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U of Guelph holds groundbreaking for new Honey Bee Research Centre
from The Grower July 2023
by The Grower
A groundbreaking event on June 14 kicked off construction of the $16-million centre, planned as a needed upgrade to the existing pollinator research, teaching and public outreach hub that already looks after the largest number of honeybee research colonies in North America.
The new 15,000-square-foot centre will feature indoor and outdoor education spaces, classroom and event space, a laboratory, bee breeding facilities and pollinator gardens, and will be built near Townsend House, the longtime HBRC home on Stone Road.
“This new Honey Bee Research Centre will allow us to scale up research and outreach,” said Dr. John Cranfield, Ontario Agricultural College (OAC) associate dean external relations.
Paul Kelly, Honey Bee Research Centre manager, stands amid apiaries in the current facility. It has operated since 1894 as part of the University of Guelph’s Ontario Agricultural College.
Saving honeybees from ongoing population declines is part of the ultimate goal for a state-ofthe-art Luckevich Pinchin Honey Bee Research Centre (HBRC) to be operating by 2025 at the University of Guelph.
“The new facility will give the centre space to grow its engagement with apiarists, with community members interested in learning more about pollinators and honeybees, and with young people looking to be a part of positive change to support pollinators and to ensure a healthy environment and a safe food supply.”
Among donors to the project, Lydia Luckevich, a 1979 U of G chemistry alumna, will provide $7.5 million. The centre will be named for her and for her late husband, Don Pinchin, founder of Pinchin Ltd., an environmental consulting firm.
