Did you know that Alberta is Canada’s largest producer of natural honey?

Alberta’s 1,950 beekeepers, 302,900 bee colonies and 25 billion bees produced 40% of Canada’s total honey production by weight (37 million pounds) and 38% by value ($106 million) in 2023.

The next largest producer by weight this year was Saskatchewan at 22% of production with Manitoba holding down the second spot in terms of value at 17% of total sales.

The $106 million in sales this year is the highest on record (Statistics Canada has data on honey production and sales going back to 1924!) and 40% higher than the average sales value over the previous five years.

The weight of honey produced this year was 12% higher than the five-year average but not record-setting with production hitting almost 47 million pounds back in 2006.

While a major producer within Canada, Alberta’s share of the estimated global production of 1.2 million tonnes is less than 2%.

China is the world's largest honey producer at about 40% of the global total by weight.

Answer to the previous trivia question: The first transatlantic radio signal was sent on December 12, 1901 by Guglielmo Marconi from England to Newfoundland.

Today’s trivia question: How many eggs can a queen bee lay in her lifetime?