‘We have bills to pay’: U.S. Tariffs sting Alberta honey producers
Posted Aug 25, 2026 9:34 am.
Last Updated Aug 25, 2026 9:31 am.
Some Alberta honey producers say they’ve been stung by U.S. tariffs, and that the levies have shut them out of their biggest export market.
Fifty per cent U.S. tariffs on honey are hurting producers bottom line in Alberta, a province that’s home to the largest beekeeping industry in Canada.
Depending on the year about a third to half of the production at Nixon Honey Farm in Red Deer County goes to the U.S.
The operation’s owner Kevin Nixon says, “I think we (have lost) the market into the U.S. Fifty per cent tariff, the margins are not there for the producer to eat that or I don’t think the buyers on the other side are in a position to take on that cost.”
The farm has been gearing up for negotiations on prices for the upcoming year in September, but the tariffs are leaving them in limbo.
“We have bills to pay and winter preparations for the bees and planning for next year. We start planning for next year now. You need to know that you have cash flow to be able to make those plans,” Nixon tells CityNews.
According to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, about 56 per cent of honey exports by volume in Canada went to the United States last year.
Curtis Miedema is chair of the Alberta Beekeepers Commission and owner of Miedema Honey Farm.
He says, “buying Canadian, supporting Canadian as much as we can is going to be the best way we can get through this.”
As trade uncertainty impact producers’ number one export market, there are calls for the federal government to make it easier for Canadians to buy domestically made honey.
“We’re bringing in honey from places like India, Brazil, Vietnam, and Argentina into a country we don’t really need any imports and the way CFIA labelling laws go consumer might not even know that they are buying true Canadian honey.”
CityNews reached out to the federal government but hadn’t heard back prior to publishing this report.
