Fuente: PubMed "apiculture" Sci Total Environ. 2026 Jul 29:182049. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2026.182049. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTBeekeepers in the continental United States cannot obtain USDA organic certification because interim recommendations require more organic-certified land for foraging than is available surrounding most apiaries. To test whether organic farms in the Northeast USA provide sufficient forage for organic honey production, we established 72 colonies using organic management practices on six large organic farms (mean: 1 km2, 249 ac.) in 2023, where natural and seminatural habitats comprised 56-93% of land within a 3 km radius. In 2024, we screened the resulting honey for 96 pesticide residues, compared contamination to 20 brands of store-bought organic and conventional honey, and tested whether landscape composition predicted contamination. Pesticide contamination in honey from Northeast USA organically managed colonies was low, comparable to store-bought certified organic honeys, and lower than conventional honey. Landscape composition did not predict contamination, but may reflect a limited number of sites and narrow range of landscape conditions. Only one sample from Northeast USA organically managed colonies exceeded maximum residue limits (MRLs) for organic honey. These results suggest that organic colony management on farms where natural and seminatural habitats dominate the surrounding landscape (>56%) can produce honey with pesticide contamination comparable to certified organic products. Despite being certified organic, 30% of Hawaiian honeys contained amitraz metabolite residues above MRLs, potentially via in-hive contamination. While the required 6.4 km forage and surveillance zone surrounding apiaries has excluded continental USA beekeepers from organic certification, preventing in-hive chemical contamination may be as important as maintaining organic foraging zones to produce certified organic honey.PMID:42527237 | DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2026.182049