A popular honey bee farm in South Surrey that sells a raw, organic form of the naturally sweet treat offers visitors a quaint, inviting environment.
An ornamental honeycomb is featured on a wall inside the store, eye-catching knick-knacks adorn shelves throughout the room and decorative bees hang from the ceiling.
Out front sits a carriage, and at the side of the building, a drive-thru window offers shoppers a chance to purchase award-winning honey products without leaving the comfort of their vehicles.
Behind the little shop, things are somewhat less picturesque. That’s where 300 monochromatic hives are stored, four to a pallet, organized into two rows. None of this is out of the ordinary, given the location, but these hives actually tell a devastating story.
“These are the losses from last year. I put them here to alarm people, to show them,” said Iman Tabari, beekeeper at BCB Honey Farm, 4121 King George Blvd.
He looks across at the once-bustling hives from which bees emerged to pollinate vast fields and farms, collecting flower nectar as they went.
“This is really making me sad,” Tabari admits.
“Before, we were losing five per cent, normal for the winter time. Now it’s become 50 per cent of bees we are losing in the winter. Beekeepers have to buy bees from overseas to replace the dead ones. How long can we do this?”
Passion for one’s work can only carry a person so far. That’s what Tabari is coming to terms with after spending the past 20 years raising bees and producing exceptional organic, raw honey.
While his personal drive is not dwindling— he can speak endlessly about the health benefits of honey and his high regard for his bees — the number of bees Tabari raises is definitely dropping, meaning it will be difficult for BCB to continue much longer unless big changes are made.
Formerly a physician in Iran, Tabari “came to Canada with a vision-filled dream of producing medicinal honey,” notes a bio on the BCB website.
He produces raw honey that is sourced in B.C. and sold locally, as well as being distributed worldwide through an online shop.
Tabari’s active hives are not kept at the South Surrey property since it is located next to a highway. Instead, he transports his bees to other parts of the province, including the Peace River country, where they’re placed specifically to pollinate organic, non-GMO crops.
The bees pollinate on blueberry, cranberry, raspberry, and other local crops found in B.C., according to the website.
It’s tough to argue with the results. In 2019, Tabari won the quality gold award at the London International Honey Competition as well as two certificates at the International Honey Commission competition.
What earned Tabari’s raw, cold-extract, unpasteurized honey the international accolades was the fact that while there are no chemicals in it, there is also nothing missing; pollen and other necessary properties, which are not found in commercial honey found in most grocery stores, were present in Tabari’s honey.
In commercial enterprises, “there’s lots of filtration because they try to get rid of all the chemicals you can detect in their honey.
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“They have to filter their honey, you have to overheat your honey, pasteurization which is unnecessary. Honey is a food that doesn’t have an expiry date. Tell me why we should pasteurize a food that doesn’t grow bacteria inside? But, unfortunately, they do because they want to get rid of all the chemicals.”
From the use of pesticides and herbicides to climate change, beekeepers everywhere are fighting an uphill battle, he said.
“(The) last 20 years I’ve tried everything I could to show as example that we can have sustainable beekeeping without using any chemicals.
“We are not getting anywhere, to be honest with you.”
Many people, he said, whether it’s farmers working several hundred acres of land or individuals caring for their backyard gardens, still use pesticides that are killing pollinators.
“So many good beekeepers I know, they are not doing it anymore. They were passionate, they loved what they were doing, but they were forced to stop. When you lose your bees, then you come to this place of it’s not worth it, not worth the effort.”
The more bees the better crops flourish, so ensuring their viability should be everyone’s goal, Tabari said.
Chemicals are just one challenge the invaluable insects face.
“One reason the bees can’t survive is because our climate is so unpredictable, it changes so much,” Tabari said.
“In (winter) 2022, there was a historically bad loss across most of Canada, with 45 per cent of the honey bee colonies dying,” according to Jake Berg, the chair of the Canadian Honey Bee Council, who spoke in April at an agriculture meeting before Parliament.
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It is expected that this year will be better, but last winter’s record loss was an exceptional case. Colonies are weaker in the fall, leading to more deaths, while other significant reasons include poor queens and varroa mites not being controlled effectively. The mites attack and feed on bees, which makes them weaker and susceptible to more diseases, Berg added.
Meanwhile, Tabari remains committed to giving sustainable beekeeping in B.C. another shot.
Everyone can help
He has come to the conclusion that it is not that people don’t care about the plight of honey bees, it is that they do not know.
That’s why he plans to open his farm to school tours, where he will provide information about sustainable beekeeping practices and what individuals can do to attract more pollinators.
“Sometimes you don’t even have to do anything, sometimes not doing anything can help bees. By not cutting your dandelions, you can help bees,” he emphasized.
“Not doing wrong things is enough.”
For those who have the time and interest to do more, Tabari suggests planting wildflowers or buying potted plants to keep outside their homes or keeping “bee-friendly gardens” that do not use chemicals for maintenance.
“If you see a butterfly or bee, then you are doing well.”
Government policies also play a role, Tabari added, which is why he continues to engage with the City of Surrey’s agriculture department, but a push from residents may help even more, he believes.
“It won’t take a long time. In two, three years, we can change this community to a flourishing, flowering place. We have rain, we have everything but education,” he said.
Attending conferences in Europe Tabari learned that his goals are not outlandish, but are currently less workable in B.C.
According to the European Commission’s website, pesticides are only used as a last resort after every other method has been tested. The practices that Tabari engages in are common in parts of Europe and moving his operation there is an option.
“I thought a lot, to be honest with you, when I’m attending a conference in Europe and they say, ‘Wow you have really good knowledge and what we are doing today is what you were doing 10 years ago. We really love your experience’ and (they give me) an invitation to go over there because now awareness there is about how we need sustainable agriculture. But here, maybe in five years or 10 years we (will) come to this policy. We are behind.”
But leaving Canada is not an easy decision.
“Maybe somewhere else I would be more useful, but I’m still hoping to change it here in South Surrey, I don’t want to give up. It was easier for me to give up in my medical practice even eight years in university, everything, than going away from the bees.”
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