The beehives have been set up at Nagel-Group sites in Borgholzhausen, Bochum, Langenfeld, Eschweiler, and Versmold. “Around one third of food crops is fully dependent on bee pollination. This makes it particularly important for us to actively contribute to preventing the decline in the bee population,” says Dr Holger Werthschulte, Chief Financial Officer of Nagel-Group. “Sustainability has always been a central pillar of our corporate philosophy. This beautiful project allows us to raise awareness among our employees and our guests about biodiversity and the importance of insects for us and our environment.” For that reason, the bee colonies were set up in a prominent position on the company premises to ensure the buzzing can be clearly heard.
A bee colony typically consists of 40,000 bees. “Now, during summer, the number of bees is very high. Towards winter, the population size reduces somewhat,” explains Frederik Idem, a trained beekeeper from beefuture. He will be responsible for the bees’ welfare and the honey harvest in the future. “The bees will now settle into their new environment and start foraging,” says Idem. The bees will search for food within a 5-kilometre radius and then start producing honey.
“Biodiversity is a very important issue facing all of us. By introducing these bee colonies, we are making a small contribution. The fact that we will have our own Nagel-Group honey in the future is a very sweet bonus,” says Peter Jockenhövel, Sustainability Manager of Nagel-Group. He was the one who initiated the project at Nagel-Group. A few jars of Nagel-Group honey will now be available every year as gifts for employees or customers. “This honey will be 100% locally made,” says Jockenhövel. The key thing here, though is protecting wild bees and honey bees.
The actual concept was conceived by beefuture (www.beefuture.online), a company from Bavaria. “We have made it our mission to get companies on board with sustainable nature conservation,” says Frank Weiß, founder and managing director of beefuture.
