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Published:5/1/2008

Pigging Out for Pollinators, Profit & Points

Does a good deed still count if you kinda sorta did it accidentally?

An opportunity to promote our Blooms of Bressingham brand arose suddenly in early March. Dr. Robert Berghage of Penn State needed flowering plants to use on television. PSU is working to generate some buzz around "pollinator friendly gardening," educating gardeners about the vital role pollinators, especially bees, play in food production.

Time was of the essence: We learned of this project on a Wednesday. The TV spots, in Philadelphia, Washington, Denver, Chicago and San Diego, started Saturday. If it were May, no problem, but color is not a plentiful commodity in Pennsylvania in Week 10.

Dr. Berghage needed visual aids to get his points across. As he said, "When you're talking about pollen, it helps to have a flower to point at." So I scoured our greenhouses for flowering liners and cobbled together instant 4-in. pots, cramming six to nine cells into each container. They came out looking pretty darned good—the ultimate fast crop. TV viewers were presumably none the wiser unless Rob turned a pot upside-down.

The good doctor picked up five Blooms perennial varieties, one each of Dianthus, Solidago, Campanula, Dicentra, and Heuchera. A non-proprietary variety, Viola 'Etain', snuck into the flat because it was just too pretty to ignore. Rob used those pots, with our picture tags, in Philly and DC, and he voluntarily promised to identify the plants, the brand and the donors in his presentations. On his westward stops, he made do with cut flowers.

So far, so good. Free plants, free publicity: An even trade, a win-win. But here's the story behind this story, the part I didn't know until Rob came for the pots. Penn State's program is funded by, of all sources, Häagen-Dazs. The upscale ice cream maker (one of dozens of brands owned by General Mills) spooned up $250,000 to researchers at PSU and University of California, Davis, to address Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), the ongoing global honeybee crisis.

A Häagen-Dazs press release explains that nearly 40% of the brand's flavors depend on bee pollination and are therefore threatened by CCD. California's $2 billion almond crop alone requires the unpaid labor of over a million bee colonies. This annual rite of spring has been called the largest single pollination event on the planet.

So while CCD poses a potential threat to the foodmaker's bottom line, a representative points out, "Ice cream is a small part of it. The bigger issue is the food supply for the whole country." She's dead right about that: Honeybees are a crucial link in the chain of production for up to a third of what we eat. And if ice cream is a small part of the picture, obviously, Blooms is a much tinier part—a mere pixel. But we helped, right?

For more: helpthehoneybees.com, a fun and informative site explaining how you can help as a consumer and/or gardener. It's pretty painless: Just purchase any of their dozen or so "bee-dependent flavors" including new Vanilla Honey Bee, and Häagen-Dazs donates a portion of the sales toward research. That's a pretty sweet deal, so sweet it borders on being rewarded for bad behavior. But I digress, as usual.

While Häagen-Dazs' motivation is clearly a blend of capitalism and altruism, they at least planned on incorporating a dollop of goodness as a major ingredient right from the start. I, on the other hand, performed a semi-generous act that serendipitously supported their initiative, but the raison d'etre behind my actions was the promo op. If I get points, they're a desirable side effect; but claiming those points feels like claiming that I only drink red wine for the antioxidants.

So, dear reader, please don your ethicist hat and tell me: Does it count? Should honeybees refrain from stinging me forevermore? This is not mere idle curiosity, I need to know: Is my good deed for the year officially on the books, or must I still do something nice for somebody before Week 52 rolls around and it's Auld Lang Syne time again?