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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 42.3576, -97.5976

Estimated forage here is better than about 92% of sites in Nebraska. Against other Nebraska sites it stands out most in summer (85th percentile) and lowest in fall (28th). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (nearest 0.3 mi E, grown 3 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.2 mi SW, grown 4 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.4 mi W). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.24 mi SW.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 94th percentile (spring 43rd, summer 95th, fall 43rd)
  • Nebraska: 92nd percentile (spring 83rd, summer 85th, fall 28th)
  • Western Corn Belt Plains: 64th percentile (spring 78th, summer 44th, fall 59th)

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: Aug 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 3,020 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 7,200 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi W, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Corn: about 5,438 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi E, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Corn: about 2,007 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi SW, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 215 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 305 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi SW, 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, Alfalfa; white
  • 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, Alfalfa; extra light amber

Things to watch

  • 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.