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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.

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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 43.5599, -93.8116

Estimated forage here is better than about 85% of sites in Minnesota. Against other Minnesota sites it stands out most in summer (86th percentile) and lowest in fall (23rd). Biggest nearby bee crops: corn (nearest 0.2 mi NE, grown 2 of the last 5 years); soybeans (nearest 0.2 mi E, grown 3 of the last 5 years); sweet corn (nearest 2.1 mi W, grown 2 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, 0.39 mi S. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 93rd percentile (spring 30th, summer 95th, fall 44th)
  • Minnesota: 85th percentile (spring 36th, summer 86th, fall 23rd)
  • Western Corn Belt Plains: 53rd percentile (spring 64th, summer 48th, fall 60th)

Percentile among 3,000 random land points across Minnesota, 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 15

Bee crops nearby

  • Corn: about 16,631 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi NE, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 9,474 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 795 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 58 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi NE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 1,664 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.1 mi NW, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 7 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi E, blooms late Jun – late 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): Soybeans, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Garden flowers; extra light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Soybeans, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber

Things to watch

  • Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Sweet Corn: insecticides used on about 44% of surveyed US acres (2024). Figures are from USDA's Agricultural Chemical Use Survey, matched by crop type from the crop map. The survey counts any insecticide use in the crop year (not seed treatments) and doesn't say when; ask nearby growers about spray timing.
  • No digital FEMA flood map here. FEMA has no digital flood map for this area. Ask the county, and look for low ground near creeks before placing hives.

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.