Post-EFA Pulse Decline? Poll.

[franklin]

I hate beans. Of that there is no doubt. EFA / greening has also meant they have been worth nothing. Now with this madness about not using chems, how many are dropping / curtailing peas and beans, and will this make them actualy worth bothering about on non-EFA ground?

Quick poll attached. I fancy trying some peas, but have been saying that for 10 years.

 

[snarling bee]

EFA has had no bearing on my cropping decision.

 

[Feldspar]

Dropping the acreage considerably, but only partly related to EFAs. We're just not very good at growing them.

 

[fudge]

Stay the same here, reliable break crop.

 

[Shutesy]

Staying the same here as well, the 1st wheats afterwards is often worth it and I don't seem to be able to grow OSR as reliably as some so need the benefit of a non-cereal break crop in my rotation as well as the OSR.

 

[Nearly]

Held off growing beans since efa came in. Dropping rape now for 3 years. WW WB SBEANS.
Only 30 acres so won't be causing a glut.

 

[Brisel]

A few more acres of beans. Not brave enough to try cutting flat peas on flinty uneven ground with a 35 ft header. Did well last year & a useful spring break crop. I have enough EFA in hedges & fallow anyway.

 

[Heathland]

Yes dropping peas here,l've got plenty of hedges for efa's.
Increasing beet area,which spreads my work load,Peas are also a hassle for me now due to storage limitations.
I'm growing sb on my heavy ground so I need to store it seperate from my heathland sb due to get higher levels of N in the malting samples.

 

[Grass And Grain]

I like beans. Hope the price rises a bit in future.

 

[Fuzzy]

Dropping the acreage considerably, but only partly related to EFAs. We're just not very good at growing them.

How do you normally establish them ?

 

[ollie989898]

Grow em cheap and beans are fine.

 

[moretimeforgolf]

Grow em cheap and beans are fine.

I’m rubbish at growing spring beans. We always seem to get a heatwave at peak flowering and then fail to get a full pod set. However, grown cheap, they at least wipe their face and are great at stretching the rotation and spreading the workload.

 

[T Hectares]

I’m keeping the same area of Winter Beans in, but only stayed in as I’d hoped the area would drop on the back of the efa rules and prices would rise.
Growing them cheaply for feed, but still the poor relation of the rotation by some considerable margin.
Currently Looking at alternatives for next season if prices don’t rise.

Peas still give me nightmares of spending days picking up flat wet peas in the middle of Wheat harvest, and we have flints ....

 

[Fish]

No change here, rape how ever, has been reduced.
Finally learn't how to get peas to average more than 5t/ha, so not stopping now.

 

[Feldspar]

How do you normally establish them ?

Has been straight in with the Claydon. Last year we tried shallow cultivating and then in with the 750a. The only zero-till field we did we did not get the beans in deep enough. This year have zero-tilled some, Claydon drilled straight in on one field and then drilled into Trioed land on some others as an experiment. Winter beans don't do so badly, but spring beans the land is never dry enough. Had some spring beans last year that went into ploughed ground (which should have been better for rooting and all that), but they didn't do that well.

Some farms never grew rape and so had beans 1 in 4 years which I don't think helped. Don't like them as a cleaning crop as they don't clean black-grass or BLWs reliably.

 

[Clive]

Grow em cheap and beans are fine.

Agree - anyone spending more than £35-40/ac on a crop of beans is certifiable imo

Growing same area here, no change, farm save seed, seem to be able to get away without herbicide apart from glyphosate at drilling under zerotill system in the last couple of years, a cheap fungicide and harvest

 

[Brisel]

Claydon drill here too. I think it suits beans & osr nicely on wider row spacing. Minimal soil moisture loss as long as you don’t smear the slot if it’s too wet.

 

[fudge]

Crikey here we go again. Ploughing in the early autumn followed by timely drilling in the spring is the way to go at least 3 years in 5 on heavy land. I am envious of people who can DD in the spring, but it isn’t right for all land.

 

[snarling bee]

No change here, rape how ever, has been reduced.
Finally learn't how to get peas to average more than 5t/ha, so not stopping now.

Are we allowed to benefit from your wisdom?

 

[7800]

No change here, rape how ever, has been reduced.
Finally learn't how to get peas to average more than 5t/ha, so not stopping now.

Amino acids ?