http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/13/business/media/-cascadian-farm-bee-friendlier-effort-enlists-public-to-help-protect-insects-.html 2014-10-13 03:10:45 Cascadian Farm ‘Bee Friendlier’ Effort Enlists Public to Help Protect Insects Cascadian Farm, an organic brand owned by General Mills, is encouraging consumers to plant wildflowers to provide a healthful environment for bees. === ALARM has grown in recent years over the widespread loss of bee colonies, not just because of the canary-in-the-coal-mine implications about how factors like pesticides and parasites might be to blame, but also for a more direct reason: As part of a continuing cause-marketing campaign, “Share the Buzz,” in 2013 Now Cascadian Farm, the 42-year-old organic brand owned by A new Also featured is Emma Torbert, an organic farmer in Yolo County, Calif., who agreed to let Cascadian Farm plant one of her fields with wildflowers. In the video, a crop-duster is loaded with Seedles and, as children lined up along a fence cheer it on, the plane flies over the field and drops the pellets. Slow-motion footage from a camera affixed to the plane shows the pellets as they are released, while at the ground level they are seen hitting the soil and bouncing, like hail. Viewers are encouraged to do their part. “Whether they use Seedles or not doesn’t matter to me, just grow some wildflowers, plant some seeds, do something,” Mr. Burley says in the video. “This is like the matchstick, the catalyst, for inspiring a lot of other small collective actions because we’re going to need many, many millions more flowers.” The “Bee Friendlier” campaign, including the video and digital ads that will promote it, is by Solve Advertising and Branding in Minneapolis. The annual loss of bees among commercial beekeepers had long been about 5 percent, but in the last eight years it jumped to an average of almost 30 percent, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. In a John Colasanti, the chief executive of Solve, who studied with Professor Spivak to get his beekeeper certification, said the point of “Bee Friendlier” is less to highlight causes of the problem than to point out one way to help address it. “It’s more about action than it is about awareness,” Mr. Colasanti said. “As we looked at what just about everybody could do to make a significant difference, it came down to planting wildflowers, so we focused on that.” In June, Cascadian Farm introduced a cereal, Scott Lee, director of marketing for Cascadian Farm, said the overall “Bee Friendlier” effort serves a dual purpose. “If bee colonies continue to crash and those hives continue to go away, it puts strain on the food supply and our supply chain,” Mr. Lee said. “Also, it’s something that more and more consumers are becoming aware of, so it’s an issue that’s important to our consumers as well.” But what is important to many consumers about Cascadian Farm — its use of organic ingredients and avoidance of genetically modified ingredients — is not General Mills’ overall approach, and the incongruity has not gone unnoticed. GMO Inside, which helped lead a consumer campaign to persuade General Mills to remove “Less than 3 percent of General Mills’ sales are working toward ‘saving the bees’ while 97 percent are killing them,” the post said. General Mills in September announced plans to But Mr. Lee, of Cascadian Farm, said General Mills offered a range of choices. “General Mills understands there are varying degrees of beliefs and consumer interests and offers non-G.M.O. and organic brands like Cascadian Farm,” he said. “So from a brand standpoint, ‘Bee Friendlier’ is very much aligned with our beliefs, and General Mills recognizes that.”