> I strongly recommend beekeepers to try getting into the meetings where > local demands are made. Beekeepers need to be there to see that the > rules come out in such way that it is possible to produce honey > accconding to them. I think that all countires should be able to > produce organic honey for their own consumers. I agree with this. We have been able to positively (for the beekeepers) impact and change our local organic certification requirements. There are other requirements that no one seems to really have the answer to what constitutes the "organic benefit" of the ruling, but the requirements stand anyway. We have built our apiary from 100% feral hives (pretty natural and organic, I would think). Even though we use nothing inorganic in our capture methods, we are required to show documentation that we have maintained these hives for at least nine months before we are able to claim their honey is certified organic. The reasoning is that we had no control over the inputs to the hive prior to our capture (someone may have come along and tried to poison them). They are assuming that after nine months of maintenance using organic methods, any harmful substance would have worn off. We are, however, able to place these in our apiaries next to certified organic hives. Be active with your organic certification board and share your knowledge. No one on our board has beekeeping experience, so they welcome our input. ~Molokai Meli producers of certified organic "Premium Silky" white honey ****************************************************** * Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm * ******************************************************