>At one point USDA changed their method of counting colonies in the US and the number went from 4.3 million in 1985 go 3.2 million in 1986. ... average honey production went from 35 pounds in 1985 to 71 pounds per hive in 1987! 

> You might also notice in the above example the time frame overlaps with the arrival of varroa and when a lot of hobby folks exited beekeeping.

I am afraid you missed the point. One million hives vanishing between 1980-85 and production doubling had nothing to do with varroa. Varroa caused big crashes about ten years later in the mid 90s (citation below)

These numbers reflect one thing: a change in the method of collecting data. Garbage in=garbage out. 

Peter L Borst

citation: Finley, J.,  Camazine, S.,  Frazier, M. The epidemic of honey bee colony losses during the 1995-1996 season. American Bee Journal Volume 136, Issue 11, November 1996, Pages 805-808

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