The reason you'll end up feeding some time or another is this. Bees have to gamble. They have to raise bees BEFORE there is a big flow of nectar or there won't be any bees to gather the nectar. Weather and climate being what they are, sometimes they guess wrong because the weather throws them for a loop. In these cases in nature, they simply starve. Luckily for the survival of the bees there are both big gamblers and prudent ones. The big gamblers cash in when the big harvests come in, but starve when they don't. The more prudent ones don't make as much honey when things are really good but don't starve when they are not. But sooner or later that long drought will kill a lot of bees if you don't feed.
The same happens after you harvest. If you have a good fall flow they might make a bumper crop. If you have no fall flow, they might starve if you don't feed. If you have a typical fall flow, hopefully that's enough to get them through the winter.
If you are going to keep bees, you will need to feed them sometimes.
The philosophical decision is whether to, as a management plan, steal all their honey and feed back sugar syrup, or leave them enough to get through the winter. Not feeding at all is not an option to consider, in my opinion. But leaving stores for winter is.