Thursday 2 December 2010

CATCH THE BUZZ - BMPs, and Cities with New Rules

CATCH THE BUZZ

Two Questions: Urban Beekeeping Best Management Practices, and  Cities With New Rules

1.       Bee Culture magazine is looking for examples of Best Management Practices that are used by city or county beekeeping groups or government agencies that are used when establishing new guidelines for beekeepers, or are already in place.

Although not particularly zoning ordinances, BMPs may be and sometimes are  used for zoning ordinances, or to help define and regulate nuisance complaints.

Bee Culture will gather as many of these as we can find, plus what we already have and construct a more or less generic guideline that any municipality can use as a good starting place when they begin the process of first allowing bees in their borders, or want to make existing rules and regulations more bee, and beekeeper friendly.

If your group, city, municipality or legislative body has, or uses a Best Management Practices guideline for keeping bees in an urban area we would like to know of it, and be able to incorporate it into our program. Zoning regulations are acceptable, but are usually difficult to send along, so if you know of those, and they are digital, simply send a link and we’ll work out the transfer. If all you have is a hard copy, a fax, or a photocopy in the mail is more than acceptable.

If you have been prosecuted because of an alleged violation of a city rule or regulation regarding keeping bees we would like to know of it so we can use that, too, for our guideline.

Any help you can offer is appreciated. We would like to get this organized before next spring so it will useful, in time, for new beekeepers, and, let us hope, new cities next season.

2.       Bee Culture and thedailygreen.com are looking for cities that have seen the light during 2010 and have changed their laws and regulations so that where there were no bees, there are bees today. What cities have opened their doors to beekeepers this year? Has yours? Do you know one nearby? We want to acknowledge their clear headedness and share their common sense with those cities who have yet to see the light.

If your city or county or municipality has changed the rules this year, let us know so we can acknowledge them.

 

For both of these requests…send your information directly to me:

Kim@BeeCulture.com

And thanks for sharing….we’re all in this together.


FREE - Kelley Bees Modern Beekeeping Monthly Newsletter

Quality Top Bar Hives by Gold Star Honeybees - good for you, good for your bees, good for the planet. Check us out at www.goldstarhoneybees.com.

Subscribe to Malcolm Sanford’s Apis Newsletter right here for a comprehensive listing of beekeeping events around the country and around the globe, check out Bee Culture’s Global Beekeeping Calendar

This message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American Beekeeping, published by the A.I. Root Company.

Read an EXCLUSIVE CHAPTER from Tom Seeley’s new book Honey Bee Democracy, only on Bee Culture’s web page Here!

Build an entire bee hive with just a table saw. Go to Garreson Publishing. Books by Peter Sieling.

Find out What Is New At Mann Lake right Here

Protein feeding pays off with better health, better survival, better production, and better wintering. Learn More.  


CATCH THE BUZZ - Illegal GM Sugar Beets Ordered Destroyed

CATCH THE BUZZ

Federal judge orders destruction of illegal GM sugar beets

By Caroline Scott-Thomas, Food Navigator

A federal court judge has ordered the destruction of genetically modified (GM) sugar beets planted in September, saying that they were planted in contravention of a previous court decision.

US District Court Judge Jeffrey White of San Francisco found that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) had illegally allowed the planting of sugar beets genetically modified to resist Roundup Ready herbicide, despite an earlier court decision requiring the government agency to complete an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) prior to planting. The order to destroy the beets will come into effect on December 6 to allow time for appeal.

Judge White said in the court order: “The legality of Defendants’ conduct does not even appear to be a close question. It appears clear that Defendants and Intervenor-Defendants were merely seeking to avoid the impact of the Court’s prior order.”

The lawsuit was filed in September by environmental groups alleging the USDA's action violated an earlier decision by Judge White.

In response to the court’s decision, lead counsel for the plaintiffs Paul Achitoff of Earthjustice said: “USDA has shown no regard for the environmental laws, and we’re pleased that Judge White ordered the appropriate response.”

Monsanto is currently the only supplier of GM sugar beets.

Plaintiff Center for Food Safety’s Senior Staff Attorney George Kimbrell said: “Today’s decision is a seminal victory for farmers and the environment and a vindication of the rule of law. The public interest has prevailed over USDA’s repeated efforts to implement the unlawful demands of the biotech industry.”

Sugar supply disruption?

According an earlier ruling by Judge White in August, this year’s beets will still be allowed to be harvested and processed as usual, but sugar farmers have warned that US sugar supply could be disrupted from 2011. GM sugar beets account for 95 percent of those being grown in the US, according to USDA figures, with beet sugar providing about half of the total US sugar supply.

Judge White also ruled in August that the planting of GM sugar beets should be halted until the USDA put together an EIS, expected to be completed by the end of May 2012. However, the USDA said that it would allow limited planting of the sugar beets while the EIS was prepared and issued permits to four companies, which had already planted seedlings to produce seed for the 2012 crop – a move that the court ruled in October was illegal.


FREE - Kelley Bees Modern Beekeeping Monthly Newsletter

Quality Top Bar Hives by Gold Star Honeybees - good for you, good for your bees, good for the planet. Check us out at www.goldstarhoneybees.com.

Subscribe to Malcolm Sanford’s Apis Newsletter right here for a comprehensive listing of beekeeping events around the country and around the globe, check out Bee Culture’s Global Beekeeping Calendar

This message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American Beekeeping, published by the A.I. Root Company.

Read an EXCLUSIVE CHAPTER from Tom Seeley’s new book Honey Bee Democracy, only on Bee Culture’s web page Here!

Build an entire bee hive with just a table saw. Go to Garreson Publishing. Books by Peter Sieling.

Find out What Is New At Mann Lake right Here

Protein feeding pays off with better health, better survival, better production, and better wintering. Learn More.