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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 43.0098, -93.6008

Estimated forage here is better than about 60% of sites in Iowa. Against other Iowa sites it stands out most in spring (63rd percentile) and lowest in summer (50th). Biggest nearby bee crops: corn (nearest 0.2 mi NW, grown 3 of the last 5 years); soybeans (nearest 0.2 mi E, grown 2 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: pond, lake or river, 0.49 mi S.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 93rd percentile (spring 38th, summer 95th, fall 42nd)
  • Iowa: 60th percentile (spring 63rd, summer 50th, fall 62nd)
  • Western Corn Belt Plains: 53rd percentile (spring 72nd, summer 43rd, fall 57th)

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: Aug 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Corn: about 10,026 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi NW, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 4,324 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 1,184 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi NW, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 1,093 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi SW, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 3,082 acres in a typical year, nearest 1 mi SW, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Corn: about 998 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi W, blooms early Jul – early 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); 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, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); extra 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.