Organic Beekeeping

Bees are very important for ecological balance in agriculture and forestry as they pollinate plants. Organic beekeeping requires keeping the bee colonies under species-appropriate conditions, using resistant bee varieties, constructing housing made natural substances with residue free honey combs and middle walls of wax from organic production units and making use of organic acids or essential oils for depleting varroa-mite disease.

The hives must be placed such that the nectar and pollen supplier plants within the flying radius of the bee colonies are on organically farmed land or from cultures and/or wild plants that do not jeopardize the organic quality of the beekeeping products.

If feeding should be necessary for a bee colony to survive, the bees must be fed honey from an organic beekeeping unit, organic sugar or organic syrup. All activities concerning the bee colony must be documented such as extracting honey, feeding, depleting varroa-mites. Maps are to be kept of the hive locations and must be available for the inspection.

Beekeeping products may only be marketed with reference to organic production if the production has been compliant to the organic regulations for at least one year.