Arcadia Bees
Nucs Queens About Nuc guide Forage Contact Join waitlist

Bee forage check

How good is this spot for honey bees?

Enter an address or tap the map. You'll see which bee plants and crops are within flight range (about 3.7 miles, with nearer land counting more), when the honey flow comes and when there's a dearth, nearby water, a few things worth checking, and how the spot ranks against random sites in your state and across the country.

Or tap the map. We don't store your address or exact location.

The colors are the national forage map: every square kilometer of the lower 48, scored the same way. See the honey flow for your state and town, the best and worst spots we found, or how the scoring works.

Forage report for 36.5881, -89.5509

Estimated forage here is better than about 75% of sites in Missouri. Against other Missouri sites it stands out most in fall (86th percentile) and lowest in spring (36th). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (right here, grown 1 of the last 5 years); cotton (right here, grown 4 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.6 mi NE, grown 2 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, less than 0.1 mi away. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 90th percentile (spring 73rd, summer 89th, fall 60th)
  • Missouri: 75th percentile (spring 36th, summer 70th, fall 86th)
  • Mississippi Alluvial Plain: 52nd percentile (spring 29th, summer 69th, fall 92nd)

Percentile among 3,000 random land points across Missouri, scored the same way; land in general, not beekeepers' yards.

Season

  • First forage: Feb 16 — Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Main flow: May 16 to Jul 31 — Soybeans, Cotton
  • Fall flow: Aug 16 to Aug 31 — Cotton
  • Season ends: Sep 15

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 349 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi SW, blooms late May – late Jul
  • Soybeans: about 5,825 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.2 mi NW, blooms late May – late Jul
  • Cotton: about 284 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi SW, blooms late Jul – early Sep
  • Soybeans: about 200 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi NE, blooms late May – late Jul
  • Cotton: about 1,157 acres in a typical year, nearest 1 mi W, blooms late Jul – early Sep
  • Cotton: about 1,201 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi N, blooms late Jul – early Sep

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Soybeans, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red; extra light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Cotton, Soybeans; extra light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Cotton, Garden flowers, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); extra light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Soybeans, Cotton, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red; extra light amber

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.
  • No digital FEMA flood map here. FEMA has no digital flood map for this area. Ask the county, and look for low ground near creeks before placing hives.

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. Honey composition is a nectar-source estimate, not a pollen analysis. Benchmark 2026.5. How this works.