Cheerios Giving Away Wildflower Seeds to Save the Bees

Bees are in trouble but Cheerios is creating a lot of buzz with a campaign to help these pollinators.

A federal task force created in 2014, seeks to protect honey bees and other pollinators who play an essential role in food production. These creatures are responsible for making one in ever three bites of food possible for humans, according to officials.

The rate at which they're disappearing is shocking.

In 2015, the Natural Resources Defense Council reported the deaths of 42 percent of the United State's honeybee colonies. The NRDC attributed the plummet to a dramatic spike in toxic pesticides.

Cheerios announced a partnership with Veseys Seeds to spread bee-friendly habitats across the country. General Mills, which relies on pollination for 30 percent of its ingredients, said by 2020, they plan to have more than 3,000 acres of wildflowers on their oat farms.

"As a General Mills cereal built around nutrition, helping pollinators get the key nutrition they need through fun, family-friendly activities like planting wildflowers is a natural fit,” said Susanne Prucha, director of marketing for Cheerios. “Our commitment to increasing the habitat for pollinators is one way we are continuously striving to be a company that not only makes products people love, but a company that pursues creative solutions to make our world a better place for all families.”

The public is invited to get in on the action to help the bees by requesting a free wildflower seed packet from Cheerios.

Click here to request free wildflower seeds.

According to the Cheerios website, as of Wednesday the company had already met its 100 million seed goal.