Weekly Dry Bean Market Review

USDA Market News reports trading of dry beans remains mostly light with moderate demand. New crop prices for all pulses remain steady to firm.
 
For pintos, the grower price in Minnesota and North Dakota is $48-to-$50 per hundredweight. That’s unchanged from the previous week. Black beans are unchanged at $48-to-$49. Navies are unchanged at $42 per hundredweight. Dark red and light red kidney bean prices are steady at $44-to-$49 per hundredweight.
 

Weekly Dry Bean Market Review

USDA Market News reports trading of dry beans remains mostly light with moderate demand. New crop prices for all pulses remain steady to firm.

For pintos, the grower price in Minnesota and North Dakota is $48-to-$50 per hundredweight. That’s unchanged from the previous week. Black beans are unchanged at $48-to-$49. Navies are unchanged at $42 per hundredweight. Dark red and light red kidney bean prices remain steady at $44-to-$49 per hundredweight.

View the October 5 report.

Weekly Dry Bean Market Review

USDA Market News reports trading of dry beans remains mostly light, though higher than recent reports, with good demand compared to last week.
 
For pintos, the grower price in Minnesota and North Dakota is $48-to-$50 per hundredweight. That’s steady to $2 higher. Black beans are steady to $1 higher at $48-to-$49. Navies are unchanged at $42 per hundredweight. Dark red and light red kidney bean prices remain steady at $44-to-$49 per hundredweight.
 
New crop prices for all pulses remain steady to firm. View the September 28 report.

Weekly Dry Bean Market Review

USDA Market News reports trading of dry beans remains mostly light, though higher than recent reports, with good demand compared to last week. Grower prices for black beans in North Dakota and Minnesota remain at $48 per hundredweight. Pinto bean prices are up $3 this week to $48 per cwt. Navy beans are unchanged at $42 per hundredweight. Dark red and light red kidney bean prices remain steady at $47-to-$49 per hundredweight. New crop prices for all pulses remain steady to firm. View the September 21 report.

Weekly Dry Bean Market Review

USDA Market News reports that trade remains mostly light, though higher than recent reports, with good demand compared to last week. New crop prices for all pulses remain steady to firm. Grower prices for black beans in North Dakota and Minnesota are at $45-to-$47 per hundredweight (cwt). Pinto bean prices are at $45 per cwt. Navy beans are at $42 per cwt. Dark red and light red kidney bean prices are at $45-to-$49 per cwt.

View the September 14 report.

Weekly Dry Bean Market Review

USDA Market News reports that grower prices remains mostly light, though higher than recent reports, with mixed demand. New crop prices for all pulses remain steady to firm.
 
Grower prices for black beans in North Dakota and Minnesota are at $42-to-$47 per hundredweight (cwt). Pinto bean prices are at $42-to-$45 per cwt. Navy beans are at $37-to-$42 per cwt. Dark red and light red kidney bean prices are at $47-to-$48 per cwt.
 
Grady Thorsgard - Harvest (black and pinto)

NDSU Extension Offers Dry Bean Harvest Options

This crop season’s drought has caused highly variable crop stand density and growth stages, including in dry bean fields.
 
“Dry topsoil at dry bean planting time resulted in less than optimum plant densities and extended plant emergence, causing variable plant growth stages still observed at the current time,” says Greg Endres, North Dakota State University Extension cropping systems specialist.
 
Recent rains have stimulated new growth on dry bean plants, especially pinto beans. The plants are producing late-season blossoms and new pods (1 to 3 inches in length without seed). This has occurred with plants also having a majority of seeds near or at physiological maturity.
 
Dry bean growers are wondering whether to plan harvest timing based on existing seed on plants that are near or at maturity or to delay harvest at least a month, with the possibility that more seed yield will be gained with the late-developing seed.
 
“The low-risk answer is to prepare for harvest based on seed currently expected to contribute to yield,” Endres says. “The challenge is timing plant cutting or application of herbicide desiccants to maximize yield considering the highly variable plant and seed stages in the field.”
 
The probability is low that the new blossoms and pods will produce mature seed before a killing frost this fall. Also, if harvest is delayed to gain potential late seed, the early matured seed, which likely will be the major contributor to total field yield, may be reduced due to pod shatter before or during harvest.
 
Mature conventional (not slow darkening) pinto bean seed likely will have darkened seed coats if not timely harvested or be stained by rain, resulting in reduced seed quality and market discounts. In addition, if a frost occurs before the late-developing beans are mature, these beans cause harvest problems and likely will reduce quality of the “good” beans.
 
Another negative factor to consider if harvest is delayed to gain potential yield from the new growth is weeds. The delayed harvest option will allow more late-season existing weed growth and new weeds to emerge that will hamper harvest, reduce “good” seed quality and add more weed seed to the soil for field management challenges in future years. Also, effectiveness of herbicide desiccants generally will decline as application is delayed from late summer to fall (last half of September or beyond).
 
“Dry bean growers should manage their fields based on harvest readiness of the majority of seed currently present in fields, which was early produced,” Endres advises.
 
Refer to the NDSU Extension publication “Dry Bean Production Guide” for general information on preparing fields for harvest as well as the harvest operation and seed storage. Also, refer to chemical product labels and page 39 of the NDSU Extension “Weed Control Guide” for guidelines on the use of dry bean preharvest/desiccation herbicides if this option is considered in preparation for harvest.

Dry Bean Scene

The dry beans markets have seen attractive prices as harvest begins. As harvest yields role in, that will impact if the markets go higher or lower. Hear more from John Bartsch of Kelly Bean Company in the Dry Bean Scene. This radio program is made possible, in part, by the Northarvest Bean Growers Association.

Early Look at Mexican Dry Bean Harvest Suggests Planting Decreases

The U.S. Dry Bean Council’s 2021 Mexico Dry Bean Prospective Planting Assessment is underway. The main dry bean production states for the spring/summer harvest. A cursory first look at planting data submitted by consultants indicates the following:
  • Chihuahua: Planting is complete and is down almost 50% from average and from official government planting intentions. 80% of the beans were planted during the critical planting period and most are in good to excellent condition, as of this reporting.
  • Durango: Planting has ended in most areas and appears to be down around 25% from average with 70% of the beans planted late, after July 15 and now dependent on soil moisture. Bean plants are in the growing stage and appear mostly good to excellent. This area is mostly pinto Saltillo beans.
  • Zacatecas: Planting is complete and is down around 15% down from the average. In this case, beans were planted late due to excess rain and moisture. Bean plants look mostly good to excellent. This area is mostly black beans.  
The complete planting intentions update will be available in another week; these are only initial observations.

Weekly Dry Bean Market Review

USDA Market News reports that firm grower prices continue across the entire pulse industry. Mixed demand and minimal trade persists. Dry bean prices are mostly unchanged from the previous week. Grower prices for black beans in North Dakota and Minnesota are at $40-to-$45 per hundredweight (cwt). Pinto bean prices are at $40-to-$45 per cwt. Navy beans are at $35-to-$40 per cwt. Dark red and light red kidney bean prices are at $44-to-$48 per cwt.