Found in translation: Corporate tools

Authors: Evans, Jay

Submitted to: Bee Culture
Publication Type: Trade Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/1/2024
Publication Date: 5/1/2024
Citation: Evans, J.D. 2024. Found in translation: Corporate tools. Bee Culture. 5:12-13.

Interpretive Summary: .

Technical Abstract: TECHNICAL ABSTRACT Honey bee colonies can be viewed as a factory, harnessing plant resources and using that raw material to produce new bees and hive products. Worker bees provision and run the factory while queens, when healthy, provide the essential spark for assembly lines. Ultimately, when things go well, half of the new workforce will leave to start a new franchise. If you can harness that split, you have doubled your investment as a beekeeper. Humans have long realized that honey bees store much of their factory wealth inside, as honey and other hive resources. More recently, we have realized how the factory workers themselves impact the output of the very plants they rely upon. Modern beekeepers form the corporate office, largely absent day-to-day but frequently monitoring conditions inside and always keeping the books on key metrics. Their main jobs are to provide a safe environment for bee productivity and to address inevitable risks. They also choose the mother of the workforce, harvest the hive widgets, and optimize pollination services. In this factory model, applied bee researchers are there for corporate management; advising when factory groups should be split, merged, or transported across state lines, when unused buildings are safe for new workers, when resources used by the factories are deficient or poisoned, and when sick days are impacting worker productivity or putting the entire factory at risk of a shutdown.