MarketsFarm — Manitoba’s edible bean harvest wrapped up in much easier fashion in 2020 compared to the snow delays of the previous year, with relatively good quality and yields, according to early indications.
“When you don’t get a major snowstorm on Thanksgiving weekend, it makes a difference,” said Manitoba Agriculture pulse specialist Dennis Lange, noting the bean harvest was completed a few weeks ago in most areas.
“Overall quality over various bean types has been quite good,” he said, but added there were frost issues for navy beans west of the Pembina Valley.
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Manitoba farmers seeded 204,700 acres of edible beans in 2020, accounting for just under half of Canada’s total crop.
Statistics Canada estimated Manitoba’s bean production at 185,300 tonnes, which would be the largest in 18 years and well above the 109,600 grown there in 2019.
Of the bean types grown in Manitoba, pinto beans accounted for the most area, hitting a record for the variety of about 95,000 acres, Lange said.
“Yields on the pintos overall were really good,” he added, noting early indications were pointing also to record yields.
The good crop has cut into prices to some extent, with current bids in the 27-33 cents/lb. range for pinto beans, well below their highs of the past year, according to Prairie Ag Hotwire data.
— Phil Franz-Warkentin reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.
