Feasibility of Establishing an Irradiation Facility in the Province Alberta
The Alberta Beekeepers Commission represent 170 commercial beekeepers located throughout the province who manage 300,000 colonies of bees.Alberta’s beekeeping industry is the largest beekeeping industry in Canada as well as the largest producer of honey in Canada. The combined economic contribution to Alberta’s economy from bees and honey totals $67M. In addition, both contracted and incidental pollination of field crops, forage and small fruits by honey bees contributes an additional $2B to Alberta’s economy.Beekeeping has changed significantly in Alberta over the past 15 years. Keeping honey bee colonies healthy and alive has become increasingly difficult due to a complex array of stress factors. There are numerous treatment methods or practices currently used which are failing to curb bacterial diseases, viruses, manage parasites and pests. There is pressure on the beekeeping industry to find alternative treatments to currently approved antibiotics, parasite and pesticide treatments and other microbials. The drivers behind this include developing antibiotic resistance in some diseases, concern for the health and safety of beekeepers when they apply the treatment, residual chemicals remaining in the honey as well as environmental impacts.In Alberta and most of North American the primary hive used to house colonies of bees is the Langstroth hive. Due to the significant cost of replacing hives, and the need to keep operational costs down, beekeepers will often use hives and frames over multiple seasons. This practice creates a very great risk and likelihood of transmitting disease from one generation of bees to the next. Irradiation of older equipment is a potential solution to prevent the spread of disease.Used beekeeping equipment can carry harmful microorganisms to new bee colonies. The use of irradiation is becoming an attractive option to prevent the spread of disease as well as reduce the need to antibiotics, antimicrobials and other treatments. Irradiation has also been shown to be a solution for killing/preventing those diseases for which there is no known antimicrobial or other treatment.Irradiation provides additional benefits to the beekeeper through reducing their exposure to chemicals, antibiotics and other microbials, to the environment by reducing the needs for the same chemicals and other treatments out in bee yards, and finally ensures there no risk of chemical/microbial contamination of honey.In addition to reducing the spread of disease, irradiation improves overall colony health, improved productivity, savings on antibiotic and other treatment costs as well as comb and equipment replacement costs.Widespread, routine use of irradiation has the potential to increase health of the industry as a whole.There are irradiation facilities in Canada, however none in Alberta that are available to beekeepers for sterilizing beekeeping equipment. The facility located in Port Coquitlam; Iotron Industries is the place where beekeepers who can afford to ship their equipment for sterilization.The cost of shipping in semi loads to Iotron is prohibitive. Combined with the increasing pressure to find alternative methods to improve hive health, reduce operating costs, reduce environmental impacts, safety of beekeepers and to ensure high quality safe honey, the Alberta Beekeepers Commission is interested in conducting a feasibility study & business case to objectively and rationally uncover the strengths and weaknesses of establishing an irradiation facility in the province of Alberta
Branding a Unique Alberta Honey
BackgroundConcept: Create and capture new and unrealized value from honey produced on the Northern Prairie. The premise for the Concept is this: clear pure honey produced in cold weather climates embodies a set of attributes that can be uniquely differentiated and distinguished from the mainstream commodity providersObjective: Develop a new premium product – a product that does not compete against traditional honey products. Rather introduce “Northern Prairie Honey” as a pure, pristine natural food product - a new honey product that is highly qualified, produced and processed in ‘sublime’ conditions with multiple ‘nutritional’ benefits.Rationale: The honey market is heavily commoditized and driven by supplies from such countries as China, Vietnam, Ukraine, Argentina (all with warm weather climates and vegetation (including crops) that typically results in a ‘darker’ honey). Furthermore, it is evident that the market has become extremely price driven – the price levels are established by American buyers who are the major importers. Alberta as a major net exporter of honey is simply another source. Little or no added value (or price premium) is assigned to the quality of the honey being produced. Actually, the opposite is true – every opportunity to discount Alberta honey is applied. This situation is not likely to improve.Outcome: A high level review of Alberta and Canadian Prairie honey production provides perspective on the financial benefits of marketing a premium product. Typical production in Alberta is 35 million pounds, and if 10% of this could be marketed at $7 per lb (4X commodity pricing), ABC members could see an additional $18 million in revenues. Similarly, for the prairie provinces, the increase in revenues would be nearly $40 millionBackground: The cold weather concept for a North Prairie ‘cold produced and cold processed’ honey product is inspired by ‘Ice Wine’ - a product that captures unique value and led by Canadian vintners located both in the Niagara region and BC. Ice wine is uniquely positioned as a premium product and priced at levels that are 6 to 8 times higher than standard wines. Furthermore, ice wine can only be produced in regions that are subject to a minimum level of frost (below minus 8 Celsius). This is the critical threshold required to ‘freeze’ the grapes to the level capable of producing the required concentrate for ice wine
Level UP: HR Policy and Governance
Number of individual students required: 1In carrying out the duties of the Alberta Beekeepers Commission (ABC), the student will understand that the organization is a statutory corporation pursuant to the Marketing of Agricultural Products Act and is restricted to the activities authorized under this Act and the Regulations thereunder. ABC is not a society or a non-profit corporation under the Business Corporations Act. In this respect, the student intern will become familiar with the Statutory and Regulatory foundation of ABC and will work with commission management and the board to ensure that ABC remain within these jurisdictional parameters.Reporting to the Executive Director (ED) this student will provide support to the Commission as it updates its governance, HR and regulatory frameworks.Specific duties and responsibilities will include:1. Review and recommend HR polices for the Commission’s staff including;recruitinginterviewingon-boardingestablishing performance review processes2. Work with Commission staff and Alberta Agricultural Products Marketing Council to;Review recommended changes to the Commission’s regulationsFor those regulations that are recommended to become by-laws, help develop draft by-law documents for reviewReview policy and procedures manual remove duplication between regulations, by-laws and policy and procedures manual and update.
