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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 40.7412, -89.1372

Estimated forage here is better than about 74% of sites in Illinois. Spring, summer and fall all rank about the same against other Illinois sites. Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (nearest 0.2 mi W, grown 3 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.2 mi SW, grown 2 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.7 mi SE, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: open water, 0.29 mi SE.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 96th percentile (spring 47th, summer 96th, fall 30th)
  • Illinois: 74th percentile (spring 60th, summer 61st, fall 65th)
  • Central Corn Belt Plains: 65th percentile (spring 79th, summer 45th, fall 71st)

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: Aug 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 8,118 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi W, blooms early Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 8,601 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi SW, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Soybeans: about 104 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi E, blooms early Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 2,885 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.3 mi SE, blooms early Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 102 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Corn: about 3,130 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.3 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; light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Soybeans
  • Fall honey (September to November): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Garden flowers, Dandelion, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Soybeans, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion; extra light amber

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.