WHEREAS, commercial honey and hive products, and crop pollination by honeybees, are vital components of New Jersey agriculture; and

 WHEREAS, because honeybees forage over airsheds measured in square miles, not acres, New Jersey’s commercial beekeepers provide their pollination services to other commodity producers, and produce honey and hive products without the necessity for control of their own land base, unlike all other types of commercial agriculture; and 

 WHEREAS, the Right to Farm Act is intended to protect Commercial Farms engaged in generally accepted agricultural management practices from over-restrictive local regulation nuisance lawsuits; and

 WHEREAS, the present definition of “Commercial Farm” in the Right to Farm Act unnecessarily excludes most commercial beekeepers who follow generally accepted agricultural management practices from Right to Farm protections because those beekeepers do not operate sufficient acreage to achieve Commercial Farm status within reasonably achievable levels of income derived from the production of honey and hive products, and from pollination services; and

WHEREAS, unnecessary exclusion of commercial beekeepers from Right to Farm Act protections burdens not only the commercial beekeepers who independently compose a vital part of New Jersey’s agriculture, but also the growers throughout the State of commodities which are dependent upon honeybees for pollination;

 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the delegates to the 99^th State Agricultural Convention, assembled in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on February 5-6, 2014, urge the New Jersey Legislature to support the New Jersey beekeeping industry, and the State’s many growers of honeybee-dependent crops, through amendment of the definition in the Right to Farm Act of “Commercial Farm” to reflect the significant commercial agricultural activities and contributions of beekeepers with small land bases.

 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we urge the Legislature to adopt a definition of Commercial Farm specific to beekeeping that focuses exclusively, for purposes of Right to Farm qualification for beekeeping activities only, on an appropriate level of income derived from production of honey and hive products, and from pollination services.