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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 40.4324, -89.2206

Estimated forage here is better than about 99% of sites in Illinois. Against other Illinois sites it stands out most in summer (85th percentile) and lowest in spring (45th). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (nearest 0.1 mi W, grown 3 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.1 mi W, grown 2 of the last 5 years); pumpkins (nearest 0.1 mi SW, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.35 mi S. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 98th percentile (spring 34th, summer 99th, fall 23rd)
  • Illinois: 99th percentile (spring 45th, summer 85th, fall 56th)
  • Central Corn Belt Plains: 99th percentile (spring 69th, summer 75th, fall 66th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Apr 1 — Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Main flow: Jun 16 to Aug 15 — Soybeans
  • Season ends: Aug 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 16,282 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi W, blooms early Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 16,071 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi SE, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Soybeans: about 47 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi N, blooms early Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 32 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi W, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Pumpkins: about 6 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi SW, blooms early Jun – early Oct
  • Corn: about 48 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.7 mi S, 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
  • 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; 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.
  • 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.