(Jan. 24, 2020) – On Jan. 14, the Almond Board of California (ABC) announced a new strategic partnership with the world’s largest non-profit organization dedicated exclusively to the protection and promotion of pollinators and their ecosystems: the Pollinator Partnership.
In partnering with the Pollinator Partnership, the Almond Board seeks to expand the number of growers who provide habitat for pollinators around their orchards and help growers get credit for the practices they already do to improve bee health.
Known for their local and regional initiatives such as National Pollinator Week, Pollinator Partnership seeks to engage growers of a wide range of crops nationwide in promoting pollinator health on their operations through the Bee Friendly Farming program. Under the program, growers who meet six specific criteria are eligible to be certified as “bee friendly” and have a label recognizing their certification placed on their product.
In order to best fit the needs of the California almond industry, ABC is working with Pollinator Partnership to integrate the Bee Friendly Farming program with the California Almond Sustainability Program (CASP) Bee Health and Pollination module. The goal of this initiative is to expand the number of almond growers who provide habitat for pollinators in and around their orchards, and to help growers get credit for the practices they already execute to improve bee health.
"Pollinator Partnership's Bee Friendly Farming Certification is a perfect conduit to increase pollinator benefits and to ensure protection and sustainability within the almond industry. Almond growers are terrific partners in best management practices, and we look forward to a close and growing relationship in support of pollinators and producers," said Laurie Adams, president and CEO of Pollinator Partnership.
The Almond Board announced this new partnership as a key pillar of its Five-Point Pollinator Protection Plan, which aims to help consumers understand all the ways in which growers and the broader California almond industry strive to protect honey bee health, not only during bloom but year-round.
The four additional initiatives included in the industry’s five-point plan are:
- educating growers and pollination stakeholders on honey bee health via the Honey Bee Best Management Practices as well as in-orchard workshops,
- supporting of the development and launch of the BeeWhere digital mapping tool and partnering with the California State Beekeepers Association to raise awareness of the tool,
- collaborating with Project Apis m. (PAm.) and other bee research organizations to encourage an increase in cover crops among almond orchards throughout California,1 and
- funding honey bee health research.
Since 1995, the industry has funded 125 research projects to address the five major factors impacting honey bee health – varroa mites, pest and disease management, lack of genetic diversity, pesticide exposure and access to forage and nutrition. This year, alone, the industry will invest in five new studies with leading bee experts from across the U.S.
“Protecting and improving honey bee health during the short time that bees are in our orchards is critical to the success of every grower,” affirmed Josette Lewis, PhD, director of Agricultural Affairs at the Almond Board.
“By working with national pollinator organizations, we are also engaging with partners who impact the health of bees during the other ten months that they spend outside of almonds.”
Growers interested to learn more about the CASP Bee Health and Pollination module, as well as the other eight modules in CASP, are invited to visit Almonds.com/Growers/Sustainability.
[1] Since 2013, almond growers have planted 34,000 acres of bee pasture through Project Apis m.’s Seeds for Bees program, according to PAm. Director of Pollination Services Billy Synk. Beyond the benefits to pollinators, these plantings also help improve soil health, water infiltration and more.
