On Thu, 22 Mar 2007 10:42:27 -0700, Grant Gillard <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>"How does the organic status change when the hive has a clipped wing queen as
>opposed to the hive which is headed by a queen without wings clipped?"
>



If you read or particpate in organic farming publications, conferences or 
organizations, you would learn that in addition to the production practices there is an ethic or 
philosophy inherent in the organic movement. 

Not that I think its cruel or inhumane to clip the wings of a queen, but realize that being an 
organic farmer in some of the publics mind is not as simple as filling out the blanks on some form 
and slapping the USDA logo on your products. 

My guess is that the queen requirement comes from the same issue of animal care that concerns 
people about the feedlot approach to farming, so it could be a consumer perception, driven 
parameter. 

IMO practices like long distance migratory beekeeping also would not be consistent with an 
organic philiosophy as the potential effects of things like drift, stress and frequent feeding do not 
put the bees health first. 

To some people conventional,  industrial farming has only the ledger in mind when decisions are 
made.  Organic farming attempts to turn that around and put the environment and animal and 
human health before profits. 

Look around the USA and we live in a time of immense greed with little thought at times given to 
how we achieve our prosperity. As perhaps a reaction to that a growing number of people will only 
buy product/services that fit their value system and organic attempts to address that movement.
 

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