Bees play a critical role in California’s agricultural ecosystems by pollinating many important crops, including almonds. Climate change, habitat loss, pesticides and other factors pose problems for bee populations.

To date, KIND Snacks has donated $350,000 for bee research at UC Davis, led by Entomology Professors Neal Williams and Elina Niño for continued research on bee health. California grows the vast majority of the world’s almonds, which rely on bees and other pollinators.

“Bee pollination, in a wide range of agricultural crops, is a very central part of our food system, particularly in California,” Williams said. “Understanding and making a commitment to bee health is important for the university, state of California and beyond.”

With support from KIND, Williams said UC Davis will soon launch a comprehensive pollinator health testing program. He said having a coordinated place for growers, beekeepers, government agencies, businesses and other groups to go for bee health metrics and other information will be a valuable tool for creating sustainable solutions to challenges affecting bee health.

“Developing actionable strategies for bees is an important part of broader global sustainability, and has impacts locally as well,” Williams said.

KIND has committed an initial $500,000 overall to support research ranging from pollination to regenerative agriculture at UC Davis, which comes as part of the company’s effort to source almonds from bee-friendly farmland globally by 2025. By the end of 2022, KIND Snacks will be sourcing 51% of their almond supply from bee-friendly farmland.