Organic Honey

[Mark Carden]

Has anyone read the article in Bee Culture about how to manage hives to produce "Organic" honey? I realized after the 1st page it was more effort than I could afford with my operation. Are any of you considering going organic? Michael, Daisy, etc.....?

[Michael Bush]

The requirements here are too stringent to be worth doing for me. I will just say what I'm doing when I sell my honey. I don't know of anyone rasing true certified "organic" honey.

[Daisy]

I'm going to produce raw local honey. I live around farm land, so there's no way possible to make organic honey.

I don't use commercial antibiotics or medicants for mites of trach. I treat with oils and menthol.

So, I have no idea how to label other then saying raw local honey.

If I had honey to sell, it would all be sold by now. So the customer doesn't seem to mind that I use oils to treat my bees.

[beeman 202]

Organic Honey is a misnomer. How you treat your bees will not make your honey "organic". Nectar is gathered from up to 6 miles from the hive (see Discover magazine/Bee Flight). The quality of the nectar gathered will determine whether your honey is "organic" or not. It is hard to control what others use in a six mile radius.

Using organic techniques in the hive will make your bees organic, but people eat the honey not the bees.

[Louise]

In the organic requirements draft that I read, you need to describe the bee forage area and specify how much of that area is organic. Makes sense, but is too hard for me - living in town (i'd need to check with 300 people!).
I think I'll be labelling mine raw honey & then telling people what I do. I'm also thinking about saying "from unmedicated bees" partly because most people have no idea what is going on in hives and how many chemicals can be in there. But I'm hesitating because essential oils are a form of medication. . . .

[Mark Carden]

Louise,

In the article it said they are about to include FGMO as organic so even though it is a chemical (as everything is) it would not fall under the auspices of non-organic. I agree, the regs are too much for me. I live in an area that is all farms. There is no way for me to be able to label my honey "organic"

Mark

[BILLY BOB]

I've heard and read several articles on organic honey. I agree with the stringent requirments. I don't think it would be right to have a jar of honey with "Organic" on the lable, and not be able to prove where the nector/honey came from.

Now I do have a friend who has a certified organic farm, and he also has bees. His jars of honey has a picture like his road sign that at the bottom reads: "Certified Organic Farm" Now it doesn't say the honey is organic, but more that the farm that it comes off of is organic. This is a good selling point. I help him care for his bees and we only use FGMO, another selling point.

So this is I think is as close as you can come to organic. Unless you keep you bees on a island 5/6 miles away from everybody. http://www.beesource.com/ubb/smile.gif

BB

And where is Montezuma, GA anyway? http://www.beesource.com/ubb/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by BILLY BOB (edited September 05, 2003).]

[Mark Carden]

Billy Bob,

Montezuma is south west of Macon, and ~22 miles west of Perry. We are surrounded by thousands of acres of farmland and not much else. It is great for beekeeping, lots of places to put bees, lots of pollination contracts. What isn't farmland is flood plain, or Paper Mill tree stands.

Mark

[BILLY BOB]

Just giving you a hard time....Don't see many people from "Montezuma" http://www.beesource.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

BB

[BILLY BOB]

Just giving you a hard time....Don't see many people from "Montezuma" http://www.beesource.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

BB

[BWrangler]

Hello,

Lots of other contaminant exist besides agricultural chemicals. Out west, our own government set off hundreds of nuclear blasts and most people would be shocked to see maps of the fallout patterns. This material can be easily detected in the soil and groundwater. Heavy metals and radioactive elements are also common downwind of power plants and copper smelters. They can also be easily detected in the soil and water. These types of compounds are easily taken up and incorporated into many kinds of plant tissue.

These kinds of contaminants are not restricted to the local area in which they are generated. They can be quickly spread around the world. Radiation from the Ukraine and the recent dust cloud from China are a couple of good examples. Many dirty businesses have relocated just outside our borders to avoid our environmental laws. Yet, some of the contamination they generate often comes back into the US by wind, water and product.

Bees are electrostatically charged particulate samplers. They go just about everywhere in their environment and sniff just about everything. Hive products are a reflection of that environment and cannot be completely pure.

The concept of a product being organic is consumer/legal and not a chemical reality. As consumer awareness increases concerning product contamination, the threshold for organic certification will have to be raised. Organic proponents tend to focus on agricultural contamination but tend to neglect biological contamination. I expect that will change as some biological contaminants can be as bad or worse than agricultural chemicals.

If I were to buy an organic product, I would want the product certified as organic and not the production method or area. After all it's the product that's consumed. That would require product testing and would be very expensive.

Regards
Dennis

[Daisy]

Who drafted those federal requirements for organic honey anyway? They've said no to plastic foundation, but allow it to be packaged in plastic containers. They've said no to plastic foundation but wax foundation has agricultural chemicals permamently permeated through it. ALL of it, including the small cell colony families.........

[Mark Carden]

Billy Bob,

There is a reason you don't see many people from Montezuma, there just ain't that many of us. When you count only the people that claim being from Montezuma there are even fewer of us.

Daisy,

I have come to the conclusion that our government doesn't have to make sense. If I were to venture a guess, customers have asked for regulations to specify what organic means. Too few beekeepers became involved and so this is what we have ended up with. I know I didn't volunteer my expertise. Where is the NHB?

Mark

[Ian]

>>I live around farm land, so there's no way possible to make organic honey.

Daisy, don't complain, its the farm land around your hives which provide the abundance of nectar for your bees to collect your bumper honey crop...

Ian