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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 42.8394, -97.0673

Estimated forage here is better than about 96% of sites in South Dakota. Against other South Dakota sites it stands out most in summer (97th percentile) and lowest in fall (below the 1st). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (right here, grown 3 of the last 5 years); corn (right here, grown 2 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.3 mi N). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, 0.53 mi E.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 97th percentile (spring 21st, summer 99th, fall 15th)
  • South Dakota: 96th percentile (spring 18th, summer 97th, fall 0th)
  • Western Corn Belt Plains: 97th percentile (spring 51st, summer 91st, fall 22nd)

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, Alfalfa
  • Season ends: Aug 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 4,883 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi NE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 4,640 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi S, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 4,998 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi W, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 871 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi W, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 121 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi , blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 1,300 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi NE, blooms early Jul – early Aug

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Soybeans, Alfalfa, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red; extra light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Soybeans, Alfalfa; 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, Alfalfa, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red; white

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.