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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Forage on the map in —

National map

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 43.0737, -94.0864

Estimated forage here is better than about 95% of sites in Iowa. Against other Iowa sites it stands out most in summer (95th percentile) and lowest in spring (12th). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (right here, grown 3 of the last 5 years); corn (right here, grown 2 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, 0.75 mi N.

Ranking

Continental US: 96th percentile (spring 4th, summer 99th, fall 10th)
Iowa: 95th percentile (spring 12th, summer 95th, fall 15th)
Western Corn Belt Plains: 94th percentile (spring 15th, summer 95th, fall 13th)

Percentile among 3,000 random land points across Iowa, scored the same way; land in general, not beekeepers' yards.

Season

First forage: Jun 16 — Soybeans
Main flow: Jul 1 to Aug 31 — Soybeans
Season ends: Aug 31

Bee crops nearby

Soybeans: about 9,627 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi W, blooms late Jun – late Aug
Soybeans: about 2,947 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi , blooms late Jun – late Aug
Corn: about 6,811 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi , blooms early Jul – early Aug
Corn: about 5,778 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi N, blooms early Jul – early Aug
Corn: about 1,807 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.3 mi SW, blooms early Jul – early Aug
Soybeans: about 263 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.5 mi S, blooms late Jun – late Aug

What the honey would be made of

Spring honey (March to June): Soybeans, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, 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, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Garden flowers; extra light amber
Whole season (March to November): Soybeans, Dandelion; 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.