Saving honeybees from ongoing population declines is part of the ultimate goal for a state-of-the-art Luckevich Pinchin Honey Bee Research Centre (HBRC) to be operating by 2025 at the University of Guelph.
A groundbreaking event on June 14 has 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.
