Hello Tom and everyone, The main reason the apiary must be on "certified land" is for inspections. To be certified a land owner MUST agree to announced & unannounced inspections. An inspector would be trespassing during an unannounced inspection if the land were not certified. The "forage area" need not be certified, just the apiary. I had an "announced" inspection of my vegetables today. He said he would be here at 8:00 AM. He knocked on the door at 8:30 saying he had already been through the fields and unlocked buildings. We then went through the locked buildings and spent 3 hours going over records. People who don't follow the rules do get caught. No one could "guarantee" 100% purity. But let's take my place and a 2 mile radius around it for an example. North - grass pasture, woods & 900 blueberry plants at my neighbors. Blueberries are not sprayed during fruit set. Any spraying is done after harvest. West - watermelon at 1.7 miles and another watermelon field at 1.9 miles. total area between the fields approx. 25 acres. South - woods and pasture. East - lake and low land. (There is a farm across the swamp but I don"t know how they get there! For now let's assume it to be pasture.) Of 8658 acres, 25 acres(.003%) are flowering and contaminated. (Once again, thats provided I don"t find a large flowering crop across the swamp) The only other "known" source of contamination is sometimes during wet periods farmers will spray their pasture with a fungicide. This is done in late spring and could happen during a honey flow. Should that be enough contamination to void "certified organic". Everyone's view on this is important to me. Please "say it how you feel it" Thanks Ed Parker [log in to unmask]