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KIND recently signed the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's Global Commitment for the new plastics economy. The aim is to achieve 100% recyclability, compostability or reusability of all plastic packaging by 2025 and at the same time to reduce the use of single-use plastics as a whole

Kind of healthy snacks (KIND) has announced its commitment to be the first snack company to source its almonds exclusively from bee-friendly farmland around the world by 2025. Almonds are the main ingredient in most of KIND's 80+ products and are the company's most important ingredient by volume and spend.

By working directly with farmers, suppliers, researchers and other leading brands, KIND aims to significantly expand the use of bee-friendly practices among almond farmers.

As a basis, KIND expects its almond suppliers to reserve 3-5% of their arable land for a specific pollinator habitat to support bees, butterflies and other pollinators. In addition, KIND has worked with its suppliers to end the use of neonicotinoids and chlorpyrifos, two pesticide treatments that are considered harmful to pollinators.

“We were thrilled and inspired by the guidance some of our colleagues and partners have shown to more actively protect pollinators. We are also incredibly proud that many of our almond suppliers have pioneered and proven that incorporating more bee-friendly practices is not only good for pollinators but also for business, ”said Daniel Lubetzky, Founder and Executive Chairman of KIND.

“But there is more that we can do to make these practices central to the almond industry's business. While we know we cannot do it alone, we pride ourselves on lending our voice and scalability to promote this much-needed change. "

California currently produces the vast majority of the world's almonds. Almost 1.53 million acres are devoted to almond plantations. However, only a small part of this area – estimated to be less than 20,000 acres – is classified as bee-friendly.

With this goal in mind, KIND, which sources 1-2% of the world's almonds, hopes to significantly increase the availability of almonds that are grown on bee-friendly farmland. Bees are critical to the production of a wide variety of nutritious foods and pollinate about a third of the food supply.

"This commitment by KIND to improve pollinator habitats in almond orchards will bring significant long-term environmental benefits to soil health, water retention and regional biodiversity in California's Central Valley," said Daniel Kaiser, director of conservation strategies for the Environmental Defense Fund. "This initiative is exactly the kind of signal to the supply chain that can make it easier for farmers to adopt practices that will make their orchards more resilient."

Research suggests that a variety of factors affect bee health, including poor diet due to unchanged habitats and pesticide exposure. In recent years, interest in the protection of pollinators in the food industry has gained significant momentum, including the creation of farm-level inspection and certification programs that help increase pollinator habitats and limit pesticide use.

As the bee-friendly almond market evolves, KIND will take a hybrid approach using both the certification and verification programs currently available and research into new methods to validate its suppliers' practices.

"KIND's global commitment to ensuring that all almonds come from pollinator-friendly farms shows that the industry can take significant steps to protect pollinators on a large scale," said Simon Potts, Professor of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services at the University of Reading. UK, and co-chair of the Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform for Global Pollinator Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. "This move will not only benefit the environment, but also producers and consumers."

The KIND Foundation will also make a $ 150,000 / £ 114,000 investment in the Williams Lab at the University of California at Davis to answer critical bee health questions and to track the effectiveness of these improvements at the farm level.

“As a farming community, we need to make real changes to ensure the long-term health of bees. KIND's commitment to bee-friendly practices in its supply chain is a workable approach that will move the dial towards more sustainable practices across the industry, ”said Neal Williams, professor of entomology at the University of California at Davis.

"This commitment with the support of the KIND Foundation for Research is trend-setting and shows an understanding of how further practical innovations for the benefit of bees can be promoted."

Water scarcity is another key issue for California almond farmers. The almond farming community in the US, led by the Almond Board of California, has successfully reduced the amount of water used to grow a pound of almonds by 33% over the past two decades and is determined to cut that number by another 20 % by 2025.

KIND's suppliers and their farmers have set new standards for water protection through sophisticated irrigation systems and water management technologies that promote healthy growth and minimize tree stress. These practices help to increase the yield at harvest, use water more efficiently and identify the risk to plants in real time.

This announcement coincides with two other milestones for KIND. The company recently launched the Ellen MacArthur FoundationGlobal commitment of the New Plastics Economy. In line with the vision of the Foundation for a Circular Economy for Plastics, KIND aims to achieve 100% recyclability, compostability or reusability of all plastic packaging by 2025, while reducing the use of single-use plastic as a whole.

In addition, KIND will acquire enough renewable energy loans to cover its U.S. offices and manufacturing facilities by the end of 2020, and begin integrating renewable energy sources into its direct operations from 2021.