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market-farming - [Market-farming] CNG and Apiaries (was: clarification of use of "organic")

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  • From: Richard Stewart <rstewart AT zoomtown.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] CNG and Apiaries (was: clarification of use of "organic")
  • Date: Sun, 11 Sep 2011 11:11:30 -0400

As a treatment free urban and rural beekeeper I have always found it amusing there is an Apiary listing and that so long as there is ZERO conventional agriculture within 3 miles of you and you meet the requirements you can label your honey as CNG.  While the normal range of bee foraging is 2.5 miles it is well studied that bees forage up to 12 miles, especially in times of stress, like drought.

Sure, there may be many apiaries that are up in the mountains or like Dee Lusby's so remote in the desert that they have nothing BUT wild forage, but those are far and few between, relative to the number of beekeepers out there.  Even then, considering the amount of spraying that national, state, local parks, railroads, and departments of transportation do I find it highly unlikely that even some of these remote apiaries are likely to be foraging on prefect untainted forage.

Keep in mind that the CNG folks have been claiming this as a legit alternative to organic when there are NO organic standards for beekeeping in the US.  CNG beekeeping or honey to me is bordering on a lie.

I DO like CNG for produce and fruit operation certification, I just see it at as a VERY poor choice for any type of labeling when it comes to beekeeping.  I've been considering going CNG for our food production the past two years but I simply have not found that anything that certifies me X, Y, Z actually increases my sales.  Like any business owner I balance cost with return and if certification does not earn me more sales to both cover the cost certification, paperwork, AND time, then there is little need to certify.

Cheers!

Richard Stewart
Carriage House Farm
North Bend, Ohio

An Ohio Century Farm Est. 1855

(513) 967-1106

On Sep 10, 2011, at 1:28 PM, Mike Brabo wrote:

Over 800 farms and apiaries now certified here in the U.S.
Regards,




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