Identity area
Type of entity
Corporate body
Authorized form of name
British Columbia Honey Producers Association
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1920 -
History
The British Columbia Honey Producers' Association (BCHPA) was founded in 1920 and continues as an active organization. Its functions are to promote beekeeping as a profitable activity, promote and assist in the marketing of produce and purchase of supplies, support apicultural research and education, and disseminate information about beekeeping and best practices to both Association members and the general public. BCHPA membership includes both commercial honey producers and hobbyists.
The BCHPA was formed as a result of a split within the Beekeepers Association of British Columbia, founded four years earlier in 1916. The disagreements related to the outbreak of a bee disease in 1916 and the requirement of registration for all beekeepers under the provincial government's revised Foul Brood Act. When the BCHPA broke away in 1920 it established two Divisions – Fraser Valley and Kootenay; in 1925 the Vancouver Island Beekeepers' Association joined as a third Division. The two provincial associations merged in 1931, with the older organization entering the BCHPA as the Greater Vancouver Division. Membership in the BCHPA peaked in 1978 with 1,290 members and 32 Divisions.
The BCHPA is organized into geographically based Divisions. A Central Executive acts as a coordinating body for Association-wide business, and is assisted by various standing and ad hoc committees. Divisions are headed by their own Executives and are responsible for holding divisional meetings, publishing newsletters, collecting membership fees, operating educational programs, acting as a purchasing cooperative for supplies and medications, advising the Central Executive and preparing resolutions for the BCHPA annual general meeting. The Central Executive is headed by an elected President and consists of officers elected at the annual meeting and appointed regional representatives. It functions primarily as a liaison body between the various Divisions and between the Association as a whole and the provincial Ministry, the BC Federation of Agriculture and the Canadian Honey Council. It is also responsible for producing the Association's newsletter.