From: Pav <bobhog@pin.co.nz>
Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 14:35:15 +1200
To: <BiologicalBeekeeping@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: line-by-line: 61-63

At 17/06/01 02:02:00, Don wrote:
>Another way of making
>forage criteria more achievable would be to specify something like
>"within X radius no more than 25% of the land may be occupied by
>non-organic agriculture." I think the thing we're trying to achieve
>is preventing bees foraging primarily on chemical-treated agriculture,
>while trying to call that honey organic. I think a combination of
>radii and percentages would adequately achieve this.

Sounds like a watering-down of the objective to me, just to make it more achievable.

Allowing use of 'soft' varroa control chemicals would also make organic status 'more
achievable', yet some influential voices on this list are making a strong stand for tough criteria to be maintained in that regard ("zero tolerance"). Does it make sense to be strict in one way, while potentially allowing chemical contamination into hives through being lax in another (Deja vu, Barry)?

I sense i am going to be on the wrong side of the numbers fence on this one, as this
issue is the major issue that prevents many (most?) beek's from being certified organic, and is through no fault of their own. However if the aim is to have a certification that can guarentee the purest, most contaminant-free produce, then absolute zones are required - or extensive product sampling and testing. Even though the questionable zone within an apiary's forage range may be small in area, and perhaps at the outer foraging limits, this doesn't necessarily mean it will cause insignificant contamination, as in times of dearth elsewhere, bees will go a long way to a yielding source.

Truth is i'm no fan of certification and blind rules which are never as flexible as the real world. I'd be in favour of throwing out the whole 'zones' question and just going on extensive precise sample testing. Equal (though higher) costs for everyone so certified (proportional to amount produced), and if your bees are successfuly collecting uncontaminated product then it doesn't matter if there is a highway or orchard 2 km away. Keep it real - go by what actually gets into the hive, not jump at shadows of what could perhaps get in.

-Pav