The original Organic Standards for beekeeping came from Maine and I was 
an interested observer. The people that developed them were marginal 
beekeepers more interested in moral purity than practicality. We 
(beekeepers who had been at it a while, including Tony Jadczak) 
submitted comments on their standards and were disregarded. We figured 
they were so out in left field that they would never be approved.

I am amazed to see the same foolish standards still being promoted by 
the organic crowd. I have no problem with organic anything, but the 
standards for honey just lend themselves to abuse because they are 
nearly impossible to meet. In fact, most who call themselves "organic 
beekeepers" are only beekeepers who do not use Apistan or Cumaphose (but 
so use stuff I would not allow in my house) and have no idea what the 
actual standards are and how far they are from being organic.

If you look at standards for almost all other aspects of organic produce 
and livestock, they at least meet a level of rationality and common 
sense. When you have a cow or horse and want to raise it organically, 
you also do not want to be foolish and remove tried and true commercial 
chemicals and treatments that will protect that investment, even if they 
are not organic. So the standards accommodate reality. The same with 
crops. The only difference here is organic chemicals (that I do not use 
since they are more harmful to the environment than more benign 
"commercial pesticides) are fine if they are made from flowers and other 
naturally produced toxins. However, the insecticide is processed by 
chemical companies (like Ortho) and boxed in concentrated form, a far 
cry from the pretty daisy in the field. In fact, inhale enough of that 
daisy powder and you will be pushing up daisys. But they will be organic.

If you have a set of standards that are nearly impossible to meet, you 
will get cheating. I have seen it first hand: honey labeled organic 
while I know the beekeeper uses much more toxic treatments than I do, 
including Cumaphose which I never will use.

How can he do such a dastardly thing? Set up an organic bee yard that 
meets the standards but produces little honey and take the other honey 
from your other yards and bottle it up. All the organic people care 
about is that one yard. So what if three hives produce 10,000 pounds of 
honey. Just one more reason to go organic. Your bees will be so healthy 
they can out produce those bad "chemical bees".

But if you test the honey it will be obvious that it is not organic! Right?

Tests of "organic" and non-organic honey have shown no differences at 
all, including no traces of pesticides. So you can cheat and never be 
discovered. Remember, directions on the use of pesticides will insure 
they are not around when honey is produced if the beekeeper follows the 
label. So the pesticides are confined to the brood nest, not honey supers.

I was a long time member of the Maine Organic Farmers group. The problem 
with groups like it is it is difficult to separate the nuts from the 
berries. The true believers, who are usually marginal or hobby 
practitioners, have a disproportionate influence on the group. There is 
a constant fight between the practical and the loony. When the practical 
are all large, commercial farms with money, the standards are realistic, 
practical and cost conscious. If the industry is small, like beekeeping 
in Maine, the organic loonies have the greatest voice, and the Organic 
power brokers just do not care what happens in that small world. So you 
get dumb standards, like not harvesting brood. In countries where 
beekeeping is organic, not because they want to but because they are too 
poor to do otherwise, brood is food. Some beekeepers on this list 
harvest brood for food (there have been recipes here on the BeeL). But 
Peta and Vegans have their say and you get stupid standards. "Protect 
the brood!"

Unfortunately, there is nothing new here. The rule that the further you 
get from the farm the more you are into animal rights, is true. A city 
dweller can vote to protect deer from those bad hunters since you do not 
have crops to protect. Or vote for "open space" at the expense of farmers.

I am only getting warmed up. Now, let me tell you what I really think!

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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