FRUIT VALLEY — On March 17, Firestone Pacific Foods employees established a hedgerow designed to create habitat and a multi-season supply of food for native pollinators and beneficial insects at the company’s farm on Northwest Fruit Valley Road situated in the Vancouver Lake Lowlands.
Within two weeks, Firestone employees will install a second hedgerow containing 396 native flowering perennial plants on approximately one-half acre on the west side of the farm. Establishment of these hedgerows is an element of Firestone Pacific Foods’ Bee Better Certification plan that it created with assistance from the Xerces Society. In April, NW Berry Foundation will begin weekly monitoring of insects on the farm to establish a baseline of beneficial insect counts on the farm. Prior to the onset of rainy season next fall, the company’s farm crew will seed wildflowers on at least an additional one-third acre parcel. Firestone will also establish temporary habitat containing early-blooming flowers on at least 1.75 acres between rows of blackberries.
According to the Xerces Society, there are over 4,000 species of bees in North America. Native bees and other beneficial insects require access to a consistent supply of nectar and pollen and appropriate habitat in order to thrive year-round.
The Firestone family began farming in west Vancouver in 1896. Five generations of Firestones raised crops on land that is adjacent to Fruit Valley Road. Stan Firestone continued the farming tradition and then integrated into fruit processing in the mid-1990s. Firestone Pacific Foods grows blueberries and blackberries on 74 acres of farmland that is leased from the city of Vancouver. The harvested fruit is flash frozen and packaged at the company’s processing facilities that are adjacent to the farm. Firestone sells ready-to-eat frozen fruit to food retailers, food services companies and food manufacturers throughout the United States and Southeast Asia. Firestone Pacific Foods employs over 200 people year-round at its Vancouver facilities.
