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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 43.1884, -96.0031

Estimated forage here is better than about 89% of sites in Iowa. Against other Iowa sites it stands out most in summer (67th percentile) and lowest in fall (54th). Biggest nearby bee crops: corn (nearest 0.2 mi SW, grown 2 of the last 5 years); soybeans (nearest 0.2 mi SW, grown 3 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.4 mi E, 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. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 96th percentile (spring 38th, summer 97th, fall 35th)
  • Iowa: 89th percentile (spring 63rd, summer 67th, fall 54th)
  • Western Corn Belt Plains: 87th percentile (spring 72nd, summer 63rd, fall 49th)

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 17,412 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi SW, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 1,156 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi SW, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 1,636 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi W, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 759 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi NE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 773 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 2,316 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.2 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Aug

What the honey would be made of

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

Things to watch

  • Near a FEMA high-risk flood zone. A mapped high-risk flood zone (A) is within about 300 m. Check FEMA's map for the exact spot.

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.