"It has been a catchy time for harvesting combining peas this year but, overall, yields and quality are average to good," says Dr Anthony Biddle, PGRO Technical Director, in the organisation’s 2009 pea harvest round up.
"In the north, a few crops of the early maturing variety Zero4 were harvested in record time with over 5t/ha of good quality peas destined for the micronising market.
Most of the south east marrowfats and blues have also been excellent, with some yields above 5t/ha and most with excellent colour and skin quality as they were combined before the weather broke.
Hampshire and southern counties have done very well again with yields around the 5t/ha mark and good quality, even though some crops did not stand so well.
In Norfolk, marrowfats too have done reasonably well, with over 50% of the crop now in, and the rest expected to be cut by the weekend. Crops have stood well and yield has been around 3.5–4.0 t/ha, but the colour of blues has been variable and in some cases the intermittent rain has resulted in some bleaching and skin splitting. Although most crops had looked to have excellent potential, the hot dry start to July put crops under moisture stress, and this had an effect on the number of seeds per pod. Where crops had been desiccated, delays in harvesting because of the weather, has meant increased bleaching and shelling out.
Peas are a bit later in the midlands, and around 35% have been cut, with reasonable quality for blues, but variable quality on the marrowfats. A couple more dry days and they should all be in.
Overall, most merchants are optimistic that, this year, peas have performed reasonably well and the demand is still high," Dr Biddle concludes.
