Bee Stewards Excellence Award

The Bee Stewards Excellence Award highlights Oregon growers that go above and beyond to support Oregon’s diverse bees. It builds on the legacy of the Oregon Bee Project Flagship Farm Program (discontinued in 2020), which started as a way to acknowledge farmers and nursery owners leading the way to promote pollinator diversity through careful management practices.

This annual award celebrates growers who are enthusiastic about bee stewardship: for people who consider bees and other pollinators through every aspect of their crop maintenance, not because they have to, but because they want to. This means incorporating pollinator health into Integrated Pest Management strategies, engaging with the public or buyers about the importance of bees in agriculture, and working to expand on-site habitat for bees.

Applications for the Bee Stewards Excellence Award open in April. Recipients are announced on World Bee Day (May 20th), and receive a sign, profile on our website, and are highlighted on our social media during National Pollinator Week (third week of June).

Feel like you could be doing more for bees at your site? The Bee Stewards program, offered by Oregon State University Extension Service, can teach you more about the needs of bees and help you design a habitat enhancement project at your site.

2026 Award Winner – Brooks Wine

Brooks Wine is built on a passion for farming and building relationships, both in their community and in their ecosystem. They are proudly family-owned, women-led, and committed reducing their impact on the land by caring for it. In addition to incorporating diverse flowering cover crops between their vines, they have two-acres of gardens intentionally designed to provide consistent forage across the season for bees and other pollinators.