Beekeeping of the future

Tech firms use remote monitoring to help honey bees

From Ireland to Israel, companies are coming to the aid of the environmentally critical insect.

www.bbc.com

An assortment of technical 'advances' in beekeeping being developed .

 

[James]

Hmmm ..... I liked the comment that commercial beekeepers only check random hives in a yard. Not sure they'd be commercial for too long.

 

[Maggie]

I liked the bit about the robots will be able to direct the worker bees to the best source of nectar! You are kidding me! Does the robot do a waggle dance.

Obviously the robots know how to fill out a harvest dec, cos there is going to be a google map on the jar stating the vicinity the honey was collected; as advised by the robot. Well we already have that in little robotless NZ at the bottom of the world.

 

[Bron]

This was written by someone with no understanding of bees, bee health, or common sense, whose got excited by talking to someone/s who obviously have far too much time & funding from even more clueless people. The world is a strange and unusual place! I’ll just be over here, hermitting in the corner hoping commonsense prevails.

 

[Maggie]

This was written by someone with no understanding of bees, bee health, or common sense, whose got excited by talking to someone/s who obviously have far too much time & funding from even more clueless people. The world is a strange and unusual place! I’ll just be over here, hermitting in the corner hoping commonsense prevails.

Couldn't agree more. Last winter I attended a presentation at a university, on research undertaken and written by a Professor and his team. It was advertised in beekeeping circles, and I rocked up. I would be fairly certain that I would be one of the few in the audience that had ever owned a hive. The dept had spent $250,000 on this research project from a grant by a big chemical company (I notice they now called themselves a health company) and the research had been done with two hives over one beekeeping season. The science graduates made it pretty clear they were not interested in honey bees, but that's what the grant was for. There was audience discussion after the presentation, and it was the biggest load of waffle out. Any beekeeping club in NZ could have run rings around this discussion.

I came away thinking what a phenomenal waste of $250,000, all the positive things that many in the industry could have done with this grant, and that these big companies throw a lot of money at "research" in the hope that someone will come up with a brilliant mega billions dollar earning idea. So, yes it's often great that we can hermit in this part of the world, but this is happening here also.

 

[Sailabee]

I came away thinking what a phenomenal waste of $250,000, all the positive things that many in the industry could have done with this grant, and that these big companies throw a lot of money at "research" in the hope that someone will come up with a brilliant mega billions dollar earning idea. So, yes it's often great that we can hermit in this part of the world, but this is happening here also.

Unfortunately this is another case where someone with the ability to write wonderful applications for funding getting the dosh rather than the likes of Mark Goodwin and co. It is the fruit of privatising research in NZ.
Previously Dept of Agriculture and DSIR were allocated budgets, and the spending was controlled by seasoned longterm professional researchers, and enabled us to lead the world in many areas of food production and land management.
I am old enough to have had a Dept of Ag Farm Advisory Officer come to a farm, and within a few days, come back with a proper plan for land and drainage management incorporating the latest research, all for free.

 

[yesbut]

I am old enough to have had a Dept of Ag Farm Advisory Officer come to a farm, and within a few days, come back with a proper plan for land and drainage management incorporating the latest research, all for free.

My father was Dept Ag poultry advisor....a more dedicated hard working man you woudn't find anywhere.....all his colleagues were shoulder tapped and poached by the likes of Northern Roller Mills as feed salesman earning big money.