Swarming the Aisles II

Scientists across the world are warning that we are in the midst of an “insect apocalypse,” due in large part to the overuse of toxic pesticides. Forty percent of insects face extinction in coming decades, which could lead to “catastrophic ecosystem collapse” if we don’t change the way we farm, according to the latest science.

Bees and other pollinators – responsible for one-in-three bites of food we eat – are among the insects in great peril. That’s why our Bee-Friendly Retailer Campaign is calling on grocery stores to commit to end the routine and unnecessary use of pollinator-toxic pesticides in their supply chains and to offer more bee-friendly organic food.

To spur a race to the top, Friends of the Earth’s retailer scorecard benchmarks 25 of the largest U.S. grocery stores on pesticides and pollinator health.

Friends of the Earth’s food retailer scorecard is new and improved. We phased out the Swarming the Aisles scorecard, which was last published in February 2018. We revamped our grading rubric and launched the Bee-friendly Retailer Scorecard in 2020. The new scorecard includes additional grading criteria to reflect company progress, and the grading scale more accurately reflects the urgency of the crises of pollinator decline based on the latest science.