Three teens residing in the Kawarthas are buzzing with excitement as they train to represent Canada at an international beekeeping competition at the end of the year.
The International Meeting for Young Beekeepers (IMYB) is an annual meeting and the world’s largest gathering of young beekeepers aged 12 to 18 years old. Both a competition and a diverse social and cultural program, the meeting consists of practical and academic testing of knowledge and skills.
Held for the first time outside of Europe, the 13th annual meeting takes place Dubai in the United Arab Emirates from Wednesday, December 18 to Sunday, December 22.
“It’s an opportunity for young people to interact and meet peers and form friendships that last forever,” says John MacFarlane, one of the Team Canada chaperones leading the youth to the event. “It’s a fantastic opportunity and we are thrilled to get invited back and be the only team from North America.”
MacFarlane, who is one of the founders of Kawartha Junior Beekeepers program, will be joined by fellow founder Lenka Petric and Northumberland beekeeper Dana Petrillo as chaperones. This year will mark the third time Team Canada has made an appearance at the event, but the first time each team member hails from the Kawarthas region.
One of the team members who will be representing Canada is Ben Marshall of Trent Hills, who began beekeeping as a way to keep busy during the start of the pandemic and hasn’t stopped since. On top of running his own swimming lesson company and selling freeze-dried food, the 17-year-old serial entrepreneur also sells his own honey.
“It’s always been about the learning for me,” Marshall says. “I love the new information and new ideas that are always shared within the bee community. The theme for Dubai is Beekeeping in Arid Lands, so it’s a really neat perspective I’ve never actually thought about … I’m really looking forward to learning more about it.”
Joining him in Dubai will be 15-year-old Heidi Westbye of Cavan, who has been beekeeping since 2017. Her passion led her to do a project on honeybees which won her third place in the Earth and Environmental Sciences class of the 2024 Peterborough Science Fair. She is already looking forward to pursuing further education for a career in honeybee research.
“I’m really excited for the experiences I’ll have in Dubai and getting to work with so many other people from so many different places,” Westbye says. “Working with kids from Europe and Asia is just really inspiring, because one competition can bring so many people together.”
The third member of Team Canada is Rebecca Wood of Pontypool, whose trip to Dubai will be her first time outside of Ontario. She began beekeeping at 10 years old because she lived on a farm and was afraid of bees. Not only did she get over her fear, but she found a passion in studying pollinators.
Now 17, Wood sits on the Kawartha Pollinator Action Committee and created the Bee Friendly Pollinators and the Seed Library program at her school. She was recently a recipient of a 2023 Kawartha Lakes Environmental Student Hero Award.
“It was the Kawartha Junior Beekeepers that just planted that seed in me and made me want to continue seeking out more information and learning more about pollination in our area,” Wood says. “I always like to say the best way to combat fear is through education and I really think what I was taught by John and Lenka, and what I’ve learned on my own over the years, has helped with that.”
Each of the three young beekeepers learned what they did by joining the Kawartha Junior Beekeepers, a hands-on program for children and youth interested in beekeeping. Following a bee’s year from equipment managing to harvesting, participants aged eight to 12 years old meet monthly to put into practice concepts learned in class and through guest speakers and field trips.
MacFarlane and Petric founded the program years ago because they noticed most beekeepers in the region were of older generations.
“We were looking towards helping to develop or initiate and encourage a new generation of beekeepers, and no one was doing that,” says MacFarlane.
“Beekeeping, for some people, is their first education about pollinators, so they learn about bees and then they also learn about all the other pollinators that are so important to our environment,” adds Petric. “That’s another really important reason for continuing this program, as it’s one way of immersing kids through hands-on learning where they can see about how important pollinators are for our environment.”
The duo notes it’s been very “gratifying” and “rewarding” to watch youth first become engaged and continue their studies, and then pass on their knowledge and passion. All three youth are now mentors for current students of the Kawartha Junior Beekeepers.
“The fact that I still have such like a great memory and a great passion for what I was taught in Kawartha Junior Beekeepers really speaks to how well they’ve crafted this program,” says Wood. “With the impact it had on me and the change that I am trying to make in my community, it just means the world to be attempting to do that for other kids. Honestly, I think everyone should have the opportunity to be in a program like this.”
Over the four-day event in Dubai, there are two days of competition linked to specific tasks where the youth will have to show their knowledge about beekeeper tools, putting a colony together, building hives, the anatomy of a bee, honey tasting, and more. The group will be competing individually and as a team, and there will also be some components wherein the participants are paired with beekeepers from other countries and must work together.
Like the Olympic Games, the meeting is bookended with extravagant opening and closing ceremonies. Throughout the week, there will also be opportunities for excursions, and each team will be required to do a presentation — like a song or dance — to introduce their country.
“The aspects of the whole meeting, the whole get together — they are so far reaching for these kids, and they all come back with something that they can bring back to their community,” says MacFarlane. “For us it’s one of the most important things, and we work on that and that’s one of the main goals other than education.”
While the participants undergo “intense” training in preparation for Dubai, Team Canada is also hosting fundraisers, including a GoFundMe campaign aiming to raise $12,000. The team is also selling notebooks, gift packs of honey, beeswax candles, and handmade bee kitties. Purchases can be made by emailing kawarthajb@gmail.com.
The teens are also available to lead presentations for local communities and beekeeping clubs to let them know about their trip and the knowledge they will be collecting to bring back to their communities.
“We want to show that this is important — here are three young people from this geographic area who are going to be highly educated in this whole beekeeping process,” says MacFarlane.
“They’re among the best in Canada and they are local … they need the support of our local community as well, because what they’re going to bring back is only going to enhance and create more of an environment for education, and it’s an investment in the future of these communities.”
For her part, Petrillo notes that representing Canada puts the Kawarthas on the map when it comes to beekeeping, and opens opportunities for future local beekeepers.
“I’ve dreamed since I was in grade four of becoming a beekeeper, but it wasn’t accessible until fairly recently,” she says. “That accessibility is now going across Canada and Northumberland and Kawarthas is definitely a hub for that. Really trying to get out there and spreading that message across Canada is huge. These kids are going to have that opportunity, and they’re spreading it out to kids all over, so if we can get more programs starting all across Canada, it’ll be fabulous.”
For more information on the Kawartha Junior Beekeepers, visit jjrbeekeepers.ca. Follow the IMYB Team Canada Facebook group to keep up to date with the team’s preparations for Dubai.
