The italian company Granlatte-Granarolo Group and Conapi-Mielizia - Consorzio Nazionale Apicoltori have won The European Bee Award 2024, the recognition established by the European Landowners' Organization (Elo) and the European Agricultural Machinery Industry Association (Cema) and aimed at rewarding innovative projects to protect bees or other pollinators by helping to preserve biodiversity.

At the ceremony, held at the European Parliament in Brussels, the jury awarded Granlatte-Granarolo and Conapi the prize in the category “Land management practices to protect and enhance pollinators in the agricultural environment”, recognising the value of this unique and distinctive collaboration between Italy's largest milk producers' cooperative and Europe's largest beekeepers' cooperative, united in promoting and developing practical actions that contribute to creating the right living conditions for bees and other pollinators, encouraging their presence in cultivated areas and enriching biodiversity in the agricultural environment.

The prize, a check for 4,000 euros, will be reinvested in the creation of the analysis and biomonitoring service for beehives. The project “Granarolo and Conapi together for biodiversity and bee health” was launched in 2023 and saw the creation and implementation of a set of structural actions to safeguard bees and pollinators in the Group's farms and the placement of beehives, by Conapi, in some stables of member-breeders in the Granlatte-Granarolo supply chain, also with a view to monitoring the territory, protecting biodiversity, animal welfare, the environment and our future.

Currently, there are 60 stables of Granlatte member-breeders who have adhered to the specification, for a total of 584,080 liters of milk collected. Of these, 17 are where 371 hives are being placed by Conapi for a total of over 18 million bees, while others will be added in the coming months.

Also dedicated to the project is “A stable for two: a compelling story of biodiversity”, a video (see below) created to tell the story of this special collaboration that unites two worlds, that of breeding and that of beekeeping, to promote a virtuous process.

Open days open to all were organised at some of the farms of the supply chain members, with visits to the hives and the stable, workshops on milk and wax and tastings of cheeses accompanied by honey.

Granarolo SpA is also the first company to obtain “Approved By Conapi Bees” (conapibees.it), the sustainability standard for bee-friendly businesses, drawn up by Conapi together with the inspection and certification body Ccpb, the first and only certified protocol with a brand that attests to the virtuousness of good practices at company level and the awareness path undertaken by companies towards the environment, biodiversity and communities through monitoring and measuring ethical behaviors towards the ecosystem, bees and pollinators, with awareness and involvement of people. The actions planned for 2025 are the placement of additional hives in the stables and at the headquarters of the Granlatte cooperative as well as a beekeeping course for employees.

“We are very happy and proud of this recognition,” says Simona Caselli , president of Granlatte, “which demonstrates the value and effectiveness of our common project, through which we intend first and foremost to send a strong message: thanks to the synergy between supply chains in the agri-food world, and beyond, it is possible to carry out concrete actions aimed at improving the living conditions of bees by implementing good practices to respect biodiversity and raise awareness not only among producers but also among consumers. The recent floods that hit Emilia-Romagna have highlighted the importance and necessity of this: bees are sentinels of the environment and therefore also bear witness to the well-being of a territory.”

“Granarolo was the first company to join our certified protocol with the “Approved By Conapi Bees” brand, comments Giorgio Baracani, president of Conapi-Mielizia. "In addition to this, the project 'Granarolo and Conapi together for biodiversity and bee health', which started in 2023, has allowed us to implement a particularly virtuous synergy, which aims to raise awareness among breeders and therefore also among the public and consumers, with the aim of improving the living conditions of our bees. It is essential that, through the implementation of good practices, the world of agriculture and livestock farming interact and collaborate with the world of beekeeping for continuous and common improvement, in the awareness that bees play a fundamental role in safeguarding biodiversity and the planet we live on”.

Watch the video: