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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 42.7720, -91.8780

Estimated forage here is better than about 43% of sites in Iowa. Against other Iowa sites it stands out most in spring and fall (65th percentile) and lowest in summer (38th). Biggest nearby bee crops: corn (nearest 0.1 mi SE); soybeans (nearest 0.1 mi E, grown 3 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.2 mi W, grown 4 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, 0.1 mi E. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 90th percentile (spring 42nd, summer 93rd, fall 44th)
  • Iowa: 43rd percentile (spring 65th, summer 38th, fall 65th)
  • Western Corn Belt Plains: 35th percentile (spring 76th, summer 29th, fall 59th)

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 31 — Soybeans
  • Season ends: Sep 15

Bee crops nearby

  • Corn: about 10,449 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi SE, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 2,306 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 2,816 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi NW, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 176 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi W, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 745 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 1,298 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi S, blooms late Jun – late 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); extra light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Soybeans, Alfalfa; white
  • Fall honey (September to November): Alfalfa, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Garden flowers; extra light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Soybeans, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Alfalfa; 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.