Our Goal: To ensure that the bees that pollinate our crops are healthy and happy.
Our California orchards are certified Bee-Friendly Farmed by the Pollinator Partnership. We also work closely with the California Pollinator Coalition, an organization dedicated to the resilience of native and managed bees, biodiversity and soil health.
Bee-Friendly Farming
Pomona currently dedicates a minimum of 3% of our planted acreage to providing forage for bees and other pollinators. We have planted varieties of plants that bees love, with bloom cycles staged throughout the year We work hard to keep our pollinators healthy with our bee-friendly farming practices, preventing colony loss by continually reducing our pesticide and herbicide usage. These extra steps mean that Pomona’s hives, on average, triple in size after one year with us.
Bee ‘Housing’ Plus Strategic Hive Placement
Pomona hosts nearly 1,000 honeybee hives at 3 Bee Sanctuaries over the winter. Each Sanctuary boasts warm weather, plentiful water and several hundred contiguous acres full of flowers and forage. Early and thoughtful hive placement prior to bloom helps with bee acclimatization, which is especially important for those colonies newly arriving in California just out of hibernation.
Responsible Agricultural Application Processes
We never utilize any spray applications during bee flight hours. We minimize spray applications during the entire bloom period, but if they are necessary, they only occur when the bees are dormant between dusk and dawn. We never use neonicotinoids or chlorpyrifos (two pesticides that are harmful to bees). Additionally, Pomona employs the latest technologies and practices related to pest and weed management, significantly reducing the use of pesticides and herbicides overall.
