APIS Volume 14, Number 2, February 1996
In this issue
- Organic Honey?--Recent Developments
- Looking for Mite-Resistant Bees
- Upcoming International Meetings
ORGANIC HONEY?--RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
At a recent honey sales seminar put on by the National Honey Board and the Minnesota Honey Producers, there was a great deal of emphasis on adding value to honey products. This idea was reinforced by Carl Loop Jr., president of the Florida Farm Bureau, discussing the October 1995 report of a task force of the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) in his remarks in the February 1996 FloridAgriculture. According to Mr. Loop, besides helping producers, adding value to agricultural products would have many positive influences on the total economy. However, Mr. Loop concludes, this new "mindset" requires a change in how many segments of agriculture are presently doing business.
Perhaps no challenge is greater for the agriculturalist than beginning to produce and market "organic" products. Reliance on pesticides, fertilizers and other non-organic inputs has been described as almost an "addiction" in many agricultural operations.
A few years back, none of this would have been the case for honey producers who already had what many considered by fiat an organic product. But, ironically, the introduction of tracheal and Varroa bee mites has placed the beekeeper in the same position as those farmers who still rely on chemicals. The present control methods for these parasites appear to have greatly reduced the possibilities of marketing organic products from the hive.
I continue to get inquiries concerning the possibility of producing organic honey, however. Other hive products also come under this rubric, including propolis, pollen and beeswax. It would be tragic, though because of honey's reputation not catastrophic, if the opportunity to sell value-added organic products was lost to the beekeeping industry. The possibility is real, however, and the industry should take note of recent activity on the organic certification front.
Recent History of Organic Production
According to recent issue of Farm Aid News, Vol. 3, No. 20, December 1995, the use of organic materials in farm production dates back to the beginning of crop cultivation. However, non- organic farming has dominated our country's fields since the 1940s when synthetic fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides were introduced at relatively cheap prices offering large yield rewards. After several decades of this intensive production, farmers saw their soil deteriorate and their income shrink to below poverty- wage levels. At the same time, a growing number of consumers have become more aware of food safety issues and consequently are beginning to demand food grown without synthetic chemicals. This changing consumer demand has made it possible for many family farmers to earn a viable living from the sale of organic farm products.
Historical records of organic farming trends are unavailable from the USDA, according to the newsletter, because this type of production has not been practiced on a wide scale over the past 50 years. However, private and non-profit organizations have begun tracking the progress and growth of organic production in the United States.
According to a nationwide survey conducted by the Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF), quoted in the newsletter, most organic farms are run by family farmers. Eighty-four percent are sole proprietors or family partnerships. "The reason family farmers are responsible for much of organic production is because they are able to respond more quickly and innovatively to market demand changes than someone who has a lot of overhead," explains OFRF'S Bob Scowcroft.
OFRF estimates that there are approximately 4,000 state and locally certified organic farmers in the United States and another 6,000 to 8,000 farmers who meet general organic certification requirements but who are not yet certified. It also estimates that the amount of farmland devoted to organic crops has increased ten-fold since 1980. On this acreage farmers grow a variety of crops, including vegetables, fruits, herbs, fresh cut flowers, dairy products, meats, grains and beans.
Organic Products Price Driven
Organic crop prices vary depending on local supply and demand conditions, according to Farm Aid News, and premiums can range from 25 to 100 percent of the conventional market price. Research quoted from the Midwest Organic Alliance, for example, found that producers growing organic soybeans received three times the price paid to growers who sold non-organic. Greg Welsh, an Iowa Extension agent and advisor to organic growers in several states, is quoted as saying growers in the Midwest receive, on average, $14 to $15 per bushel for their organically grown soybeans. Likewise New Mexico farmer Martin Connaughton says he earns up to $2 per pound for specialty, organic potatoes, compared to eight cents per pound for non-organic U.S. varieties.
Consumer Demand Drives Price
The newsletter also reports that a study by Rodale Press found in 1993 that nearly two-thirds of all consumers had tried organic produce, and nearly 90 percent said they would buy organic food consistently if it cost the same as non-organic food. Some 41 percent of those consumers surveyed were willing to buy organic produce even if it cost more. As a result, sales of organic foods have increased steadily over the past four years:
Sales of Organic Food Products
Year Sales in Billions
1990 $1
1991 $1.25
1992 $1.54
1993 $1.89
1994 $2.3
Source: Farm Aid News quoting The Packer, October 24,
1994; PANUPS, July 12, 1995.Organic Standards:
Unfortunately, the term "organic" means different things to different people, the reason Congress promulgated Chapter 94 of U.S. Code Title 7 concerning organic certification. Under this legislation, The National Organic Program in Washington, D.C., ph 202-720-2704, is finalizing proposed standards. Once published in the Federal Register, and after a comment period, these standards will be mandated to the states for their use. However it is not known when this process will be finished; the bill called for much of this to be in place as early as 1993. In the meantime, many states have gone ahead with their own programs. A listing of U.S. Organic Certifiers is currently available on the World Wide Web site: http://www.mother.com./agaccess.
