Bee Friendly Farming Program – Free Seeds
Flow Hive Supports Pollinators via The Bee Friendly Farming Program – Farmers Can Apply in October to Receive Seeds for Planting by end of 2021
Flow Hive, creator of revolutionary beehives that make it easier to harvest honey and gentler on the bees, and Pollinator Partnership, the USA’s largest non-profit organization dedicated exclusively to the health, protection and conservation of all pollinating animals, are proud to announce The Bee Friendly Farming Program, a new native seed grant which is open for application this month via pollinator.org/bff/flow-seed-grant.
Flow is funding Pollinator Partnership’s Bee Friendly Farming program to enable farmers to receive up to three pounds of region-specific native seed to provide continuous bloom throughout the growing season for pollinators. The funding also supports the important work of Pollinator Partnership staff to identify seed, sources, and farmers.
The seed sourcing includes mixes from Applewood Seed and will be chosen by dividing the United States into eight regions including: Northeast, Midwest, Intermountain West, Pacific Northwest, Southwest, Texas Region, Great Plains, and Southeast. Any certified member of Bee Friendly Farming Certified (BFFC) in the US who operates a farm under 100 acres will be eligible to apply. Individuals that are not BFF Certified can apply for certification prior to submitting their application for this grant.
Cedar Anderson, inventor of the Flow Hive, said “Pollinators may be small but they perform a powerful job – pollination is essential to sustain life on earth as we know it.” Anderson continued, “…and we know that 10% of global bee species are heading for extinction and another 30% are seeing crashes in their population.”
“With Flow’s sponsorship, Bee Friendly Farming is able to support farmers in a new way, resulting in more habitat for pollinators, and through Applewood Seed’s partial match, we can increase the quality and quantity of native seed on the landscape.” says Miles Dakin, coordinator of the Bee Friendly Farming Program.
In order to help raise awareness and action for the importance of insect pollinators and projects that support them, Flow allocates 100% of the profits raised from the sales of the Flow Pollinator House to grass-roots pollinator projects. The Flow Pollinator House, which sold out last year in both the US and Australia, is designed to house native solitary bees and to help create pollinator corridors between our wild spaces for habitats affected by land clearing and urbanization.
The Bee Friendly Farming program encourages farmers and growers to plant pollinator-friendly forage and preserve and protect habitat for pollinators. The program also works directly with farmers to provide certification and promote bee-friendly agricultural practices across North America.
This simple but high-impact project has excited Anderson who sees it as an opportunity to spread the word about the importance of native insect pollinators. He notes, “When we started Flow back in 2015, it was important to us that we be a business that had goals beyond the bottom line. We wanted to hold ourselves to a higher standard than just making money – at Flow, every decision is made considering how we are affecting the environment, the community, our employees and our customers.”
“Native bees are essential to the pollination of many unique plants as well as assisting in crop pollination. But they’ve evolved to occupy very specialised places in the environment. The great thing about beekeeping and one of the things that really drives us to keep on going, producing hives and sending them out into the world, is when people become a beekeeper, they can’t help but start to see the world in a different way, noticing what’s flowering, noticing the effect of what something has on our environment and our ecosystem,” noted Anderson.
For more information about the Bee Friendly Farming native seed grant program, and to apply, visit pollinator.org/bff/flow-seed-grant, email bff@pollinator.org, or call 415-362-1137.
For more information about Flow Hive, email info@honeyflow.com, call 646-876-8880 or visit https://www.honeyflow.com/.
ABOUT FLOW HIVE
Australia’s Flow Hive was launched in 2015 with a record-breaking, multi-million dollar crowdfunding campaign which received support from tens of thousands of people around the world. Since then, Flow Hive has reached over 75,000 beekeepers across 130 countries. Using a unique Flow Frame of partly pre-formed honeycomb cells, Flow Hive is able to split cells vertically, letting honey flow down to a sealed trough while the bees remain undisturbed on the comb’s surface. It’s so much easier for the beekeeper and so much gentler on the bees. For more information about Flow Hive, email info@honeyflow.com, call 646-876-8880 or visit https://www.honeyflow.com/.
ABOUT POLLINATOR PARTNERSHIP (P2)
Established in 1997, Pollinator Partnership (P2) is the largest 501(c) 3 non-profit organization dedicated exclusively to the health, protection, and conservation of all pollinating animals. Pollinator Partnership’s actions for pollinators include education, conservation, restoration, policy, and research. P2’s financial support comes through grants, gifts, memberships and donations from any interested party. Its policies are science-based, set by its board of directors, and never influenced by any donor. To make a donation in support of our mission, or for information, visit www.pollinator.org.
ABOUT BEE FRIENDLY FARMING (BFF)
Bee Friendly Farming is a certification program from Pollinator Partnership that provides guidelines for farmers and growers interested in promoting pollinator health on their lands. https://www.pollinator.org/bff
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