video transcript - Plan Bee: what The Co-operative is doing for bees

Simon Press- Senior Technician Manager
Bee populations in the last 4/5 have definitely plummeted. Mainly about 4/5 years ago it was recognised in the US first but certainly in the last couple of years it’s certainly happened in the UK. It’s difficult to pinpoint the reason behind it; we’ve obviously had poor summers which doesn’t help bee population. Some pesticides usage is probably a factor behind the collapse of colonies of bees.

Gwyneth Brock - Senior Campaigns Manager, The Co-operative.
For The Co-operative it’s a wake-up call we think. It’s a wake-up call that we should all heed and that’s why we’re taking it very, very seriously and we’re investing this amount of money into research, into activity with our members because we think this is something that can’t be ignored.

Paul Monaghan – Head of Social Goals and sustainability
We’re launching what we call our 10-point Plan Bee. People say there isn’t a Plan Bee or there wasn’t a Plan Bee- well there is now and in this there is 3 elements. The first is education and empowerment; we want people to understand there is a problem and we also want to empower people to think that there’s something they can do about it. Whether it’s to change their gardening practices or whether it’s to go the whole hog and actually realise that they could become beekeepers or nurture beekeeping in their vicinity. Secondly, we want to change the way we farm and the way we purchase produce and we will be looking at things such as the pesticide prohibition list that we operate in the United Kingdom. Thirdly, we will be pumping quite significant sums of money into research and development to help us find out what exactly is behind these problems.

Gwyneth Brock - Senior Campaigns Manager, The Co-operative.
We’ve got 3 million members today at The Co-operative and when you look at the way that bees work together in the hive that’s the sort of feeling that we have amongst our membership now. Together they can act together and make a change and make a difference. They can support each other; ‘there’s strength in numbers’ is how we put it. We’re the UK’s biggest farmer so we have a huge interest in how the countryside works and how the land works with wildlife and bees are one part of a very big eco-system. It’s really important to us, I think that’s why I said it’s a wake-up call.

Simon Press- Senior Technician Manager
Bees are the pollinators, they pollinate a vast number of crops. They pollinate all the strawberries, all the raspberries, apples, pears so they are absolutely essential to agriculture.

Gwyneth Brock - Senior Campaigns Manager, The Co-operative.
Plan Bee consists of a number of aspects. One of which is we are investing a significant sum partly into research because nobody currently knows what’s causing bee decline. There could be a variety of reasons behind it and actually I think what we need to do is help beekeepers because they can’t cope with this by themselves. So we are investing a sum of money into research. We’ve committed to invest a total of a quarter of a million pounds into research, into activity to raise awareness of bees and to give our members an idea of what they can do to help bees. Because there are things that we can all do to help bees in our gardens; in the way that we garden, in planting ‘bee friendly’ flowers. That’s the sort of thing that we will be communicating to our members. All of the information is on our website. We will be driving awareness raising through The Co-operative Membership in a number of ways. One of which is the preview of a really dramatic new film from the United States that looks at the global decline in population and the colony collapse disorder in the United States. It is quite a shocking picture really there are beekeepers there who’s bees are dying and they don’t know why and they are absolutely desperate for some help and support. But we don’t want to shock members unnecessarily. What we do want to do is raise awareness to a level where they feel like something needs to be done.

Simon Press - Senior Technical Manager, The Co-operative
Our own farms this year in this forthcoming season we’re going to be putting wild flower seed mixes onto the headlands of the fields to encourage the bees as well. So certainly from that point of view it’s really important that the bee has a good, reliable food source.

Gwyneth Brock - Senior Campaigns Manager, The Co-operative.
What we want to do is strengthen the countryside so that there’s a better habitat for bees. Not just in urban areas but in the countryside too. Better farming practices and as the UK’s largest farmer we know that we can play our part.

Simon Press - Senior Technical Manager, The Co-operative
The Co-op is a fantastic ethical retailer, we always have been, that’s what we hang our hat on. As an employer that’s one of the reasons I wanted to join The Co-op is because their stance, certainly from a pesticide point of view, is obviously is an area I’m passionate about. But certainly their stance from an environmental point of view and an ethical point of view has always been industry leading.

Gwyneth Brock - Senior Campaigns Manager, The Co-operative.
This is an on-going program of activity because I don’t think anybody believes that the problem with bees is going to be resolved this year. A lot of research is going to have to go in to it. We’re going to be building support over a number of years from our customers and members building better habitats for bees in urban areas and also looking at the research that can really help resolve what is happening to our bees.