Actually, I believe the beekeeper is doing the landowner just as big a favor or more so depending on the forage.  I suspect many landowners are smart enough to understand it is a win/win situation and that they may be receiving the best end of the deal if they stop and think.  They're are getting a bit of honey to satisfy their sweet tooth as well as the much more valuable pollination of their crops/rangeland.  Seed is not cheap and legumes can add 25-75 lbs of nitrogen per acre (or several hundred pounds in a cropping system) to the soil each year.  Probably worth a minimum of $5-10 acre to the landholder for nitrogen and seed alone in the less attractive situations and very likely double that in better conditions.

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