Etienne Tardif

Beekeeper

Etienne has a mechanical engineering background. He got his start in beekeeping with a geologist friend as part of mine reclamation project. The beekeeping was done after work hours. It was learn as they go operation as they were the only beekeepers in the area and Beekeeping for Dummies was their primary source of information.

He now lives in the Yukon Territory and has kept bees for the last 12 years in northern cold climates where he takes a very data driven approach to keeping his bees. He has collected data to understand the annual bee cycle, mapped out the bloom calendar along with the nectar and pollen flows. He loves everything to do with bees/native pollinators and continuously seeks to expand northern best practice beekeeping. His current focus is winter thermoregulation, bee nutrition and bee health. In 2021, he received CAP funding to conduct a Yukon honey origins projects to better understand Yukon/Boreal/Subarctic nectar sources (pollen analysis) as well as the local honey chemical characteristics (NMR).

Etienne is the current president of WAS – Western Apicultural Society.