The arrival of the varroa mite has added a different dimension to the industry and has made bees dependent on humans for their survival, they say.
Ernest is retired and lives in Alexandra but remains involved in beekeeping.
His son Reece is based at Earnscleugh and took over most of the family bee hives in 2008.
They have 750 hives, spread throughout Central Otago.
As part of national Bee Week, the Adamsons will have a cross-section of a working beehive, under glass, on display at Central Stories Museum and Art Gallery in Alexandra today.
Other beekeeping gear will also be on display, including a hive dating back to the 1870s, made by one of the country's pioneering beekeepers, Andrew Gibson.
Mr Gibson, who was based in South Canterbury, was the uncle of Ernest's grandmother, Lucy Adamson.
She bought her first lot of bee hives in 1907 and taught the business to her son, Bill, who in turn passed on his skills to sons Ernest, now in Alexandra, and Walter, who is on the family farm at Wedderburn.
Some of the gear from the early days, including frames "branded" by the Adamsons in 1925, are still in use.
"We don't throw the old [1870] beehive around on trucks any more, but some of the frames are still in active use," Reece said.
Varroa was found in Queenstown in May and has since spread to Wanaka and Alexandra.
Its arrival means beekeepers face extra costs of up to $50 a year for chemicals to treat hives.
"That means the industry is facing its biggest challenge ever.
It's been through some tough times, but this will be the biggest test," Reece said.
"It will result in more intensive and costly management of hives, checking them more often and people maybe looking after fewer hives because of that."
Dealing with varroa would mean using chemicals, which was the only way to treat infected hives.
"For families like ours, that have never used chemicals on their hives, now we'll have to start."
Bees themselves were also under threat, Ernest said.
"They are dependent on humans and can no longer live without people. Without any human intervention, a hive infected by varroa will die out completely," he said.
There were about 3000 beekeepers in the country but most were small-scale - 50 hives or fewer, Reece said.
A commercial operation consisted of 250 hives or more and there were only 309 commercial beekeepers in New Zealand.
"I think there will be further rationalisation in the industry," Reece said.
However, the Adamsons would remain.
"We've all grown up in the industry and stay, I guess, because we just like bees."
