Exploring products and career possibilities - A Practical Manual of Beekeeping - page 272

companies or from a specialist supplier, such as Apitronic Services in Canada
( http://www.beevenom.com ). Although difficult to collect, there is a demand for bee
venom, and so beekeepers should not disregard this product of the hive.
Producing silk
No research I am aware of has looked into the commercial harvesting of honey-bee silk,
and it will probably take a great deal of investigation before silk production is deemed
viable on either a large or small scale. All that is known so far is that cocoon silk is tough
and effective. Producing silk is, therefore, something to keep your eye on.
GOING ORGANIC
Producing organic products can be very rewarding. Not only are you ensuring purity of
product but you are also assisting, in however small a way, in preserving the health of
the planet. And, of course, you are charging a premium for this, so you can be satisfied
and rich!
We decided to go organic in Spain partly because I incline that way (although not
fanatically so) and partly because it was a good business proposition. Unfortunately
we relied on natural flora (no crops) to give us the honey crop and, when a prolonged
three-year drought hit us, we were unable to move the bees to cultivated and irrigated
crops because we would have lost our hard-earned organic status. We had invested in
organically-produced queen bees to head all our colonies and we did not use chemicals
to treat diseases. This would all have been lost if we had moved the hives.
Organic beekeeping rules
The rules pertaining to organic food production, including honey, are set out in European
legislation. This legislation is followed by most other states, so these regulations can be
regarded as the norm. You can access them online (at http://www.beekeeping.com/
databases/eu_organic_honey_standard.htm ). Have a look at Council Regulation
(EC) No. 1804/1999, which supplements Regulation (EEC) No. 2092/91. This
regulation covers livestock - from bison down to roasting geese and guinea fowl - and it
sets out a whole series of definitions. The important part in terms of organic beekeeping