I meant in the short term, however I didn't state that. You're right though, creating a low-maintenance hive (IE one you only have to harvest every few months) would drastically increase long-term profitability. Having to drive around to harvest the honey would likely increase costs on a company, but they'd be at much less risk.

Virtually every farmer has major incentives to keep their own bee hives, they'd be travelling their fields frequently enough to harvest the honey so they would stand to benefit the most for the least of expense.