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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 42.1496, -96.4903

Estimated forage here is better than about 90% of sites in Nebraska. Against other Nebraska sites it stands out most in spring (88th percentile) and lowest in fall (31st). Biggest nearby bee crops: corn (nearest 0.2 mi NE, grown 2 of the last 5 years); soybeans (nearest 0.3 mi NE, grown 1 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.8 mi SE, grown 3 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), less than 0.1 mi away.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 93rd percentile (spring 46th, summer 94th, fall 49th)
  • Nebraska: 90th percentile (spring 88th, summer 82nd, fall 31st)
  • Western Corn Belt Plains: 54th percentile (spring 80th, summer 36th, fall 66th)

Percentile among 3,000 random land points across Nebraska, 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: Sep 15

Bee crops nearby

  • Corn: about 8,263 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi S, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 2,732 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi NE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 2,782 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi SE, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 178 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi S, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 627 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 1,328 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi E, blooms early Jul – early Aug

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, Alfalfa; white
  • Fall honey (September to November): Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Garden flowers, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Soybeans, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); 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.