Sustainability and regionality are at the heart of TRIGEMA's corporate philosophy. Our slogan “100% Made in Germany” is therefore not only an advertising promise, but also means taking responsibility. Responsibility for 1200 jobs and our environment. As the staff park gradually became greener, we had the idea to create an additional habitat for insects.
Sustainability at TRIGEMA
Our Bees
The idea of being able to produce their own honey through their own bee colonies was immediately met with enthusiasm. For this reason, five bee colonies are now home to the TRIGEMA company premises and female employees from our family are trained to take care of the bees regularly and professionally in cooperation with a professional beekeeper.
After all, there is always something to do with the diligent pollen collectors. It is important to acquire basic knowledge in order to be able to respond to the diverse needs of bees and to keep the hive healthy and clean. Since bees are naturally non-aggressive, working with them is basically a harmless business and thus for our employees a relaxing balance to everyday work, when you are still outdoors in nature.
However, the decision for our bees was not only positive because of the honey, after all, bees make an invaluable contribution to biodiversity and the natural environment thanks to their pollination performance. Bees are also indispensable for agriculture, as they help to secure harvests and increase yields. For us at TRIGEMA, it was therefore obvious to safeguard the existence of the bees through our own efforts, to promote them and to improve their habitat.
After all, there is always something to do with the diligent pollen collectors. It is important to acquire basic knowledge in order to be able to respond to the diverse needs of bees and to keep the hive healthy and clean. Since bees are naturally non-aggressive, working with them is basically a harmless business and thus for our employees a relaxing balance to everyday work, when you are still outdoors in nature.
However, the decision for our bees was not only positive because of the honey, after all, bees make an invaluable contribution to biodiversity and the natural environment thanks to their pollination performance. Bees are also indispensable for agriculture, as they help to secure harvests and increase yields. For us at TRIGEMA, it was therefore obvious to safeguard the existence of the bees through our own efforts, to promote them and to improve their habitat.
Bees as the most important pollinators for crops and wild plants
To collect honeydew, nectar or pollen, bees need a pasture full of flowers and blossom diversity, which is created around the location of our bees on the TRIGEMA site. Flowering meadows with their colourful splendour also enrich our landscapes and make them worth living for people looking for recreation, but of course also for the numerous insects whose existence depends on this rich offer.
In Baden-Württemberg alone, nectar and pollen provide food for more than 450 species of bees and feed their young. And since, as in many areas of life, it is a constant give and take, the plants with their flowers depend on the diligent bees for their reproduction. When collecting nectar and pollen, these pollen transfer and thus play a key role in landscape ecosystems. Without their considerable pollination performance, it is not possible for cultivated or wild plants to produce fruits or seeds.
Bees are the most important animal species responsible for pollination of about 3000 crops and wild plants and for more than 75% of fruit crops. Without them, there would be fewer pollinated flowers and thus hardly any fruit formation. In many crops, there is also a direct correlation between the visit of the honeybees and the resulting yield. For example, rapeseed pods form more grains the more often they are visited by bees. The importance of wild bees in comparison should not be overlooked either. Many important crops such as beans, peas and clover are pollinated exclusively by them.
Without bees, there would be hardly any fruit – and of course no cotton!
This means that without bees, we would not have the basis for large parts of our high-quality clothing and would ultimately not be able to offer you the great variety of colours in many products. Since we do not want to imagine a world without colors, we are happy to contribute to the preservation of the bees, without which there would be no beautiful sea of flowers!
Perhaps the community within a colony of bees also reminded us a little of our TRIGEMA family. Each member of the bee colony has an important role to play and thus contributes to the good of the community. Everything is organised down to the last detail and there is a great deal of cohesion.
The responsibility of the beekeeper goes into detail
To work as a beekeeper, it is crucial to know the environment in which the bees live down to the last detail. For example, you need to know at all times which costumes bloom at which time and which weather is coming, i. e. whether it may be too cold or too dry for the bees. To do this, the beekeeper must pay regular visits to his bee colonies to ensure that they are doing well. Thereby it is checked which costume the bees are currently entering, whether it is possible to determine whether a pure variety or a mixed honey is produced from it. Depending on the time at which the honeycombs will be removed is decided.
Once or three times a year, the highlight of every beekeeper's work takes place: the harvest of their own honey! So there is a morning costume, a summer costume and a late costume before the wintering of the bees. In order to get the precious bee gold, the beekeeper has to get the honeycombs from the hive. After these are opened, the honey can be obtained by a spinning process. The honey is then sieved, stirred and bottled before it is stored and sold.
The first harvest of our own TRIGEMA honey has already taken place. As you can see on the pictures, we had hard-working support from our family during the spinning up to the bottling of our first own TRIGEMA honey, which we offered for sale under the quality mark “100% Made in Germany” in the test shop in Burladingen. Thanks to the active support of our beekeeper, the whole thing worked out perfectly and was even very informative due to his extensive knowledge.
For example, did you know how to identify pure organic honey?
There is a small test in which you put a small amount of the harvested honey into a plate and add a little water. This mixture is slightly swirled and if you then form the structure of the honeycomb, it is pure organic honey!
The home of TRIGEMA in every drop of honey
Honey is a unique food and drink that can only be produced by honey bees. They collect sweet juices from plants and turn them into honey in the honeycomb cells of the hive. Honey contains more than 180 different ingredients, including enzymes, easily digestible carbohydrates such as fruit and grape sugar, minerals, trace elements, vitamins, antibacterial agents and other important nutrients that make it particularly valuable and healthy. Honey also reflects the landscape in which the bee colony is at home – in our case the Swabian Alb. The aroma, taste and consistency of the honey are influenced by the flowering plants that grow in the immediate vicinity of the location of the bee colonies. We can promote this factor of regionality by using local wildflower seeds.