The State of Florida promulgated statute 504.22-504.36, the Florida Organic Farming and Food Law in 1990 (see May 1991 APIS). It defines "organic food" as that labeled organic or organically grown, produced, transported, distributed, processed and packaged without the use of synthetic pesticides, synthetically compounded fertilizers, synthetic growth hormones or artificial radiation, verified by a certifying agent.
A certifying agent must make application to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The Department's Division of Marketing and Development (ph 904-488-4277) has published a directory of licensed certifying agents and organic farms. According to my copy, there are seven agents who have certified 69 farms for a number of crops ranging from citrus to shitake mushrooms. Significantly, no honey producer or packer is among these.
One of the Florida certifying agents is Florida Organic Growers and Consumers, Inc. (FOG), Box 12311, Gainesville, FL 32604, phone/fax 352-377-6345. This non-profit 501 (c)(3) corporation inspects its growers yearly. A call to their office revealed that they had no knowledge of any Florida organic honey certification.
This is not surprising, considering the guidelines FOG has made available on a limited basis to those interested in the subject:
A. Feeding of bees
- Honey and bee pollen from a known certified organic source is permitted.
- The use of sugar or sugar syrup as a regular feed source in prohibited.
B. Control/prevention of disease
- Hives should be regularly checked, with diseased hives kept separate from healthy hives.
- Use of antibiotics in honey production is prohibited, except when the health of the colony is threatened.
Options:
- i. If antibiotics are used in a health emergency, the hive must be removed and immediately taken out of organic production.
- ii. Only the extraction immediately following the use of antibiotics may not be sold as organic.
- Extracting honey for organic sale from brood chambers in which antibiotics have been used is prohibited.
C. Foraging areas
- Apiaries must be located on certified organic land.
- It is prohibited to locate apiaries within three miles of flowering agricultural crops that have been sprayed with conventional pesticides, if the bees could be using these crops for forage.
- Apiaries may not be located within two miles of sanitary landfills, golf courses or major traffic areas.
- Beekeepers must provide clean water and sufficient certified organic forage to feed bees throughout the season.
D. Queen rearing
- Cross breeding of bee families is encouraged, although the making of artificial swarms is permitted.
- Artificial insemination is permitted.
E. Honey treatment
- All surfaces that honey contacts should be stainless steel or coated with beeswax. Honey may not contact galvanized steel or metal with surfaces that oxidize.
- Mechanical uncapping of combs is preferred to uncapping with heat. In no instance should heat be higher than 95 degrees F.
- Honey extraction facilities should be designed to prevent the spread of disease.
- Oxidized barrels are prohibited; re-used barrels are permitted if previously used for food service.
- Chemical bee repellents are prohibited.
Those working at the National Organic Program Office couldn't give me details about the final guidelines. However, they could be very much in line with those above. If that is the case, there should be plenty of room for commentary by beekeepers and others when they appear in the Federal Register. Especially significant is the relevance of queen rearing to organic production, the absence of references to other hive products and the lack of any guidelines about tracheal and Varroa mite control.
LOOKING FOR MITE-RESISTANT BEES
The USDA-ARS Bee Breeding Genetics and Physiology Laboratory is looking for honey bees resistant to Varroa mites. Honey bees that have survived for more than a year without being treated and/or those in abandoned hives are ideal candidates. If you have knowledge of candidate queens, then do yourself and the industry a favor by contacting the Lab, 1157 Ben Hur Rd., Baton Rouge, LA 70820-5502, ph 504/767-9280, FAX 504/766-9212, email: trindere@asrr.arsusda.gov.
UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS
- Costa Rica: Sixth IBRA Conference on Tropical Bees, 12-17 August, 1996. Contact IBRA, 18 North Rd., Cardiff CF1 3DY UK, phone (+44) 1222-372409, fax (+44) 1222-665522, email:ibra@cardiff.ac.uk.
- Cuba: Apitherapy, Propolis, Honey Flora and Pollination, 21-24 August, 1996. Contact Adolfo M. Perez Pineiro, Estacion Experimental Apicola, El Cano, Arroyo Arenas, La Lisa, Havana, Cuba 19190, ph 84-5511, fax (537) 33-5086.
- Israel: Bee Products: Properties, Applications and Apitherapy, 26-30 May, 1996. Contact Dan Knassim Ltd., P.O. Box 1931, Ramat Gan 52118, Israel, ph 972-3-6133340, fax 972-3-6133341. Havana, Cuba.
Sincerely,
Malcolm T. Sanford
Bldg 970, Box 110620
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-0620
Phone (904) 392-1801, Ext. 143 FAX: 904-392-0190
http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~entweb/apis/apis.htm
INTERNET Address: MTS@GNV.IFAS.UFL.EDU
©1996 M.T. Sanford "All Rights Reserved
