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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 42.7449, -96.8324

Estimated forage here is better than about 91% of sites in South Dakota. Against other South Dakota sites it stands out most in summer (96th percentile) and lowest in fall (below the 1st). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (right here, grown 2 of the last 5 years); corn (right here, grown 3 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.34 mi S.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 95th percentile (spring 19th, summer 98th, fall 15th)
  • South Dakota: 91st percentile (spring 15th, summer 96th, fall 0th)
  • Western Corn Belt Plains: 80th percentile (spring 48th, summer 77th, fall 24th)

Percentile among 3,000 random land points across South Dakota, scored the same way; land in general, not beekeepers' yards.

Season

  • First forage: May 1 — Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion
  • Main flow: Jun 16 to Aug 15 — Soybeans
  • Season ends: Aug 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 6,336 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi , blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 7,475 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi , blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 74 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi SW, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 968 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.2 mi SW, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 261 acres in a typical year, nearest 2 mi NE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 1,356 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.2 mi S, 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
  • Fall honey (September to November): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Garden flowers; light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Soybeans, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red; 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.