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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 42.3390, -97.9698

Estimated forage here is better than about 83% of sites in Nebraska. Against other Nebraska sites it stands out most in summer (80th percentile) and lowest in fall (22nd). Biggest nearby bee crops: corn (nearest 0.1 mi NE, grown 4 of the last 5 years); soybeans (nearest 0.1 mi NE, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, 0.51 mi S.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 90th percentile (spring 33rd, summer 94th, fall 33rd)
  • Nebraska: 83rd percentile (spring 36th, summer 80th, fall 22nd)
  • Western Corn Belt Plains: 31st percentile (spring 66th, summer 34th, fall 47th)

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, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Main flow: Jul 1 to Aug 15 — Soybeans
  • Season ends: Aug 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Corn: about 8,822 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi NE, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Corn: about 4,710 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi NW, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 300 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi NE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 524 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi SE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 179 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi SW, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 98 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi NW, blooms late Jun – late 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
  • Fall honey (September to November): Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Garden flowers; light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Soybeans, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); extra light amber

Things to watch

  • No digital FEMA flood map here. FEMA has no digital flood map for this area. Ask the county, and look for low ground near creeks before placing hives.

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.