Level UP: Graphic designer/CMS
Number of individual students required: 2We would like to engage TWO students to help us with designing creative assets for our website and other campaign activities. In consultation with the ABC team and Tech Transfer Program (TTP) lead, the student/s will design various creative assets as well and administer our CMS to ensure consistent style and brand guidelines.To accomplish this, our ideal student will be able to:Collaborate with ABC team and TTP lead to understand project requirements, contributing unique ideas for strategic marketing initiativesExecute high-quality design from concept to delivery complying with brand standards and style guidesDevelop various creative assets for website, social media, printReview and enhance creative assets and layout of existing CMS (WordPress)Ultimately, you will be working on developing creative assets that will help tell the story of beekeeping in Alberta and showcase pure Alberta honey.What we will provide:Access to style and branding guidelinesExisting creative reference material and industry informationIdeally the student will have their own design software (Adobe creative suite), but access to software may be available if requiredCreative direction and industry expertise!These roles will be guided by the ABC Office Manager and TTP lead.If you like the sound of our culture, and are ready to tackle this challenge with us, then we'd love to hear from you.A student with excellent graphic design and digital skills would be the ideal candidate for this project.
Level UP: Video Production/Editing
Number of individual students required: 1We would like a student to help us with creating video content that is aligned with our vision, mission, and industry. In consultation with the ABC Tech Transfer Program (TTP) lead, the student will develop and execute a creative brief to produce a series of engaging and informative videos on honey bees and the Alberta beekeeping industry.To accomplish this, our ideal student will be able to:Develop an outline of footage and/or a shot list, scriptassemble all raw footage including video and photosdigitally cutting files to put together the sequence of the filmreordering and fine-tuning the content to ensure the logical sequencing and smooth running of the film/video.Utilize styles and techniques including the design of graphic elements, including utilizing the ABC/TTP branding elementswriting voiceover/commentarysuggesting or selecting musicUltimately, you will be working on video content creation for our organization.What we will provide:Access to raw video footage and imagesAccess to interview beekeepers and/staff for sound bitesIdeally the student will have their own editing software (Premiere or similar), but access to software may be available if requiredThis role will be guided by the ABC TTP lead.Creative direction and industry expertise!If you like the sound of our culture, and are ready to tackle this challenge with us, then we'd love to hear from you.A student with excellent graphic design and video skills would be the ideal candidate for this project.This position is 100% remote work.
Branding a Unique Alberta Honey
BackgroundConcept: Create and capture new and unrealized value from honey produced on the Northern Prairie. The premise for the Concept is this: clear pure honey produced in cold weather climates embodies a set of attributes that can be uniquely differentiated and distinguished from the mainstream commodity providersObjective: Develop a new premium product – a product that does not compete against traditional honey products. Rather introduce “Northern Prairie Honey” as a pure, pristine natural food product - a new honey product that is highly qualified, produced and processed in ‘sublime’ conditions with multiple ‘nutritional’ benefits.Rationale: The honey market is heavily commoditized and driven by supplies from such countries as China, Vietnam, Ukraine, Argentina (all with warm weather climates and vegetation (including crops) that typically results in a ‘darker’ honey). Furthermore, it is evident that the market has become extremely price driven – the price levels are established by American buyers who are the major importers. Alberta as a major net exporter of honey is simply another source. Little or no added value (or price premium) is assigned to the quality of the honey being produced. Actually, the opposite is true – every opportunity to discount Alberta honey is applied. This situation is not likely to improve.Outcome: A high level review of Alberta and Canadian Prairie honey production provides perspective on the financial benefits of marketing a premium product. Typical production in Alberta is 35 million pounds, and if 10% of this could be marketed at $7 per lb (4X commodity pricing), ABC members could see an additional $18 million in revenues. Similarly, for the prairie provinces, the increase in revenues would be nearly $40 millionBackground: The cold weather concept for a North Prairie ‘cold produced and cold processed’ honey product is inspired by ‘Ice Wine’ - a product that captures unique value and led by Canadian vintners located both in the Niagara region and BC. Ice wine is uniquely positioned as a premium product and priced at levels that are 6 to 8 times higher than standard wines. Furthermore, ice wine can only be produced in regions that are subject to a minimum level of frost (below minus 8 Celsius). This is the critical threshold required to ‘freeze’ the grapes to the level capable of producing the required concentrate for ice wine