbush varieties, and that most cultivated blueberries are produced in B.C.

The study will monitor colonies with and without nutritional supplements (protein patties) before and after they pollinate blueberries. Colonies will be inspected to determine their strength and disease status.

Risk factors in addition to nutrition and chemicals may include the amino-acid composition and acidity of blueberry pollen combined with a lack of alternative foraging sources.