New honey eco-label APIVITA

FREETHEBEES wants to create new incentives for beekeepers, which, in addition to perfecting honey quality, particularly benefit the bee’s long-term survival and adaptability. This is what the new honey label ApiVita stands for, with an ecological focus (deliberately not organic), that promotes diversified beekeeping operations. Geographically-connected bee networks with largely unmanaged bees that are subject to natural selection are to be promoted. The existing organic labels can be combined with ApiVita as required.

The “organic” certification labels currently used are largely geared towards human honey consumption. Bees cannot be directed to collect nectar and pollen from specific flowers, so the term “organic” is ambiguous. Not a single honey certification label is currently oriented towards the sustainable, natural evolution of the honeybee, even though Demeter honey is by far the most progressive here.

Anyone who wants to produce honey today has to work against nature, as our specialist concepts and practical experience show. So, there can currently no longer be any organic honey that takes into consideration the welfare of the honey bee species. The solution is the promotion of diversified operations: Produce honey with only a portion of an apiary’s total colonies, and manage the others naturally or at least naturalistically.

Together with the top-class partner Delinat, a pilot project is currently running in three commercial apiaries (2 in Italy, 1 in Spain). According to the FREETHEBEES beekeeping method and the concept of diversified, mixed beekeeping, honey is to be obtained extensively from 80% of the colonies. The beekeepers will then manage the remaining 20% of their colonies naturalistically.