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

Aleksejs Zacepins, Armands Kviesis, Vitalijs Komasilovs and Robert Brodschneider
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Aleksejs Zacepins: Department of Computer Systems, Faculty of Information Technologies, Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, Liela iela 2, LV-3001 Jelgava, Latvia
Armands Kviesis: Department of Computer Systems, Faculty of Information Technologies, Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, Liela iela 2, LV-3001 Jelgava, Latvia
Vitalijs Komasilovs: Department of Computer Systems, Faculty of Information Technologies, Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, Liela iela 2, LV-3001 Jelgava, Latvia
Robert Brodschneider: Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, 8010 Graz, Austria

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 10, 1-13

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.

Keywords: precision apiculture; bee colony swarming; remote swarming detection; economics of swarming detection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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