Today, 35% of global agricultural land and more than 75% of the world’s food crops depend on animal pollination. However, in recent years, bees and other pollinators are increasingly coming under threat by human activities. To raise awareness and encourage actions that support and protect bees, the UN designated 20 May as World Bee Day. Greenyard has increased its commitment to this cause by launching several key initiatives with the goal of helping these vital populations thrive.

Greenyard Prepared and BND invest in local bee-friendly structures

The collaboration between Greenyard Prepared and international growers' association BND is a worthy cause. “Giving the BEE a great place to BEE”, as their collaborative project is called, emerged in the summer of 2018 during the preparation of the new environmental plan unrolled within the framework of the BND programme. The core aim of the project is to build a bee network, including bee hotels (“B-places”), staging areas and an overall connecting landscape. To date, 60 bee hotels with a flower meadow nearby, have been installed at local Greenyard grower sites, one bee hotel was installed at the Greenyard site in Bree, one at Biotechnicum Bocholt (via their partnership with Greenyard) and 22 others are planned for instalment in 2021.

Greenyard Fresh Germany and Spain support sustainable bee population growth

In 2018, the company Hektar Nektar launched “Projekt 2028”, a ten-year plan aimed at increasing the bee population by 10 percent within the next decade. They will accomplish this by handing bee colonies over to dedicated Projekt 2028 beekeepers. Since last year Greenyard Fresh Germany is part of this project with its own two beekeepers in Hamburg and Munich. So far “Projekt 2028” has contributed to a motivating result: in the last three years, the bee population in Austria and Germany has increased by at least 20 million bees.

Another recent initiative supported by Greenyard Fresh Spain is “Operation Pollinator” in the Spanish province of Almeria. The goal of this project is to restore pollinator populations within agricultural and other landscapes by assuring essential habitats through a sustainable approach to biodiversity, guaranteeing product sustainability for consumers.

With all these powerful initiatives, Greenyard is fully committed to supporting bees and pollinator populations, and to making a difference for the future when it comes to biodiversity and sustainable agriculture.