Arcadia Bees
Nucs Queens About Nuc guide Forage Contact Join waitlist

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 42.9726, -95.4946

Estimated forage here is better than about 91% of sites in Iowa. Against other Iowa sites it stands out most in spring (73rd percentile) and lowest in summer (56th). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (nearest 0.3 mi N, grown 2 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.2 mi NE, grown 3 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), less than 0.1 mi away.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 96th percentile (spring 50th, summer 95th, fall 49th)
  • Iowa: 91st percentile (spring 73rd, summer 56th, fall 72nd)
  • Western Corn Belt Plains: 88th percentile (spring 83rd, summer 50th, fall 66th)

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
  • Main flow: Jul 1 to Aug 31 — Soybeans
  • Season ends: Sep 30

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 6,186 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 4,670 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi NE, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 254 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi W, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 512 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi NE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 655 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi S, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Corn: about 284 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi W, blooms early Jul – early Aug

What the honey would be made of

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