Page 1 ORGANIC APICULTURE Lecturer dr. Maria TOADER Prof.dr. Gheorghe Valentin ROMAN Assist.prof.dr. Mirela Elena DUSA University of Agronomic Sciences.

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ORGANIC APICULTURE

Lecturer dr. Maria TOADERProf.dr. Gheorghe Valentin ROMANAssist.prof.dr. Mirela Elena DUSA

University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of BucharestFaculty of Agriculture

„Agropuzzle II” meeting in OPAVA - Czech Republic05-11 January 2014

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"If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."

Einstein

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What is Apiculture (Beekeeping)

• Apiculture or Beekeeping is the science that aims to study the life, behavior and activity of honey bees in order to obtain bee products and crop pollination.

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• Collecting honey from wild bee colonies is one of the most ancient human activities and is still practiced by aboriginal societies in parts of Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America.

• Some of the earliest evidence of gathering honey from wild colonies is from rock paintings, dating to around 13,000 BCE (Egyptian dynasties).

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FAO Statistics

• In the world:• Beehives – over 78.4 million • Honey production – 1.6 mil tones• At European level –• Beehives - 29 million• Honey production - around 400 thousand tones• In the 27 EU countries, the leading apicultural

nations are Spain, France, Greece and Italy.

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Beehives, 2011 (number)

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Honey production (tones), 2011

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Bumble Bee

What is a Honey Bee?

Potter Wasp

The honey bee is one of the thousands of bee species in the insect class. Many bee species live alone. Honey bees live in colonies of 50,000 or more. The colony can survive through the winter by eating honey. People often confuse bees and wasps. Bees are hairy and less aggressive than wasps.

Honey Bee

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Taxonomy • Kingdom - Animalia (Metazoa)

Honeybees are animals!

• Phylum - Arthropoda  These animals have exoskeletons and jointed legs. (Arthropod means “jointed leg.”)

• Class - Insecta  Honeybees are insects. They have jointed legs, compound eyes, antennae, exoskeletons, and three-part bodies.

• Order - Hymenoptera, translating to mean “membraned wings.” This order includes bees, ants, wasps, and sawflies.

• Family - Apidae, Latin meaning “bee.”

• Genus - Apis, also referring to “bee.”

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There are four different species of honeybee in the world:

The Little Honeybee (Apis florea) - native to southeast Asia

The Eastern Honeybee (Apis cerana) - native to eastern Asia as far north as Korea & Japan

The Giant Honeybee (Apis dorsata) - native to southeast Asia

The Western Honeybee (Apis mellifera) - native to Europe, Africa and western Asia

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• Apis mellifera is the species that has the highest biological progress, the most widespread and most economic value and recommendation for organic honey production.

• It is widespread in all continents with suitable climate, providing most of the honey and wax produced in the world.

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Why Bees are Important?

HoneyVariable yields – 40 to 100 lbs/hiveDepends on amount of rainfall, temperature, hive strength

BeeswaxSmall yield from honey comb cappings

PollenGathering pollen can weaken hive

PropolisTree sap collected by beesUsed by bees to patch small holes/cracks in hive that might harbor bacteria or pests

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Honey• Sweet fluid produced by honey bees.

• Derived from flower nectar.

• According to the International Standards and various national food regulations Honey stipulates a PURE food product.

Why Bees are Important….

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Why Bees are Important…..

The bees need pollen and nectar from flowers for food. The plants need bees to spread pollen between flowers. The pollen is needed so the plants can grow fruit containing seeds.

Tiny yellow pollen grains are sticking to the hairs on this bumble bee.

Pollination

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Just a few examples of bee-pollinated foods are apples, oranges, strawberries, pumpkins, vegetables and almonds. Bees also pollinate crops like clover and alfalfa that are fed to animals raised for meat and dairy products. Honey bee pollination services are much more important to humans than the honey and wax that bees also provide for us.

These apples started as flowers requiring pollination.

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Many kinds of insects act as pollinators. Honey bees are especially important to people because beekeepers can move colonies to crops and orchards that are too large to be pollinated naturally.

About one third of our food comes from plants that need to be pollinated.

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Beeswax: Worker bees of a certain age will secrete

beeswax from a series of glands on their abdomens.

They use the wax to form the walls and caps of the comb.

Some major uses of beeswax are cosmetics and candle making.

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Pollen and propolis

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MEMBERS OF HIVE

Queen Worker Drone

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The Queen

• The queen is the mother. • She is the largest bee in the colony. • A productive queen can lay 2,000 eggs in a single day.

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The Workers

• Workers, the smallest bees in the colony.• A colony can have 50,000 to 60,000 workers. The life span of a

worker bee varies according to the time of year. Her life expectancy is approximately 28 to 35 days.

• Worker bees also collect nectar to make honey.  • Bees produce honey as food stores for the hive during the long

months of winter when flowers aren't blooming.

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The

Drone

• Drones are stout male bees with large eyes and no stingers. • Drones do not collect food or pollen from flowers. • Their sole purpose is to mate with the queen. • They die upon mating. • If the colony is short on food, drones are often kicked out of the hive.

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Bee Stages

Type Egg Larva Pupa Total

Queen 3 days 5 days 9 days 17 days

Worker 3 days 6 days 12 days 21 days

Drone 3 days 7 days 14 days 24 days

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Bees can be dangerous, a beekeeper must take several safety precautions when working

around a honey bee colony. – A hat or veil is commonly used to keep the face and neck protected from

stings. – Gloves are another popular form of beekeeping protection, although

many beekeepers complain that gloves restrict their movement. – A hooded suit, typically made from a light colored fabric to help

distinguish the beekeeper from the honey bee’s natural predators, may also be used.

