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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 44.9378, -94.6963

Estimated forage here is better than about 78% of sites in Minnesota. Against other Minnesota sites it stands out most in summer (78th percentile) and lowest in spring (37th). Biggest nearby bee crops: corn (nearest 0.1 mi NE, grown 2 of the last 5 years); soybeans (nearest 0.1 mi NE, grown 2 of the last 5 years); canola (nearest 0.4 mi SE, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, 0.24 mi E. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 91st percentile (spring 32nd, summer 94th, fall 66th)
  • Minnesota: 78th percentile (spring 37th, summer 78th, fall 48th)
  • Western Corn Belt Plains: 37th percentile (spring 65th, summer 33rd, fall 88th)

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, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Main flow: Jul 1 to Aug 31 — Soybeans
  • Season ends: Sep 15

Bee crops nearby

  • Corn: about 8,486 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi NE, blooms late Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 2,525 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi NE, blooms late Jun – early Sep
  • Soybeans: about 3,164 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi W, blooms late Jun – early Sep
  • Soybeans: about 2,849 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi S, blooms late Jun – early Sep
  • Soybeans: about 2,826 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi W, blooms late Jun – early Sep
  • Soybeans: about 887 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi E, 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, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Soybeans, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); 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.

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.