Spring Beans

Spring beans are a good break from cereal crops with many excellent rotational crop benefits.

A great contributor of residual nitrogen, spring beans have many plus points, such as enabling growers to take advantage of their excellent soil enhancing capabilities.

Growers should aim to produce a quality marketable crop so that they can target opportunities into all available markets. Key areas to watch out for are bruchid beetle and staining – areas that can be helped with good husbandry and attention to detail.

It is always advisable with larger seeded pulses to handle and dry the product gently to avoid cracking and splitting of grains.

For more information, speak to your Agrii agronomist or call your local seed contact

Export uptake varies from year to year and is driven by North African demand. This market also sources supplies from France, the Baltics, Canada and Australia.

These competitor crops, like us, also have key issues to manage so patience and good marketing may be required to ensure returns are maximised.

Forward contracts for Harvest 2023 will be available as demand dictates. These usually relate to premiums over the Liffe feed wheat price, with additional premiums over that for achieving reasonable quality criteria.

Choice of variety is a key factor in this process, where demand is strong then most varieties of the right quality will find homes. When demand is less, buyers will prefer the larger seeded and more evenly sized types.

Varieties with low vicene and convicene (LVC) offer additional benefits into animal feed. These will increase in market share as they grow in popularity, particularly as yield performance matches the best conventional types.