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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.

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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 40.1705, -86.0228

Estimated forage here is better than about 64% of sites in Indiana. Against other Indiana sites it stands out most in fall (78th percentile) and lowest in summer (53rd). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (right here, grown 2 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.1 mi W, grown 2 of the last 5 years); sweet corn (nearest 0.7 mi S, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), less than 0.1 mi away. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 93rd percentile (spring 59th, summer 93rd, fall 40th)
  • Indiana: 64th percentile (spring 59th, summer 53rd, fall 78th)
  • Eastern Corn Belt Plains: 45th percentile (spring 67th, summer 38th, fall 79th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 16 — Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Main flow: Jun 16 to Aug 15 — Soybeans
  • Season ends: Sep 15

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 6,405 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi W, blooms early Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 5,285 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi E, blooms early Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 2,880 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Corn: about 5,189 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.2 mi SE, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Corn: about 134 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi W, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Corn: about 193 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi SE, blooms late Jun – late Jul

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Soybeans, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Soybeans
  • Fall honey (September to November): Garden flowers, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Soybeans, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); extra light amber

Things to watch

  • Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Sweet Corn: insecticides used on about 44% of surveyed US acres (2024). 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.
  • Flood map not checked. FEMA's flood map service didn't answer. Check it directly.

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.