2022 Impact Awards winner: Kind Snacks

Pollinators, like bees and butterflies, are central to the plant-based ingredients in Kind Healthy Snacks. Kind recently announced its commitment to exclusively source its almonds from bee-friendly farmland by 2025.

California, which has 1.64 million acres of almond orchards, currently produces the vast majority of the world’s almonds. Each year, about 48 billion pollinators are required to pollinate the crop, but in recent years, both native and managed pollinators have experienced historic declines. Kind therefore supports the expanded usage of bee-friendly practices among its almond farmers and across the almond industry globally.

In 2020, Kind required its almond suppliers to reserve 3-5% of their farmland for dedicated pollinator habitat by 2025. Since then, bee-friendly almond farmland in California has grown by 145,000 acres. The company is also working with suppliers to eliminate usage of two pesticides that harm pollinators.

By the end of 2022, Kind will have sourced 51% of its almond supply from bee-friendly farmland. The company also supports research at the University of California Davis, a leading academic institution for bee and pollinator health expertise, and has donated $350,000 to the Williams Lab for its pioneering bee health research and monitoring of farm-level pollinator improvements.

“As an industry, it’s refreshing to see us celebrating sustainability,” says Robin Poulain, national sales director, Canada. “Weaving sustainability into our everyday practices will drive change. At Kind, we’re committed to acting today to drive big impact tomorrow and our progress towards our 2025 bee-friendly farming goal proves just that. Working for an organization that lives its mission continues to keep Kind employees engaged and energized.”