Media Advisory - International Bee Expert Available Re: State of Bee Populations in North America - Tuesday, March 8th 2016

University of Minnesota Entomologist Marla Spivak supporting Honey Nut Cheerios Bring Back the Bees campaign to plant 35 million wildflowers across Canada

TORONTO, Feb. 23, 2016 /CNW/ - Bee populations in Ontario and elsewhere in North America continue to be unstable. In the winter of 2014, Ontario beekeepers lost 58 per cent of the province's honeybee population¹. After the winter of 2015, 16 per cent of all Canadian bee colonies were lost, 38 per cent in Ontario².

Among the main threats to bees in Canada are habitat loss and degradation, such as the conversion of natural areas to subdivisions and sterile lawns in urban areas and the lack of natural flowering cover on farms and in rural parts of the country.

Honey Nut Cheerios is mounting the Bring Back the Bees program with a goal of planting 35 million wildflowers – one for every Canadian – across the country to help sustain and grow Canada's bee populations. The pollination work bees do is essential to human survival, as one out of three bites of the food we eat depends on it.

Supporting the effort is renowned entomologist Professor Marla Spivak of the University of Minnesota. Her TED Talk "Why bees are disappearing" has more than two million views: https://www.ted.com/talks/marla_spivak_why_bees_are_disappearing

Marla Spivak is available for interviews to speak about:

• Why bee populations are unstable
• The importance of wildflowers and natural habitat to sustainable bee populations
• How Canadians can help

¹ http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/ecojustice/wild-bees-need-our-help_b_8170216.html
² http://capabees.org/shared/2015/07/2015-CAPA-Statement-on-Colony-Losses-July-16-Final-16-30.pdf

SOURCE General Mills Canada

To arrange time, contact: Patricia Amato, [email protected], 416-955-4583; Emily McCullough, [email protected], 416-955-4570