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Classifying Honey By Its Floral Source

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Blended Honey

• Most commercially available honey

• Mix of 2 or more honeys differing in floral source, color, flavor, density or geographic origin

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Polyfloral

• Wildflower honey• Derived from the nectar of

many types of flowers• Taste may vary year to year• Aroma and flavor can be more

or less intense depending on which bloomings are prevalent

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Monofloral • Made primarily from the nectar of one type of flower• Produced by beekeepers keeping beehives in areas

where the bees have acess to only 1 type of flower• Typical Monofloral honeys are

– Clover– Orange blossom– Sage– Eucalyptus– Tupelo– Manuka– Buckwheat– Sourwood

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Honeydew Honey• Made from the sweet secretions

of aphids or other plant sap-sucking insects

• Dark in color with a rich fragrance

• Not as sweet as nectar honeys• Popular in some areas

(Germany’s Black Forest and some portions of Bulgaria)

• Production is much more complicated and dangerous

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Apiary

Very important is the choice of location for beekeeping!!!!!

It is very important to the area to be clean and far away from industrial enterprises.

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Brood Chamber

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A small amount of smoke is used to calm the bees

Beekeepers use a smoker to calm the bees when they work with a hive. The smoker helps hide the smells (called pheromones) the bees produce to alert each other to danger when they are alarmed or killed.

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Spinning causes the honey to spill out and collect at the bottom

Next the uncapped frames are put into an extractor that spins the frames and removes the honey. Nothing needs to be added to the honey to make it ready to eat.

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Honey pouring out of the extractor Pouring honey through a filter

The honey is put through strainers and filters to remove bits of wax before going into jars. Honey is unusual because it will last for years without refrigeration if you keep it sealed. Honey will usually granulate (turn more solid) after a few months, but it can be liquefied again if you warm it up.

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Packaging of Honey

• Generally bottled in its familiar liquid form

• However it is sold in other ways

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Organic Apiculture

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What is Organic Apiculture?

• Organic Apiculture represents a process of obtain of honey production regulated through the Organic Agriculture Standards.

• For this reason, any beekeeper who wishes to declare his honey as organic must abide by these regulations.

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NOW…What is Organic Agriculture???

The concept of organic agriculture is an alternative agriculture system which by the specific methods and practices can contribute substantially to the improvement of environmental quality, soil conservation and biodiversity, nature conservation and the creation of good quality of life for all involved.

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ORGANIC AGRICULTURE…

…..including organic honey and other apiculture products are strictly regulated by inspection, certification and labeling scheme of organic control bodies.

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Legislation…for EU members is similar – Regulation 834/2007

For Organic Agriculture

the terms are similarORGANIC / BIOLOGICAL / ECOLOGICAL

EU LOGO

and different National LOGOS

are used to supplement labeling by consumers to identify products produced in accordance with organic production methods.

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ORGANIC BEEKEEPING IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

(0.8%)

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Companies for organic bees products in Europe

• 430 company/ies for product group HONEY & HONEY PRODUCTS.

• 6 company/ies for product group FIR HONEY• 36 company/ies for product group FLOWER HONEY• 16 company/ies for product group FOREST HONEY• 8 company/ies for product group HONEY

CONFECTIONERY• 6 company/ies for product group MEAD• 15 company/ies for product group POLLEN.

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ORGANIC APICULTURE STANDARDS (1/6)

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.

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• Apiaries shall be placed in areas which ensure nectar and pollen sources consisting essentially of organically produced crops or, as appropriate, of spontaneous vegetation or non-organically managed forests or crops that are only treated with low environmental impact methods.

• Apiaries shall be kept at sufficient distance from sources that may lead to the contamination of beekeeping products or to the poor health of the bees.

ORGANIC APICULTURE STANDARDS (2/6)

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ORGANIC APICULTURE STANDARDS (3/6)

• Hives and materials used in beekeeping shall be mainly made of natural materials.

• The destruction of bees in the combs as a method associated with the harvesting of beekeeping products is prohibited.

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• For bees, preference shall be given to the use of Apis mellifera and their local ecotypes.

• Only natural products such as propolis, wax and plant oils can be used in the hives.

• The use of chemical synthetic repellents is prohibited during honey extractions operations.

• The use of brood combs is prohibited for honey extraction.• According to European organic standards, at least 90% of new queens

must come from a certified organic beekeeper.

ORGANIC APICULTURE STANDARDS (4/6)

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• Veterinary medicinal products may be used in organic beekeeping - formic, lactic, acetic and oxalic acids as well as menthol, thymol, eucalyptol or camphor may be used in cases of infestation with Varroa.

ORGANIC APICULTURE STANDARDS (5/6)

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• The destruction of bees in the combs as a method associated with the harvesting of beekeeping products is prohibited.

• Mutilation such as clipping the wings of queen bees is prohibited..

• The replacement of the queen bees involving the killing of the old queen is permitted.

• The practice of destroying the male brood is permitted only to contain the infestation with Varroa.

•  The inspection body or authority must be informed of the moving of apiaries with a deadline agreed on with the inspection authority or body.

• Particular care shall be taken to ensure adequate extraction, processing and storage of beekeeping products. All the measures to comply with these requirements shall be recorded.

• The removals of the supers and the honey extraction operations must be entered in the register of the apiary.

ORGANIC APICULTURE STANDARDS (6/6)

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Thank you for your attention!