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.
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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 42.8661, -94.2860
Estimated forage here is better than about 100% of sites in Iowa. Against other Iowa sites it stands out most in summer (98th percentile) and lowest in fall (30th). 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: pond, lake or river, 0.4 mi E.
Ranking
- Continental US: 98th percentile (spring 22nd, summer 99th, fall 17th)
- Iowa: 100th percentile (spring 45th, summer 98th, fall 30th)
- Western Corn Belt Plains: 100th percentile (spring 53rd, summer 99th, fall 28th)
Percentile among 3,000 random land points across Iowa, scored the same way; land in general, not beekeepers' yards.
Season
- First forage: May 1 — Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red
- Main flow: Jul 1 to Aug 31 — Soybeans
- Season ends: Aug 31
Bee crops nearby
- Soybeans: about 10,373 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Aug
- Corn: about 2,326 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi N, blooms early Jul – early Aug
- Corn: about 1,744 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi S, blooms early Jul – early Aug
- Corn: about 2,921 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi SW, blooms early Jul – early Aug
- Corn: about 531 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi W, blooms early Jul – early Aug
- Corn: about 58 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi W, blooms early Jul – early Aug
What the honey would be made of
- Spring honey (March to June): Soybeans, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber
- Summer honey (July and August): Soybeans
- Fall honey (September to November): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Garden flowers, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); extra light amber
- Whole season (March to November): Soybeans, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber
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.