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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 42.0923, -92.6795

Estimated forage here is better than about 82% of sites in Iowa. Against other Iowa sites it stands out most in spring (73rd percentile) and lowest in summer (51st). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (right here, grown 3 of the last 5 years); corn (right here, grown 2 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.4 mi SW, 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: 95th percentile (spring 49th, summer 95th, fall 46th)
  • Iowa: 82nd percentile (spring 73rd, summer 51st, fall 68th)
  • Western Corn Belt Plains: 78th percentile (spring 83rd, summer 45th, fall 63rd)

Percentile among 3,000 random land points across Iowa, 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 31 — Soybeans
  • Season ends: Sep 30

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 6,165 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 6,087 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi S, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 456 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 1,671 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi SW, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 316 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi W, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 119 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi NW, blooms late Jun – late Aug

What the honey would be made of

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

Things to watch

  • Near a FEMA high-risk flood zone. A mapped high-risk flood zone (A) is within about 300 m. Check FEMA's map for the exact spot.

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.