Estandares ecologicos de la apicultura

SOIL ASSOCIATION ORGANIC STANDARDS | APRIL 2005 15.1
15.1 Bees on your farm
15.1.1
Beekeeping plays an important role in the countryside through pollination. Bees contribute to:
• biodiversity of wild plant species, and
• agricultural, horticultural and forestry production.
15.1.2
The organic status of your bee products depends on:
• your hive management and the treatments you apply
• the quality of the foraging area, and
• how you harvest, process and store the honey.
15.1.3
You can sell bees and bee products as organic when:
• you have kept them to full organic standards for at least 12 months, and
• we have added organic bees and bee products to your trading schedule.
Origin of your bees and conversion
15.1.4
You must choose a breed of bee that is:
• able to adapt to local conditions
• vigorous, and
• resistant to disease
Note – we would expect this to be a European breed or local ecotype of Apis mellifera or a native species or breed from the area where you are producing the honey.
15.0
Standards you must read with this chapter:
Chapter 1. The principles of organic production and processing
Chapter 2. The certification process
Chapter 3. Farming and growing
Chapter 40. Processes in the chain between farm and consumer
Chapter 41: Manufacturing
Beekeeping
15.1 Bees on your farm
15.2 Keeping bees healthy
15.3 Feeding bees
15.4 Siting and managing your apiaries
SOIL ASSOCIATION ORGANIC STANDARDS | APRIL 2005 15.1
Keeping organic and non-organic bees
15.1.9
If you keep organic and non-organic apiaries in the same area, you must keep them all to these standards.
15.1.10
With our permission, you may have apiaries in nearby non-organic areas, but you must manage them to all other aspects of these beekeeping standards.
15.1.11
You must not sell products from non-organic apiaries as organic.
15.1.5
You must establish your organic apiaries and increase your stocks by dividing your own colonies or bringing in colonies or swarms from other organic units.
15.1.6
You may convert your existing hives, but you must keep your bees to these standards for at least 12 months before you can sell any of their products as organic. During this time you must replace their comb with organic wax comb or foundation.
Bringing in non-organic replacements
15.1.7
You may bring in up to 10% non-organic replacements as queen bees and swarms only if you place them in hives with comb or foundation from organic production. These bees will not need to go through a conversion period.
15.1.8
With our permission, you may bring in more than 10% non-organic
bees when:
• organic swarms are not available, and
• a high percentage of your bees have died due to health problems or catastrophic circumstances.
You must then keep the bees to full organic standards for 12 months before you can sell any of their products as organic.
SOIL ASSOCIATION ORGANIC STANDARDS | APRIL 2005 15.2
15.2 Keeping bees healthy
15.2.1
To keep your bees healthy you should select appropriate hardy breeds.
15.2.2
You should encourage resistance to disease and prevent infections by:
• renewing the queens regularly
• carefully inspecting your hives to detect health problems
• controlling the male brood in your hives
• disinfecting materials and equipment regularly
• destroying contaminated material
• regularly renewing beeswax, and
• leaving enough reserves of honey and pollen in your hives.
15.2.3
If, despite taking all preventative measures, your colonies become infected you must:
• treat them immediately, and
• if necessary place the colonies in isolation apiaries.
15.2.4
If you use any veterinary treatments you must:
• make sure their use is allowed by law
• use complementary therapies provided they are effective for the condition you are treating, and
• only use other veterinary treatments, under the responsibility of your vet, if complementary therapies haven’t worked, or are unlikely to prevent your bee colonies being destroyed.
SOIL ASSOCIATION ORGANIC STANDARDS | APRIL 2005 15.3
15.3 Feeding bees
15.3.1
You must leave your colonies with enough honey and pollen reserves to survive the winter.
15.3.2
You may only artificially feed your bees:
• between the last honey harvest and 15 days before the start of the next nectar or honeydew flow period, or
• when they are in danger of dying due to extreme weather conditions.
