Arcadia Bees
Nucs Queens About Nuc guide Forage Contact Join waitlist

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 44.7403, -94.7128

Estimated forage here is better than about 86% of sites in Minnesota. Against other Minnesota sites it stands out most in summer (81st percentile) and lowest in spring (45th). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (nearest 0.2 mi SE, grown 1 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.2 mi SE, grown 3 of the last 5 years); dry beans (nearest 0.3 mi SW, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, 0.41 mi NE. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 93rd percentile (spring 39th, summer 94th, fall 69th)
  • Minnesota: 86th percentile (spring 45th, summer 81st, fall 53rd)
  • Western Corn Belt Plains: 56th percentile (spring 73rd, summer 38th, fall 91st)

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

  • Soybeans: about 11,394 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi SE, blooms late Jun – early Sep
  • Corn: about 13,022 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi SE, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Corn: about 332 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi W, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 34 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi E, blooms late Jun – early Sep
  • Dry beans: about 35 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi SW, blooms late Jul – early Sep
  • Dry beans: about 18 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi W, blooms late Jul – early Sep

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Soybeans, Garden flowers; light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Soybeans
  • Fall honey (September to November): Soybeans, Dry Beans, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red; white
  • Whole season (March to November): Soybeans, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dry Beans; extra 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.
  • Flood map not checked. FEMA's flood map service didn't answer. Check it directly.

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.