Honey bee forage in Fairfield, North Carolina

When is the honey flow in Fairfield?

• First forage: Feb 1 (early trees (maple, willow, poplar), dandelion, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard))
• Main flow: May 1 to Jun 30, peaking early Jun (soybeans)
• Season ends: Jul 15

Forage available to a colony through the year at the center of Fairfield, from what grows within flight range (about 3.7 miles) and when it blooms here. Dates are the model's estimate for a typical year; the spring index for this spot falls on Mar 19.

What the honey is made of

• Spring honey (March to June): soybeans, early trees (maple, willow, poplar), clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion; extra light amber, mixed: part of it sets quickly, part stays liquid
• Summer honey (July and August): soybeans, cotton; extra light amber, likely to set within weeks to a few months
• Fall honey (September to November): fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), garden flowers; amber
• Whole season (March to November): soybeans, early trees (maple, willow, poplar), clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion; light amber, mixed: part of it sets quickly, part stays liquid

Nectar-source estimate (plants weighted by how much bees favor them), not a pollen analysis. Full honey estimate.

Bee crops within flight range

• Soybeans: about 3,443 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi W, blooms early May – early Jul (grown 4 of the last 5 years)
• Corn: about 3,700 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi E, blooms late May – late Jun (grown 1 of the last 5 years)
• Cotton: about 10 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi SW, blooms early Jul – late Aug (grown 4 of the last 5 years)

From USDA's crop maps for 2021–2025; fields rotate, so a crop counts by how often it was grown. Listing a field says nothing about its owner.

The land and water around Fairfield

Mostly: Open water; Atlantic Coastal Plain Peatland Pocosin and Canebrake Woodland; Southern Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest.

Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer) 0.02 mi N; creek, wetland or wet meadow 0.13 mi NE.

Things to watch

• Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Cotton: insecticides used on about 39% of surveyed US acres (2025). Figures are from USDA's Agricultural Chemical Use Survey, matched by crop type from the crop map. The survey counts any insecticide use in the crop year (not seed treatments) and doesn't say when; ask nearby growers about spray timing.

How Fairfield ranks

Percentiles among 3,000 random land points in each region, scored the same way: land in general, not beekeepers' apiaries.

Nearby

Swan Quarter 11 mi · Engelhard 13 mi · Belhaven 22 mi · Creswell 24 mi · Pantego 24 mi · Columbia 26 mi

All towns in North Carolina · National map · How the scoring works

An estimate from public maps (USDA crop maps 2021–2025 averaged, LANDFIRE vegetation), not a survey of the ground. Maps can't see garden plantings, understory density, other beekeepers' hives, or this year's weather. The point is the Census Bureau's published center of Fairfield (35.5504, -76.2265); a yard a mile or two away can differ, so check your own spot. The FEMA flood map was not checked for this page. Benchmark 2026.5, built 2026-10-19. How this works · All sources.