15.3.3
You must record the type of feed, dates, quantities and the hives that you artificially feed.
15.3.4
You should use organic honey, preferably from your own unit.
15.3.5
If suitable organic honey is not available, such as when it has crystallised you may, with our permission, use:
• organic sugar syrup, or
• organic sugar molasses.
15.3.6
You must not feed your bees artificially with any other products.
15.2.5
If you treat any colonies with veterinary treatments other than complementary therapies or those we allow against varroa mite, you must:
• put them into isolation during the treatment period
• replace all the wax with organically produced wax, and
• put the treated colony into a 12 month conversion period, starting from the date of treatment.
15.2.6
For the treatment of Varroa jacobsonii, you may destroy the male brood to contain a Varroa infestation. You may use:
• formic acid, lactic acid, acetic acid, oxalic acid
• menthol, thymol, eucalyptol or camphor, and
• veterinary treatments which are compulsory under national or community legislation.
Welfare of bees
15.2.7
You may kill and replace the queen bee.
15.2.8
You must not:
• clip the wings of the queen bee
• use artificial insemination.
SOIL ASSOCIATION ORGANIC STANDARDS | APRIL 2005 15.4
15.4 Siting and managing your apiaries
15.4.1
EU member states may have identified regions or areas where organic beekeeping is not practical. You must not site or manage your apiaries in those areas.
15.4.2
When you are siting your apiaries you must:
• place the hives on areas of land certified as organic
• ensure your bees have enough natural nectar, honeydew and pollen sources, and access to water
• make sure nectar and pollen sources, within four miles of your apiary, consist essentially of:
i. organic crops, and/or
ii. uncultivated areas with natural vegetation, and
iii. crops that have only been managed with low environmental
impact methods (such as those grown under Regulation (EEC)
No. 2078/92) and which cannot significantly affect the organic description of beekeeping, and
• keep them far enough from potential sources of contamination, such as urban centres, motorways, industrial areas, waste dumps and waste incinerators.
15.4.3
You must provide us with:
• evidence that your colonies only have access to land that meets these conditions, and
• a map of a suitable scale that shows the location of your hives and the foraging area of your bees.
SOIL ASSOCIATION ORGANIC STANDARDS | APRIL 2005 15.4
• appropriate products, listed in standard 4.11.4, 4.11.5 and 4.11.7, to protect frames, hives and combs against pests, and
• appropriate substances listed in standard 10.12.13, for cleaning and disinfecting your beekeeping materials, buildings, utensils or products.
15.4.9
You must use organic wax:
• for all your new foundation
• to replace comb during a hive’s conversion period, and
• to set up a new hive or installation.
15.4.10
With our permission, you may use non-organic wax from cappings if organic wax is not available.
Extraction
15.4.11
You must make sure you adequately extract, process and store your
bee products.
15.4.12
You must not:
• use chemical synthetic repellents during honey extraction operations
• destroy bees in the combs to harvest bee products, or
• extract honey from combs that contain brood.
15.4.4
With our permission, you may reduce the four mile distance if you can demonstrate that the organic integrity of the honey will not be lost. You must provide us with evidence of this, such as:
• a pesticide residue analysis of the honey, and
• details of how the land in the region around the apiary is managed.
15.4.5
You must:
• identify each of your hives individually
• inform us, within a timescale we have agreed with you, when you move your apiaries, and
• record all details of your hive management operations, such as removing supers and extracting honey.
15.4.6
If you have put your hives in areas where flowering is not taking place or if they are dormant, you must keep them on organic land. However you do not need to meet the other conditions of siting apiaries for this time.
Hives and materials you can use
15.4.7
Your hives must be made basically of natural materials which give no
risk of contaminating either the environment, the bee products or the bees themselves.
15.4.8
You may only use:
• natural products in the hives, such as propolis, wax and plant oils
• physical cleaning treatments such as steam or direct flame