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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 42.3900, -93.7292

Estimated forage here is better than about 90% of sites in Iowa. Against other Iowa sites it stands out most in summer (78th percentile) and lowest in fall (37th). Biggest nearby bee crops: corn (right here, grown 3 of the last 5 years); soybeans (right here, grown 2 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 2.3 mi SE). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, 0.34 mi E.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 96th percentile (spring 27th, summer 98th, fall 21st)
  • Iowa: 90th percentile (spring 51st, summer 78th, fall 37th)
  • Western Corn Belt Plains: 87th percentile (spring 60th, summer 76th, fall 33rd)

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, 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 16,162 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi SW, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 2,551 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi SE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 1,103 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi SW, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 2,965 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi S, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 2,235 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi NW, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 855 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi SE, 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); extra light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Soybeans
  • Fall honey (September to November): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Garden flowers; 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

  • 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.