Farmers feel sting of missing bees

New Brunswick's beekeepers are trying to figure out what's killing their bees. The province wants to know, too, and is helping to pay for a new study because bees are widely used by farmers to help pollinate their crops.

45 per cent of the province's hives were lost over the winter. Some industry experts blame a long harsh winter but some long-time beekeepers have a different theory.

The absence of bees has made it tough for beekeepers like Earl Gilby. He has kept beehives for close to 30 years. Every winter he loses some but nothing like this year.

"I certainly didn't expect to lose 50 per cent of my bees," he says.

Gilby has hives around the province and as with other beekeepers, not all not his all hives experienced losses, just certain ones, in certain areas.

"Most of the beekeepers who had their bees within flying distance, two and two and a half miles of certain new types of insecticides. That seems to be the common denominator," he says.

Gilby says in the last few years some New Brunswick and PEI potato farmers have started using a new type of insecticide. He wouldn't name it or say who manufactured it but CBC News has learned it's called "Admire" and is made by the Bayer company, the company that makes aspirin. Gilbey and some others in the industry believe the honey from the clover is poisoning their bees.

"If this is the problem, it's going to be devastating. I'm lucky. I have my father's farm and I'm planting crops for my bees and I'm really careful but a lot of beekeepers can't get away from this insecticide. Another year like this one and we just can't stand it," he says.

The scientific study that's been commissioned will look at many possible causes for the bee shortage, including insecticides. Everyone is looking for answers because millions of dollars are at stake. Without bees, the fruit industry won't be bearing fruit.