[tptacek]

If reconstituting new hives from annually purchased queens was economically non-viable, pollination prices --- which is where the money in honey bee husbandry seems to come from --- would show that. But while prices have risen, it doesn't look like they've done so at a historically unprecedented rate.

Irrigation is a much bigger economic threat to pollinated crops than pollination.

[nonameface]

Yes, this is true -- in large agriculture, pollination is where the money is in beekeeping. I know pollination contracts stipulate "frames of bees" to be considered a hive (for example you might need 20 "frames of bees" to get paid for that hive) but I also think you're getting weaker hives out there for pollination. So while the price isn't going up, the size of the product is going down.

Same concept as the cereal boxes. They look the same from the outside, but they put less cereal in it and charge you the same price instead of raising the price.