Pulse Crops

Farmers taking part in and getting paid for on-farm trials as part of the NCS Project.

We farm 280 hectares of organic arable land in North Northumberland. We grow wheat, barley, oats, beans & clover. As a seed merchant, Smales Organic Seeds, we process a lot of our crops to sell as seed. We rent out the clover leys to a local sheep farmer. We have grown spring beans for a long time.  Beans are an important part of our rotation but this year is the first year that we have grown winter beans.

Understanding how to drive performance of pea crops, by sharing measurements, experiences and ideas

PGRO have conducted trials testing a range of biostimulants on spring beans, vining peas and combining peas in seasons from 2018 to 2021.

Following the TRUE and LegValue EU projects this LinkedIn group with over 100 members continues to share resources for those interested in legume crops,

In the context of increased N fertilizer prices and efforts to minimize C footprints of food production, it is worth considering how to maximise biologically fixed N from pulse crops and its provision to other crops in the rotation. It should also be remembered that pulse crops can provide other rotational benefits such as soil texture & health improvement, weed control opportunities, slug control, & opportunity to spread workload.

Understanding and improving bean yields by sharing measures and ideas  

Scientia potentia est: knowledge is power. But understanding empowers. The purpose of the Legume Hub is to empower all interested in the development of legume crop production and use by providing access to validated knowledge. It is a platform dedicated to sharing knowledge and successful practices across value chains, from plant breeding, on-farm activities, through to processing and consumption.

This page is designed to give information to PulsePEP community members on using the Farm Carbon Calculator from Farm Carbon Toolkit for carbon emission baselining as part of the Nitrogen Climate Smart Project.

The bruchid beetle (also known as bean seed beetle or broad bean weevil) damages the seeds of field bean and its larvae can lead to crop rejection in broad beans.

Nitrogen residue following different crops is an important consideration in the N fertiliser requirement of the subsequent crop and one of the key determinants of N fertiliser recommendations in the UK. 

Though peas and beans have long been a trusted part of cropping rotations, it is perhaps only recently that the scope and value of their potential is being realised.

Pea and bean weevil (also called pea leaf weevil) is a particular risk to spring-sown peas and beans.

Join us for the third (and final) Cheltenham Monitor Farm meeting of Winter 2023/24. 

Welcome to the new PGRO Pulse Descriptive Lists for 2024.

Farmers working with scientists to achieve the best from pulse crops and reduce their carbon emissions.

The trial will evaluate the long-term effects of pulses in an arable rotation, particularly the effect on available N to following crops. Objectives are: To evaluate the effects of winter beans, winter bean/ winter wheat intercrop and spring beans on soil nitrogen supply annually over 5 years. To evaluate the effects of species and species mixtures on GHG emissions. To evaluate impacts on soil structure and health resulting from cropping differences.

Peas are a very important crop to growers as they provide a valuable spring sown break crop which supplies product for processing, seed, food and feed uses.

Welcome to the new PGRO Pulse Descriptive Lists for 2023. 

In recent years we have seen an increase in the incidence of grain mite (Acarus siro) infestation in all stored cereals and pulses. Infestations can affect grain whether it is crimped, dry, or even treated with Propcorn NC or urea. Some cases have also been seen in higher DM wholecrops, particularly beans.

The lupin plant is a legume capable of fixing N and consequently is a good break crop that can be produced using normal cereal production machinery.

Perhaps due to lower cropping area, resources for fundamental research of peas in the UK has lagged behind that of the major crops. This means that whilst we have fantastic agronomy guides from PGRO, some of the things we take for granted for the major crops such as crop development growth benchmarks don’t exist for pulses. In 2016 an enthusiastic group of growers and industry sponsors, steered by ADAS and PGRO, stepped in to help bridge this gap for combining peas with a participatory network approach.

Measurements of N2O were made using static flux chambers for a 24 month period from sowing to 12 months after harvest.

The study measured the N available after spring-sown peas, field beans or autumn sown cereals in eastern England and the subsequent response of winter wheat to fertiliser nitrogen.  

Combining regenerative farming with a drive for home-grown cattle feed is increasing sustainability and profitability on a challenging, northern farm.

As part of the NCS project, McArthur Agriculture have started to carry out trials in dehulling and roasting beans to start testing for different outcomes.

Beans provide a useful break crop for wheat or seed crops.

Pea moth is one of the most damaging pea pests in this country and in Europe.

Peas are a pulse crop that is part of the Leguminosae family.

At Woodend Farm, we are conducting an innovative trial focused on over-sowing white clover into spring and winter beans and spring oats using the Skippy Scout drone. The objective is to establish an understorey of white clover that will enhance nitrogen sequestration, yield, and quality in subsequent winter wheat crops.    

This Peas and Beans Crop Walkers' Guide is aimed at assisting growers, agronomists and their staff in the vital task of monitoring crops.

Soya agronomy is well established and straightforward.

Among legume crops, forage peas and field beans show the most symptoms of legume fatigue.

Vining peas are vulnerable to poor soil conditions and soil borne pathogens. Cover crops can be used to improve soil structure and health.

Interested in learning more about home grown protein crops but don’t know where to look?

This allows for a good exchange of services between these two crops, as the peas provide nitrogen to the cropping system while the wheat acts as a support for the pea.

To grow pulses successfully growers and their advisors need access to sound information and expert agronomic advice.

This guidance documents provides advice on IPM measures for pulses insect pests and diseases.

The last decade has witnessed dramatic changes in global food consumption patterns mainly because of population growth and economic development.

Protein-rich peas and beans are replacing concentrates in the winter ration of sheep and cattle at a Radnorshire farm.

Intercropping is known to have environmental and economic benefits, but which varieties work best together in a UK climate?

