Bee hives replaced at Giant HQ

The bees are back at The Giant Co.’s corporate headquarters in Carlisle.

Earlier this year, the grocery store chain reported about 60,000 bees were stolen from the company’s 7-acre pollinator friendly solar field.

At a news conference

Monday in celebration of National Pollinator Week, Giant unveiled new beehives housing 30,000 honeybees. The company said it will add to the colony over the next several months and will ultimately house 450,000 honeybees in nine beehives by next year.

In February, the company issued an alert to beekeepers in the region after its bees were stolen. Unfortunately, Giant spokesperson Laura Jacobs said, the perpetrator was never caught.

“Bees are an essential part of our food supply chain and having these beehives were one way we were helping to address the declining bee population here in our hometown community,” Jessica Groves, community impact manager with Giant, said in a news release at the time. “We are extremely disappointed that this happened and are continuing to cooperate with Middlesex Township Police Department.”

The theft comes at a time when bee populations are dropping nationwide, causing serious concern among the nation’s agricultural industry and environmentalists. Roughly one-third of the country’s food supply depends on insects such as honeybees to pollinate plants.

Last year, Pennsylvania beekeepers reported a loss of roughly 41% of their hives’ populations, slightly lower than the national average loss of around 45.5% of honeybees lost between April of 2020 and 2021.

The company introduced the pollinator-friendly field at its Carlisle headquarters in 2020. Giant has been focused on environmentally friendly practices and initiatives.

It recently donated a two-year $90,000 sponsorship as part of a partnership to Empower at the Bridge Foundation to create a garden at the former Bishop McDevitt High School football field in Harrisburg.