I find this whole CNG and "organic" discussion amusing. If bees fly two miles, their forage zone covers over 8,000 acres. I can hardly find and catalog every plant species or crop grown in this forage zone, let alone acquire the information from the grower on what they are using.
Around here (southeast Missouri)you'd likely find yourself on the open end of a shot gun if you persisted on requesting the grower to supply you with a list of all their chemical inputs. Some of my landlords, who rent out their cropland to conventional farmers, have absolutely no idea if those crops are GMO. Some ask me what GMO means.
In my operation, I divide my perspectives into three approaches. 1) what I control and put into my hives, including mechanical devices like SBB, feral genetics, "natural" treatments (or at times, no treatment), 2) what I control in how I treat my honey from chasing the bees out of the supers, then moving through extraction, storage and bottling, and 3) the limited control I manage to exercise on where I place my hives, hoping to avoid chemical sprays, golf courses, landfills, feed lots, etc. But you never know what's going on over the next hill.
I had to laugh at the landlord who invited me to put some hives on his farm so he could buy "pesticide-free" honey from me, then I listened to his wife tell me all the chemical crap she dumps on her garden to keep out the bad bugs.
I explain to my customers, that no, I am not and cannot produce organic honey per our government's obsessively restrictive requirements, but I treat my hives as naturally as possible and the customers are receiving the best product my bees can produce.
I feel that's the best I can do given my circumstances.
Grant
Jackson, MO
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