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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.

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 40.4075, -89.6459

Estimated forage here is better than about 80% of sites in Illinois. Against other Illinois sites it stands out most in fall (90th percentile) and lowest in spring (50th). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (nearest 0.2 mi W, grown 2 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.2 mi S); pumpkins (nearest 0.2 mi SW, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 1.06 mi N. 2 things to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 97th percentile (spring 39th, summer 97th, fall 54th)
  • Illinois: 80th percentile (spring 50th, summer 67th, fall 90th)
  • Central Corn Belt Plains: 72nd percentile (spring 73rd, summer 51st, fall 84th)

Percentile among 3,000 random land points across Illinois, 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 9,911 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi W, blooms early Jun – early Aug
  • Corn: about 13,651 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi S, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Soybeans: about 86 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi N, blooms early Jun – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 485 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi N, blooms early Jun – early Aug
  • Pumpkins: about 30 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi NE, blooms early Jun – early Oct
  • Corn: about 636 acres in a typical year, nearest 1 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Jul

What the honey would be made of

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

Things to watch

  • Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Pumpkins: insecticides used on about 75% 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.
  • No mapped water within a mile. Plan to provide water. Small ponds, ditches, troughs and pools don't show on these maps.

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.