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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 42.7240, -94.1974

Estimated forage here is better than about 44% of sites in Iowa. Against other Iowa sites it stands out most in fall (88th percentile) and lowest in summer (28th). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (nearest 0.3 mi SE, grown 2 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.3 mi E, grown 4 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, 0.19 mi NE. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 90th percentile (spring 60th, summer 91st, fall 59th)
  • Iowa: 44th percentile (spring 81st, summer 28th, fall 88th)
  • Western Corn Belt Plains: 36th percentile (spring 90th, summer 18th, fall 81st)

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, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard)
  • Main flow: Jun 16 to Aug 31 — Soybeans
  • Season ends: Sep 30

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 2,557 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 2,290 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi NE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 663 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi S, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 3,345 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi NE, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Corn: about 745 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi S, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Corn: about 2,374 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi N, blooms early Jul – early Aug

What the honey would be made of

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