The humble honey bee plays an indispensable role in New Brunswick’s agricultural sector. And with global warming, the 10,000 or so bees kept in provincial hives are at increasing risk of being wiped out by disease.  

This vulnerability puts most of the province’s crops in jeopardy too, since without bees serving as pollinators, most of the plants we consume can’t reproduce. 

We’re now losing about 30 to 50% of our hives annually to the point that we don’t have enough NB-raised pollinators to sustain our crops.  

It’s not an exaggeration to call this situation a food security emergency.  

Four researchers at the Université de Moncton have banded together to address the crisis. Through their startup, AgroGene Solutions, they’ve created a suite of solutions to safeguard bee health and the province’s food supply.  

The co-founders are colleagues with combined expertise in immunology, molecular biology, and genetics: Dr. Pascale Michaud (CEO), Dr. Luc Boudreau, Dr. Nicolas Pichaud, and Dr. Gilles Robichaud. 

Helping Bees Survive Climate Change 

As is the case with so many agricultural problems, the increasing threat to bees is linked to global warming.  

Prolonged summers and autumns enable bee parasites to thrive for longer than usual. Warmer winter days also entice bees to leave the hive, and many of them freeze to death when the temperature suddenly drops. Earlier springs confuse the bees too. 

AgroGene’s founders have developed a set of practical services to combat this chaos caused by climate change. 

They provide beekeepers with three lines of defence against infection: disease detection, profiling of a hive’s health, and year-round hive monitoring (in spring, summer, and autumn). 

These are elegant, non-invasive solutions, and they deliver rapid results. In contrast, the other testing options on the market disrupt the hive, cost a lot of money, and take a lot of time.  

Due to these barriers, many beekeepers have never been able to give their bees any kind of protection. They just brace themselves for the shock of opening up hives at the end of the winter and finding them full of dead insects. 

Describing a typical customer, Dr. Michaud says, “Often, it’s people who have never even done this kind of test on the hive. Now, we’re making it more accessible for them.” 

AgroGene’s ambitious goal, says Dr. Michaud, is “to get to a point where beekeeping prevention becomes the norm rather than the exception.” 

A Natural Path from Research to Entrepreneurship 

None of the researchers leading AgroGene expected to become an entrepreneur. But when the problem of the declining bee population presented itself, they were intrigued. 

According to this team of innovators, the same curiosity and thirst for knowledge that drive academic discovery create an instinct for entrepreneurship. 

Says Dr. Robichaud, “We really enjoy learning. Learning about marketing and then technology transfer has been really stimulating because you learn another aspect of how knowledge can be used. I strongly encourage other researchers to dive into this new world of commerce.” 

Full Impact Story Coming Soon!