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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 43.8060, -92.7989

Estimated forage here is better than about 94% of sites in Minnesota. Against other Minnesota sites it stands out most in summer (94th percentile) and lowest in spring (13th). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (right here, grown 3 of the last 5 years); corn (right here, grown 2 of the last 5 years); sweet corn (nearest 1.0 mi SE, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.41 mi S. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 95th percentile (spring 6th, summer 97th, fall 71st)
  • Minnesota: 94th percentile (spring 13th, summer 94th, fall 57th)
  • Western Corn Belt Plains: 80th percentile (spring 19th, summer 71st, fall 94th)

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

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 11,418 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi , blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Corn: about 16,838 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi , blooms late Jul – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 660 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi E, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Corn: about 161 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.5 mi W, blooms late Jul – late Aug
  • Sweet corn: about 86 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.6 mi E, blooms late Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 14 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi S, blooms late Jun – early Sep

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; 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.

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.