The bee-industrial complex is a quagmire linked to antiquity and the modern world.


I'm another who thinks this sentence is aptly worded. I have a farm, range, dairy, and agriculture cropping service background (1950s through 1966).

I experienced cereal grain harvesting transition from stationary thrashing machines to towable combines to self-driving combines that map protein content and yield while harvesting the crop. Furthermore, yield mapping is used to control the amount of seed and fertilizer applied, the application changing across the field (e.g., heavier application to low yield areas, less for those with expected maximum yield.

Dairy has little resemblance to the small family farm of my youth. We had milking machines, unless the power went out. That's primitive compared to today's dairies with automated washers, robotic milking, cows on a carousel, ear-tagged with RFID tags, and the ability to generate production and health records for each cow throughout her productive life.  In addition, they can change the diets to best meet the needs of each cow.

Data driven, yield charting, precision agriculture has become the norm for much of agriculture, but beekeeping is still rooted in the mid-1800s.  
Jerry  

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