Not only is there a valuable crop to bring in, harvest is also the time of year for gleaning plenty of new information and insights into different and new varieties of edible beans — how they yielded and performed in different geographies and conditions.
In this new Edible Bean School episode, Dennis Lange, pulse specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, takes us along for a visit to the variety evaluation trials funded by Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s research centre in Morden, Manitoba.
Similar to other trials in other dry bean growing areas, the plots provide an opportunity for growers to compare different options, and for companies to test and showcase new varieties that they’re considering bringing to the Canadian market.
“When we are introducing or testing new lines in this trial, we want to make sure those lines are equally as good as the check variety in not only yield, but in quality. You’re looking at something with better pod height, better disease resistance, those are all the things that we look at in these trials,” he explains.
The data collected from variety trials is especially important with specialty crops like dry beans where one variety often dominates a market class, notes Lange.
“An example of this, going back a number of years, we used to grow a variety called Harblack in Manitoba. We relied only on that one variety and didn’t have a really a lot of other options, but we ran into some issues with hard seeds and purpling, and that changed the industry a little,” he says. “What we find now is that, we may have one major variety per class, but we also have two or three others as our backup, if you want to call it that.”
Check out the latest Edible Bean School episode, brought to you by Hensall Co-op, featuring bean industry veteran Dennis Lange, discussing variety trials and more (article continues below):
As for trends in new varieties, the industry is seeing more upright beans that can be direct-harvested rather than undercut, notes Lange. New black bean genetics developed in Saskatchewan with shorter maturity have also enabled expansion of acres into western Manitoba. On the end-use side, he says the move to more slow darkening pinto varieties has helped the industry with extending shelf life.
While there was talk last winter of Manitoba growers possibly planting 200 thousand acres of edible beans due to strong prices, crop insurance data shows the actual number of acres ended up around 172 thousand.
“The big acre increase was in pintos, which were well over 100 thousand, and that’s the first time we’ve ever hit that number,” notes Lange. “And on black beans, we ended up with about 30,000 acres — there’s definitely lots of potential and lots of excitement there.”
A portion of those acres were hit with excessive rains last week, likely affecting the quality of the crop, especially for beans that were already undercut, with dry bean harvest in Manitoba estimated to be at the 25 per cent complete mark.
Harvest has also started in Ontario. AgriCorp data shows around 116 thousand acres of dry beans were insured in Ontario this year, led by nearly 47 thousand acres of white beans and more than 18 thousand acres of adzuki beans.
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