NEW YORK — In honor of World Bee Day on May 20, KIND Healthy Snacks is collaborating with TikTok to host the inaugural virtual Bee Day Bash. The event is a celebration of KIND’s commitment to exclusively source its almonds from bee-friendly farmland globally by 2025.
KIND will co-host the virtual TikTok party with TikTok influencers Jeff and Julie Russell (@Mr.Mrs.BeeRescue) to build public awareness on the role that pollinators play within the food system. The viral video app has a thriving community that cares about supporting bees, with bee-related content on hashtags like #BeeTok and #SaveTheBees currently having over 2 billion views.
Viewers will be encouraged to donate to Re:wild, an organization that works to protect and restore biodiversity – by using TikTok’s “Donate Now” button. KIND will be offering 1:1 donation matching for every dollar donated to Re:wild between May 18 and June 3 up to $20,000.
Almonds serve as KIND’s top ingredient in volume and spend. With the decline of native and managed pollinators in recent years, the company’s bee-friendly commitment has influenced its almond farmers and others across the almond industry to embrace bee-friendly practices.
“We are excited about the leadership we’ve seen from the almond grower community over the past few years to expedite the transition to bee-friendly practices,” said Russell Stokes, CEO of KIND. “We are eager to continue to build on this momentum as we approach our 2025 target and hopefully, we can complete this transition ahead of schedule. We have also begun to explore the ways we can go beyond bee-friendly to incorporate even more regenerative practices.”
In 2020, the brand required its almond suppliers to reserve 3-5% of their farmland for a dedicated pollinator habitat. Since then, KIND has worked with US almond suppliers to ensure they have eliminated the usage of two pesticide treatments thought to be harmful to pollinators. By the end of this year, the brand will have sourced 51% of its almond supply from certified bee-friendly farmland.
Since KIND’s 2020 commitment, there are 145,000 new acres of bee-friendly almond farmland in California compared to the 20,000 acres previously available.
Additionally, the brand is deepening its relationship with leading academic institution for bee and pollinator health expertise University of California Davis. KIND has donated $350,000 to the Williams Lab to support its bee health research, monitoring of farm-level pollinator improvements and more.
“By partnering with suppliers to add dedicated pollinator habitat[s] and reduce pesticides, KIND has addressed two of the central components we know are most critical to bee health. Here in the Central Valley, we have also seen how this commitment has catalyzed the transition within the almond industry more broadly,” said Neal Williams, an entomology professor at UC Davis and the head researcher at the Williams Lab. “We’re excited to continue our partnership with KIND, which will enable us to develop an even stronger understanding of how these farm-level changes impact bee health and beyond.”
