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 43.2444, -95.9319
Estimated forage here is better than about 89% of sites in Iowa. Against other Iowa sites it stands out most in summer (82nd percentile) and lowest in spring and fall (43rd). Biggest nearby bee crops: corn (right here, grown 4 of the last 5 years); soybeans (right here, grown 4 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.24 mi N.
Ranking
- Continental US: 96th percentile (spring 20th, summer 98th, fall 25th)
- Iowa: 89th percentile (spring 43rd, summer 82nd, fall 43rd)
- Western Corn Belt Plains: 86th percentile (spring 50th, summer 79th, fall 39th)
Percentile among 3,000 random land points across Iowa, scored the same way; land in general, not beekeepers' yards.
Season
- First forage: May 1 — Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion
- Main flow: Jul 1 to Aug 31 — Soybeans
- Season ends: Aug 31
Bee crops nearby
- Corn: about 10,278 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi E, blooms early Jul – early Aug
- Soybeans: about 276 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi NE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
- Soybeans: about 473 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi SE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
- Soybeans: about 3,382 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Aug
- Soybeans: about 427 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Aug
- Soybeans: about 2,483 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi W, 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); extra light amber
- Summer honey (July and August): Soybeans
- Fall honey (September to November): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Garden flowers; extra light amber
- Whole season (March to November): Soybeans, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion; 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.