When It Pays to Catch a Swarm—Evaluation of the Economic Importance of Remote Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Colony Swarming Detection

Abstract

Precision beekeeping, or precision apiculture, focuses on individual beehive remote monitoring using different measurement systems and sensors. Sometimes, there are debates about the necessity for such systems and the real-life benefits of the substitution of bee colony manual inspection by automatic systems. Remote systems offer many advantages, but also have their disadvantages and costs. We evaluated the economic benefits of the remote detection of the bee colonies’ reproductive state of swarming. We propose two economic models for predicting differences in the benefits of catching a swarm depending on its travel distance. Models are tested by comparing the situation in four different countries (Austria, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Latvia). The economic model is based on financial losses caused by bee colony swarming and considers the effort needed to catch the swarm following a remote swarm detection event. The economic benefit of catching a swarm after a remote precision beekeeping notification is shown to be a function of the distance/time to reach the apiary. The possible technical range is tempting, but we demonstrated that remote sensing is economically limited by the ability to physically reach the apiary and interact in time, or alternatively, inform a person living close by. An advanced economic model additionally includes the swarm catching probability, which decreases based on travel distance/time. Based on exemplary values from the four countries, the economic potential of detecting and informing beekeepers about swarming events is calculated.