Spring beans can be a good low-cost break crop to grow and to get maximum returns growers need to aim for the human consumption market. David Jones reports.

The bean area is expected to edge up slightly this season despite current low prices, helped by good demand from a range of markets.

Andrew Bury, UK pulse trade at Frontier, expects the bean harvest could be as high as 600,000t in 2016 after 560,000t last summer.

“There is strong demand for beans with good domestic demand from the animal feed compounders,” he says.

The anticipated higher bean harvest would equate to a small rise in the estimated total bean area to 150,000ha from 140,000ha at harvest 2015, assuming an average yield of 4t/ha.

But with the majority of beans being spring-sown varieties, and so still to be planted, it is difficult to give a true forecast of the likely crop.

See also: Five new entries to the 2016 pulse Recommended Lists

Despite the low average yields, Mr Bury says many good growers can achieve 5.5t/ha and they should be aiming for the human consumption market to make falafel and so gain a price premium.

Beans are currently trading around £125/t ex-farm for the animal compound feed market rising to about £140/t post-harvest in October/November 2016, reflecting firmer post-harvest feed wheat prices.

Growers producing for the human consumption market should be able to get a £20/t premium, making a 5.5t/ha yielding crop at £160/t more attractive, especially with a likely yield boost in the following crop, says Mr Bury.

Newer spring bean varieties on the market such as Vertigo and Fanfare should help growers to achieve higher yields, while another variety Lynx is added to the Processors and Growers Research Organisation’s (PGRO) 2016 Recommended Lists for pulses.

Lynx virtually matches Vertigo and Fanfare for yield but has a high 7 score for resistance to downy mildew, which is the best of the pale hilum-type beans used for human consumption, and equal to old favourite, the dark hilum tic bean Maris Bead.

Franek Smith, trader at pulse specialist Dunns and vice-president of the British Edible Pulse Association, says the bean crop should not be a problem to sell despite the big rise in the area grown and a bumper harvest last summer.

He says the three important markets for beans are all growing and the crop is a good bet for farmers despite the recent sharp fall in prices.

The bean markets for human consumption, animal compound feed and fish food are all expanding, while the fall in prices has been mirrored by the decline in prices for other crops such as wheat.

The crop also gives growers opportunities to control blackgrass, while it can fix its own nitrogen and offers a good entry for winter wheat, Mr Smith says.

“Beans are a sustainable crop and have a sustainable place in UK agriculture,” he adds.

An AHDB Early Bird survey estimated the pulse crop is set to rise 15% to 242,000ha for harvest 2016, largely due to the fall in the oilseed rape area. Last season’s national crop was divided between 80% beans and 20% peas.

After a poor-yielding French bean harvest, the UK is in a good position to supply Egypt and Sudan with beans used for making falafel, Mr Smith says.

The animal feed compound market is taking more beans as they are a cheaper source of protein than wheat, while the fish food market is also using more beans, he adds.