Plant pulses this spring say PGRO

’The overwhelming message emerging from the markets and from our recent well-attended Roadshow meetings is clear - it will pay to plant beans and peas this spring," says Salvador Potter, Chief Executive, writing in the latest issue of the PGRO Pulse Magazine,

"Although there is limited land available for spring cropping, the demand for pulses for both human consumption in the Middle East and the domestic feed market has confirmed the current supply shortages we predicted.’

This view is reinforced by BEPA president Peter Smith: ’We need to get the message out to growers that it is not a short-term issue. We are looking at a severely restricted winter bean acreage and tight supply for the foreseeable future. Demand from Egypt and Sudan has exhausted supplies from UK, France and Australia to the extent that these markets are having to accept lower quality standards than usual to fill the gap. Current prices reflect this demand, as do forward prices for new crop beans.’

Salvador Potter also notes that, while bean yields suffered in last spring’s dry weather in the east and south, the crop did very well in western and northern Britain. Looking to this spring’s drilling, the choice of spring bean varieties has widened with two new ones now fully recommended by PGRO. By contrast, pea yields last year stood up to the drought extremely well and peas remain a particularly good bet this year in the face of the current water deficit facing some key pulse production regions.

’I would urge growers to take advantage of the opportunities for pulses this spring and to ensure they get all the up to date, independent agronomy advice available from PGRO. And remember too the benefit that pulses bring to your following cereal crop,’ adds Mr Potter.