The pea crop is a grain legume, which produces a high protein feed for animal or human nutrition.

The search for a catch crop to fill the gap between lifting carrots in late spring and drilling winter wheat, led a Norfolk farmer to a 19% protein baled haylage from a quick-growing legume.  

Somerset beef and arable producer, Richard Coles, has substantially reduced his costs of production by cutting out expensive, bought-in ingredients and replacing them with home-grown feed, including high protein beans.

An innovative approach to growing and preserving peas, beans and lupins has cut out bought-in protein from almost all livestock rations while also meeting greening rules on a Durham farm.

UK feeding industries rely heavily on imported soya bean meal (SBM) as the main protein source in monogastric feeds, including for pigs.

Nitrogen (N) is not a scarce element on earth but the most abundant forms (N2 gas in the atmosphere and N fixed in the earth’s crust and sediments) are not directly available for plants.

PGRO Chief Executive Roger Vickers talks us through one of PGRO's intercropping trial plots.

Legumes form symbiotic relationships with soil bacteria called rhizobia. Rhizobia form nodules on legume roots where atmospheric nitrogen (N) from soil pores is fixed into plant-available N and fed to plants.

Buying a standing crop of beans and producing 21% protein forage has helped sheep and beef producer, Steven Smith, improve profitability on his Northumberland farm.

Pulse Progress

A Welsh farming family, who grew and crimped peas and beans as part of a government/EU trial, has been able to completely cut out bought-in feed from their cattle rations.

The national crop area of beans, practices of home feeding, and utilisation within the feed industry in general have increased.

Lupins have long been promoted as a quality protein for ruminants and so they are proving for one Derbyshire dairy farm.

The search for a catch crop to fill the gap between lifting carrots in late spring and drilling winter  wheat, led Charlie Davison to a 19% protein baled haylage from a quick-growing legume.

Workshops for PulsePEP community members on using the Farm Carbon Calculator from Farm Carbon Toolkit for carbon emission baselining as part of the Nitrogen Climate Smart Project.

A review of legume phytochemicals as drivers of ‘One Health’ via their influence on the functional diversity of soil- and gut-microbes.

With extreme weather patterns, evolving subsidy schemes and volatile markets the 'goal posts' are constantly changing. At our open day we look and discuss how arable farms can adapt and thrive in the new environment, drawing on the many and varied resources available through Agrii and its Agronomists.

Final report of the Green Pig project

Bringing together a vision for achieving the shift towards bean-rich diets.

A trial to compare the overall effect on the rotation of a bean crop. The field has been planted with spring beans (Vincent) and winter wheat, following 2yrs of AB15 Countryside Stewardship.

If you have signed up to PulsePEP, make sure to join the FREE @FarmCO2Toolkit online drop in sessions to help you to establish your carbon baseline. For more information on PulsePEP, follow this link. To sign up to PulsePEP, follow this link.

n this episode, Ben Pike speaks to Tom Allen-Stevens, the founder of BOFIN, about the latest updates of the NCS Project. Ben also speaks to one of the project's Pulse Pioneers, Will Oliver, about his experience being a part of the NCS Project.

The aim of our small plot trials is to assess the beneficial effects of pulse and legume crops on successive non-leguminous crops, such as cereals, across the rotation. For this year we have two winter wheat trials running in Essex and Bedfordshire which are following winter bean crops and are looking at different nitrogen rates and timings of ammonium nitrate applications. Our trials will utilise real-time soil sensors to determine nitrogen availability during crop rotations and we will closely monitor the trials through RHIZA remote sensing capabilities and via drone flight software, Skippy Scout.  We also have 6 blocks of pulses/legumes growing which will form the foundation for further trials from this autumn. These blocks include winter and spring beans, combining peas, chickpeas, lupins and haricot beans. We are interested in looking at alternative nitrogen fixing species as farmers are looking at alternative crops to grow ahead of cereal crops but also crops such as lupins may be considered for farmers looking at different protein sources for their livestock rations. 

Join us in this special episode where we are joined by Lucy Cottingham from Agrii.

Monday 10th June - AM session only Monday 1st July - AM and PM session

Trials conducted back in 2015 and 2016 explored a range of opportunities for boosting the protein content of the wholecrop cereal silage the Flemings have always grown to provide extra winter fodder and a productive crop under which to establish new grass leys.

Comprehensive nutritional programme based on tissue analysis. Four tramlines to receive a small amount of Amide N to in an attempt to prolong flowering, boost pod development and seed size.

Boost Your Pea and Bean Yields by Nearly a Fifth with Phosphate-Enhanced Starter Fertiliser

About 57 percent of the soybeans imported by the UK for animal feed comes from Brazil.

Enhancing biological N fixation in faba beans holds promise not only to enhance and stabilize yields but also to increase residual N available to subsequent ceral crops grown on the same field.

Year 1 -  Growing C1 for C2 Lynx S Beans in an Organic system and looking at 4 trials covering untreated area and 3 plots using various permitted products. 

Soil health is an integral part of sustainable farming practices for generations to come.

'The NCS Project fits perfectly into our business as we hope that our well looked after soils grow healthy and profitable crops, and being a pulse pioneer is a great way to test this.'

/The trial plan is being carried out in a field of VESPA Winter Beans.  1 tramline will be treated with QLF Boost and the second will be treated with LEVEE.  Tramline 3 will have LEVEE and QLF Boost.  These 3 tramlines will be treated with a control being between the replicated trials. 

This landmark conference (January 22, 2025) will explore innovative strategies to increase pulse production and use in livestock diets. Register HERE

Intercropping, an ancient agricultural practice, is experiencing a resurgence. It offers a variety of potential benefits, from boosting economic resilience to reducing the need for inputs and improving biodiversity. But many farmers still have questions about how it fits into modern farming systems.