Convinced that modern agriculture has made the bee vulnerable, groups of committed alternative, or ‘natural’ beekeepers have emerged in many places, from urban New York to rural New Zealand. Such groups focus on caring for bees. This article analyses the philosophy and practice of one such group in Ashurstwood, England.

These beekeepers are united by their concern over conventional apiculture and its exploitative beekeeper-bee relationship. Richard, a German priest and beekeeper of two decades’ experience, concluded that “the greatest enemy of the bee is the [conventional] beekeeper.” Most other beekeepers agreed. 

Sarah equated conventional beekeeping to “battery farming” that was “really, really extremely bad for the bees, not only to have all their honey taken and replaced with sugar, but to be disturbed constantly in that way, which is quite violent ... there’s all these complaints to save the bees, but we should be saving them from conventional beekeepers.” 

SOURCE:
Green, K., & Ginn, F. (2014). The smell of selfless love: Sharing vulnerability with bees in alternative apiculture. Environmental Humanities, 4(1), 149-170.

comment: this work also cites Jake Kosek, unquestioningly repeating his absurd statement:

> In the last 100 years, worker honeybees have changed: their bodies are one-third bigger, hairier and have changed colour; they have a reshaped digestive tract, and an exoskeleton nearly double in size. 

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