Lambton politicians want Ontario’s premier to at least talk about the problems facing the province’s beekeepers.

Dan Davidson recently told Lambton County councilors about the problems facing the industry. Beekeepers have lost an average of 30 percent of their colonies and the honey crop is declining as the bees die – down almost 33 percent this year.

Davidson says beekeepers believe a type of pesticide on seeds, called neonicotinoids, are the source of the problem. “It’s really good at killing bugs its really obvious because its killing bugs that its not supposed to,” he says.

The association wants neonicotinoids banned to save the bee population. Davidson says the Beekeepers Association has been trying to get a meeting with the premier who is also the Agriculture Minister but so far without any luck.

And the association hasn’t had the support of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture since many farmers are using the chemical coated seeds. Even county councilors said they have used the seeds the beekeepers want banned.

But there was support for the beekeepers’ concerns. “If we go back 10 years when we didn’t have it – the world kept going,” says Enniskillen Mayor Kevin Marriott. “I have sympathy with the bee keepers; at least they should have the meeting with the minister,” he says adding the province should at least be studying the effect of neonicotinoids on the bees.

County council endorsed the beekeepers request to have a meeting with the premier on the issue.