That’s only outside their native range. In Mexico, where they’re from, they’re pollinated by the Melipona bee. Mexico is currently 3rd place in vanilla production at 6.5%, so you’re not wrong to say the majority of vanilla plants are pollinated by hand, but they do have a natural pollinator. In theory, you could introduce the Melipona bee to areas where Vanilla has been imported to cut down the labor time/costs.
The only reason he feels betrayed is because he’s taken an unpopular political position and has tried to strong-arm the academic class into adopting his position. When that failed, he began lashing out through a smear campaign, which his wife then immediately became a casualty of. She caught a stray because he didn’t want to back down.
This is a retaliatory smear campaign to remove anyone who disagrees with him. He wants to hire/fire people until academic leadership reflects his worldview. Since he can’t invoke the unpopular politics which led him to these actions, he’s made Plagiarism the cover of his McCarthyist campaign to root out opposition to his political agenda.
Strange to see a man go to war against academics just to prove how common it is for the members of his class to steal from others, just so his wife won’t feel guilty/singled out.
I just looked at the Wikipedia page and I think it’s fine. They’ve cited some sources which detail the debate about which pollinators actually pollinate the plant. Compared to someone who’s got a degree studying plants, I know basically nothing. I’m just repeating what I’ve heard. If they’ve got a list of pollinators and are trying to narrow down the right one, then they’re closer to the truth than I am.