The Beeholder, April 2009.

As a locally based regional office I was pleased to be asked to write for you. It’s not often that we are approached and our voice is usually that of our head office in Manchester. But, we do exist here in Cymru/Wales and we are tuned in to the issues that face our local area and farming community.

In February on a snowy winters evening thirty co-operative members braved the cold to come along to Plas Dolerw in Newtown to find out more about the Co-operatives Plan Bee, our campaign and ten point plan to help save the bee. I know that bees produce honey from nectar, and that they pollinate fruit and vegetables but other than that I hadn’t thought much about them. Bees have always been around – something I would run from in my childhood and that my dog would chase about the garden. But on that cold night in February, along with several bee keepers from Montgomeryshire, I watched a short film about bees that showed me just how important bees were and how their continued demise could impact on society.

As a leader on the environment and the UK’s largest farmer, The Co-operative couldn’t ignore the recent decline in the UK’s bee population. The bee has been used in the Co-operative Society’s iconography since the middle of the 19th Century - bees are fundamentally co-operative in their nature. In fact the Rochdale Pioneers even included a beehive in the brickwork of their central premises in mid 1860’s.

So we launched Plan Bee - a ten point plan to help the bee.

1. The Co-operative Food will temporarily prohibit the use of neonicotinoid-based pesticides on own-brand fresh produce.
2. £150,000 will be made available to support research into the demise of the honeybee.
3. Over three years The Co-operative Farms will trial a new wildflower seed mix that will be planted alongside crops on our farms across the UK.
4. The Co-operative Farms will invite beekeepers to establish hives on all our farms in the UK.
5. The Co-operative will engage our three-million members in a campaign to protect and nurture the bee population in the UK.
6. Members were invited to screenings of a special preview from a forthcoming film that addresses the decline of the worldwide bee population. The Co-operative has also commissioned a new bespoke documentary on the decline of the bee population in the UK.
7. The Co-operative will partner with RSPB’s 'Homes for Wildlife' team and empower members to garden in ways that are honeybee-friendly.
8. An initial 20,000 packets of wildflower seed mix will be made available to members free of charge.
9. Bee boxes are being sourced and made available to The Co-operative members at discounted prices.
10. The Co-operative will support our members and colleagues to find out more about amateur beekeeping.

To find out more about the Co-operative and our ten point bee campaign visit our website at www.co-operative.coop/membership

Alison Clinton, The Co-operative, Glansevern Hall, Berriew, Welshpool