Awards | Sweet Success for Organic Producer

Kangaroo Island Organic Honey has been named the best organic product in Australia at an awards ceremony in Sydney this week.

Apiarist Peter Davis could not attend the prestigious Vogue Entertaining and Travel Audi Australian Produce Awards on Monday night but Mr Davis said yesterday he was "over the moon".

"This means a whole lot of things to us, especially since we are just about to open our new project, the Island Beehive. The timing couldn't have been better" Mr Davis said.

The inaugural awards were designed to celebrate the huge rise in organic and "artisanal" food culture, said Vogue Entertaining and Travel editor Margaret Merten.

"There has been a groundswell around the world, and particularly in Australia, towards reinvigorating a food culture that celebrates provenance, authenticity and quality.

"Sitting down to a meal prepared with the finest ingredients that are seasonally appropriate and grown with no, or minimal, pesticides and chemicals is becoming increasingly values," Merten said. The panel of national judges included South Australian food icon Maggie Beer, who is also honorary patron of the event.

The awards were meant to be judged in September but the huge number of entries - 75 in the organic section and an overall 275 - had delayed judging and announcement of the awards.

The company is in the middle of extensive building works at its Playford Highway site just outside Kingscote and plans to open the Island Beehive - including café, retail outlet and interpretive centre - in about five weeks, to which Mr Davis has invited the Premier, Mike Rann.

The honey shed last week played host to a large group of visitors as part of the SA Great Regional Pride series of tours.

Mr Davis has worked with bees all his life. Ten years ago he launched KI Organic Honey and now produce more than 100 tonnes of organic honey each year from the island's famous Ligurian honey bees, with plan to increase that to 300 tonnes.

Organic certification requires hives to be more than 5km from any potential source of contamination, such as agricultural crops or town gardens. Peter Davis has1000 hives dotted around the island and also process honey for other organic producers.

The honey must also never be heated beyond 45C to meet the certification standards.

KI Organic Honey is marketed interstate and overseas.