CAAIN
CAAIN
There’s a popular truism that people who find something they love and make a career of it will never work a day in their lives. CAAIN has the good fortune to collaborate with many such individuals, and in many ways, this is one of the most rewarding elements of what we do. We’re privileged to support visionaries who challenge the status quo and seek to improve the agri-food value chain in myriad ways. There is no better example of people with this mindset than Marc-André Roberge, Co-Founder and CEO of Montral-based Nectar Technologies Inc. Recently, we caught up with this passionate apiarist to find out what all the, eh, “buzz,” is about—sorry, we couldn’t resist.
CAAIN
Bonjour, Marc-André. With hundreds of thousands of hives in your care, you must be incredibly busy. So, thank you for making time to chat. We’re eager to learn a little about how you came to choose AI-assisted beekeeping as a career. It’s an unusual choice. Unusual, but fascinating and, as we understand it, critically important to plant propagation.
Marc-André Roberge
Hello. It’s my pleasure. And you’re correct—bees are nature’s pollinators. Climate change is threatening the existence of these amazing insects, and that would have a profound impact on our ability to feed a global population nearing eight billion people.
CAAIN
That’s sobering. But let’s take a step back. Tell us a bit about your background and how you came to co-found Nectar. There must be an interesting story.
MAR
Well, I don’t know how interesting my road to apiarist would be to your readers, but I’m happy to share.
CAAIN
Great. So, you’re originally from the Quebec City area?
MAR
That’s right. Beauport, which was a separate community north of Quebec back then but has since been absorbed into the provincial capital. It’s a picturesque area with mountains and woods—really nature-oriented, which was a big part of my childhood.
CAAIN
In what sense?
MAR
I was heavily influenced by efforts to maintain agricultural areas within the town, as well as forests and woods. Maintaining bio habitats has been a central theme throughout my life. I understand that communities need to expand, but it’s possible to temper urban growth with ecological considerations.
CAAIN
Of course. I imagine that you attended the 2023 biodiversity conference in Montreal?
MAR
Absolutely. It was interesting to hear discussions on trying to balance progress with the need to safeguard nature. This was always important to me, though I drifted away from it during my first two years of university in Montreal. And by the way, I didn’t study agriculture or technology. My degree is in Industrial Design.
CAAIN
Really? How did you go from that to beekeeping? What’s the connection?
MAR
I experienced a political awakening in 2012 when students pushed back against the Government of Quebec’s decision to raise university fees.
CAAIN
I still don’t see the connection.
Marc-André laughs before answering.
MAR
I got involved. We tried to come to the table with solutions, not just complaints. And that led me to think about how to design things that could shape people’s thought processes. For example, I worked as part of a group of students who designed a giant Jenga…
CAAIN
…Sorry to interrupt. What’s a Jenga?
MAR
It’s a game where you stack blocks and make a free-standing tower. You win when your opponent places a block and causes the Jenga to partially or completely collapse. In mine, each box or block represented a societal value. It was very well received and has travelled around the country to different museums. As I was saying, that was when it dawned on me that I could use my design skills to influence people. I got interested in agricultural issues and that’s when I was stung by the bee-keeping bug.
CAAIN
Groan. But we’re laughing on the inside.
MAR
Thank you. I’ll be here all week.
Anyway, I got really turned on by the notion of interaction between bees and humans. There are few insects we have domesticated—the silkworm comes to mind. But bees are unique in that we enjoy a daily interaction with hive members. I became fascinated by these incredible creatures whose impact on agri-food is massive despite their being so small. When people consume various fruits and nuts, they often don’t know that what they’re eating was propagated thanks to the pollination performed by bees. They’re a critical part of the growing cycle.
So I went from being interested in the human-bee interaction to thinking about the connection between bees and human activity, including farmers who depend on these insects. That led to a consideration of bees and their physical environment and the impact of climate change on their ability to successfully pollinate crops.
