Most states have very clear outlined standards and procedures for being certified organic. It has to do with what goes into your hives. It has to do with treatments and feed. It has to do with land use studies. And so.
I always scratch my head when someone mentions smallcell, top bar hives, or a certain type hive, in connection of describing organic. Organic has nothing to do with what size cell you keep, what type box you keep, etc. Organic hives can be certified (if at all possible ) in standard hives, or any other hive that comes to mind.
People need to keep in mind such things as the J. Berry article last month in Bee Culture. In attempts to get clean beeswax, she went all the way to Brazil (or was it Argentina) to a place where no mite controls are used and no beekeeper induced chemicals are used. (A place where much "organic" honey comes from). She brought back comb and had it tested. So dirty and riddled with chemicals was the comb that she could not use it for testing.
I recently had my pollen tested, and in one yard in particular, three types of chemicals found there way into the pollen. And just like those hives in Brazil, I use no chems myself. But the chemicals are there.
So for anyone even mentioning they have organic honey, organic hives, your probably fooling yourself, without testing. And I would be very cautious about making any claims. Part of the certification process is doing a land use study to list ALL chems used in and around the apiary location. Why? Because time and time again, it is seen very clear that whether you put the chems in the hives means little in whether your producing "organic" product. It needs to go beyond that simplified and misused idea that because one does not use miticides, one can claim or beat around the bush of being "organic".
You don't want to be certified organic, then step up to the plate and have your honey, comb and pollen tested. I bet you will be surprised to find out that your so-called "organic" hive falls far short of anything close to the standard.
I'm not a backer of the standard for organic. I question if anything being brought into this country is even organic. But we should at least be up in understanding what organic is. Because sooner or later, someone is going to have a problem with some honey or pollen that was sold with vague claims of being organic.