Montana Code Annotated 2023

TITLE 80. AGRICULTURE

CHAPTER 6. APICULTURE

Part 1. Registration -- Apis Bees

Pollination Apiary Site Registrations

80-6-112. Pollination apiary site registrations. (1) The department may grant pollination apiary site registrations to commercial seed producers, fruit producers, or other commercial agricultural producers under the following conditions:

(a) (i) the applicant must own, lease, or rent the land upon which the pollination apiary site is to be located and the applicant must use the land for the purpose of growing a commercial seed, fruit, or other crop that is dependent upon bees or other insects for pollination;

(ii) the applicant may not own the bees or the hives that are to be placed upon the pollination apiary site; and

(iii) the only purpose of the pollination apiary site is to pollinate a commercial agricultural crop.

(b) The applicant shall provide the department with all pertinent information necessary to determine if pollination apiary sites are needed to adequately pollinate the applicant's crop.

(c) The department may refuse to register a pollination apiary site based upon its own investigation, but if the department approves the application, it shall specify the number and location of pollination apiary sites needed for the purpose of adequately pollinating the applicant's commercial agricultural crop.

(2) A pollination apiary site registration is valid only for the time specified by the department, and all pollination apiaries must be removed within 2 weeks after the full bloom period of the crop to be pollinated.

(3) A certificate of registration of a pollination apiary site may not be leased, assigned, or transferred. A person, other than the pollination apiary site registrant, may not exercise any rights or privileges, directly or indirectly, authorized by the certificate of registration.

(4) The department shall attempt to notify any general apiarist with registered apiary sites located within 3 miles of a proposed pollination apiary site of the potential location of the proposed pollination apiary site.

History: En. Sec. 4, Ch. 125, L. 1981; amd. Sec. 7, Ch. 468, L. 2009.