CAAIN
That’s fascinating. We take it for granted that fruit and vegetables will grow year after year without giving much thought to the mechanisms involved.
MAR
Exactly.
CAAIN
So, I can see a link to your project. How did that come about?
MAR
It was really a case of coming full circle and closing the loop on my childhood interest in nature. I realised that this was what I wanted to focus on as a career path.
CAAIN
You were struck by lightening.
MAR
I was.
CAAIN
So how did you go from amateur apiarist to beekeeping AI guru? We get the whole turning hobby into career thing but it still seems like a significant leap.
MAR
Did you know that honeybees are not endemic to Canada?
CAAIN
No. I didn’t.
MAR
Yeah. And that’s just the tip of the beekeeping iceberg of knowledge required to succeed. The learning curve is incredibly steep. You need mentors. Happily, it’s a small community whose members are willing to help one another. But the more you learn, the more you realise what you don’t know.
CAAIN
Interesting.
MAR
Add to that the migratory nature of the business, and you start to understand the complexity of life as a commercial apiarist.
CAAIN
What do you mean by “migratory?”
MAR
Apiarists move their hives all over the place. In Quebec it might be from a blueberry farm to a strawberry producer. In Alberta, it might be between canola fields. That means the bees are constantly exposed to a variety of climatic conditions.
CAAIN
Add that to the list of things I didn’t know.
MAR
Exactly how I felt when I was starting out.
Anyway, that means apiarists have to make myriad decisions and it’s hard for them to keep track of the many different issues impacting 4,000 hives…
CAAIN
…What? Did you say 4,000?
MAR
Yes. But some are closer to 9,000. So we started thinking about ways to make data-driven decisions that would allow the producers to keep track of a range of categories of relevant information.
CAAIN
This is starting to make sense.
MAR
Good. So that’s why we applied to CAAIN. We had three years of data that we had to turn into useful information that could help beekeepers reduce the mortality of their honey-makers and increase profitability.
It’s important to note that the relationships we have with Intermiel and Busy Bee Farms are essential to our success. We don’t impose our vision on them. We collaborate on solutions.
I read an interesting article a while back and was struck by something the author wrote. He noted that it’s called “agtech” rather than “tech-ag.” The “ag” part comes first. You have to take into account the needs of the producers.
CAAIN
What has CAAIN’s and ISED’s funding meant to you?
MAR
We needed the funding to put in place the team we needed to go from theory to reality. We couldn’t have moved forward without the support.
CAAIN
One last question before we wrap up.
What will your success mean to the agricultural sector?
MAR
There are three steps.
The first is that we’re supporting the apiarists whose pollinators are essential to the success of certain types of crop. We want to help them remain profitable so they can keep providing pollination services to a wide range of farmers.
The second is that fruit producers, for example, have access to a steady supply of needed bees.
And third, there are agricultural practices that ensure bee health. We want to be able to support beekeepers by recommending best practices that will ensure healthy hives.
All of this requires reliable data and technology that is up to the task.
CAAIN
Is the use of bees as pollinators commonplace?
MAR
Absolutely. It’s considered essential in some areas. For example, blueberry quantity and quality increase substantially when bees are involved in their pollination.
CAAIN
Thank you, Marc-André. This has been a fascinating glimpse of what Nectar is doing. We appreciate your spending some time with us.
MAR
It was my pleasure. Thanks for asking all your great questions.
Nectar Technologies Inc., Montreal, QC
Intermiel Inc., Mirabel, QC
Busy Bee Farm Ltd., Hay Lakes, AB
The objective of this project is to develop, deploy, and test a data-driven tool leveraging artificial intelligence that will automate the management of commercial beekeeping operations in a field setting. The tool will automate the prescription and prioritization of tasks and routes according to the outcome on annual honeybee colony survival rates and business profitability.
CAAIN Contribution
$732,353
Total Project Value
$2,276,554
Marc-André Roberge
Co-Founder and CEO
Nectar Technologies Inc.
marc@nectar.buzz