Beans
Wizard has now established itself as the most widely grown Winter Bean variety, with over 90% of the 2010 crop. Trade estimates put the 2010 winter bean crop at around 83,000 Ha. However with lower yields the overall bean area therefore has potential for around 550,000 tonnes production.
Quality from this harvest has been variable, with beans being smaller than usual and high bruchid infections causing more rejections in many parts of the country. Wizard quality has this year been very good, with good even sized grains with showing less shrivelled, the slightly smaller size this year has also increased the physical appearance.
UK Areas grown (based on DEFRA census figures/Wherry estimate )
|
Harvest Year |
Spring Peas |
Spring Beans |
Winter Beans |
|
2010 |
45,000Ha |
75,000Ha |
83,000Ha |
|
2009 |
42,000Ha |
85,000Ha |
85,000Ha |
|
2008 |
35,000Ha |
69,000Ha |
68,000Ha |
|
2007 |
40,000Ha |
60,000Ha |
59,000Ha |
|
2006 |
48,000Ha |
95,000Ha |
75,000Ha |
Peas
Peas have increased for 2010 harvest, perhaps due to the available land and also due to new variety introductions. New marrowfat varieties Sakura and Genki have much improved standing ability these attributes attract pea growers. Samples of Sakura have been encouraging with good colour retention compared to reports of other varieties. The blue pea area is dominated by Prophet, which has yielded well and suits many different marketing options. Yellow peas are lead by Mascara and Ragtime although areas of yellows have dropped dramatically in recent years. The pea area is still less than half of where it was 6 years ago, the long term growers are now left with excellent marketing opportunities for the coming season.
