1Crop Development Centre, 2 Department of Soil Science and 3Department of Plant Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK.
Dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L) is the most widely traded pulse crop on a global basis. Export markets exist all over the world for numerous market classes. Large markets are available in most regions of North and South America. Production of dry bean has increased steadily in western Canada for the past 20 years. The dry bean crop is now an important sector of the pulse industry in western Canada. Production of all pulses, including lentil and pea, has grown at an average of 20% per year for the past 20 years. In Saskatchewan the big event in the past few years has been the rapid expansion of the chickpea sector. It has tripled every year for the past four years. This growth has overshadowed the steady growth of the dry bean industry. In the past 3 to 4 years, the growth rate for bean production in western Canada has been around 50% per year. The major expansion has occurred in Manitoba. Estimates for 1999 production were about 200,000 acres. The main market class was navy bean, followed by pinto, black and a number of specialty types such as kidney and cranberry. The traditional bean production system in Manitoba was row crop production, but a significant amount of the new production uses the narrow row, solid-seeded agronomic system. Dry bean production in Manitoba is spreading west and north to non-traditional production areas. The same basic factors driving the chickpea expansion are driving the rapid bean expansion in the eastern prairies- low returns for traditional crops.
So what happened in Saskatchewan during the same time frame? The irrigation districts around Lake Diefenbaker have slowly but steadily increased production. Estimates for 1999 were around 8,000 acres, primarily the pinto class, but pockets of small red, great northerns, pinks, and blacks are also grown. The irrigated regions almost exclusively produce beans using row crop production systems commonly used in the traditional production areas of southern Alberta and Manitoba. Production on dryland in Saskatchewan has increased more slowly, but a growing number of pulse producers are experimenting with the crop, mostly with pinto, great northern and black bean.
Dry bean production in western Canada is still almost entirely dependent on varieties bred in the USA or in eastern Canada. Dry bean breeding programs in western Canada have common objectives - high yield, acceptable seed quality, and earlier maturity for both production systems, as well as improved upright plant type for solid-seeded production. In the past few years, the bean breeding programs based at AAFC-Lethbridge and the CDC in Saskatoon have started to release upright early maturing varieties that reduce the frost risk and the equipment investment for bean production. Breeding for upright plant type also has the potential to reduce production costs by reducing the incidence of while mold. The adoption of these varieties will increase the potential of the crop in new areas, particularly in the dryland areas of the black soils of the eastern prairies.
The CDC pulse-breeding program entered into an agreement with Saskatchewan Pulse Growers three years ago. In exchange for operating funds, most of the CDC bean varieties are released by SPG to Select status seed growers in Saskatchewan. The first varieties released under this arrangement were CDC Camino pinto and CDC Nordic great northern. Surveys conducted in late 1999 suggested that more than 100,000 kg of CDC Camino and more than 30,000 kg of CDC Nordic are available for sale in the spring of 2000. These are the first two of a steady stream of varieties that are early maturing and suitable for narrow row solid-seeded production systems. We expect varieties to improve over time. CDC Pintium (a pinto), released in 1999, performs particularly well in years like 1999 because it tolerates cool weather, has excellent pod clearance, and is early maturing. It is already in demand in Manitoba based on its excellent performance in narrow row trials. We recommend that potential new pinto bean growers get started by learning to grow beans by using CDC Camino, then switching to CDC Pintium when seed becomes more widely available.
We expect that leading farmers will want to participate in this research to speed development of a Saskatchewan agronomic package for dry bean production. The row crop system is already well established, but reliable and economic production systems for non-traditional systems are not fully developed. The challenge will be to develop sound production systems for dry bean crops based on the zero or minimum tillage systems now in place for lentil, pea and chickpea. The most exciting part of this is the potential for researchers, pulse growers and bean marketers to work together in crop clubs to develop the potential of the crop. The same type of development occurred for the chickpea and spice crops over the past 10 years, and for the lentil crop in the 1980s.
We will likely see development of localized agronomic systems that may vary considerably from region to region, based on interactions among environment, variety and local farming systems. This is already happening in some areas. For example, in Rosthern, a local group of farmers based at the Seager Wheeler farm, is working closely with researchers from the U of S to develop a local production package. They receive some assistance in this effort from the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food's Agriculture Development Fund and the Agri-Food Innovation Fund. A similar system is in place in the northeast where AAFC researchers have been working with a grower group based at the Northeast Agriculture Research Foundation. We encourage other groups to form in the areas of Saskatchewan that we feel are best suited for dry bean production - the black soil zones. Based on many years of small plot experience around the province, these areas have the highest probability of receiving some late season rainfall (late July to mid-August) which is highly beneficial for dry bean production. Our experience has also been that heavy clay soils should be avoided. Heavy clay soils are slow to warm in the spring, remain cooler longer, and drain poorly - these conditions cause stunting and delayed maturity for dry bean crops.
So how are these dryland bean pioneer groups doing so far? Well, 1999 was the startup year, and what a year to start! Cool and wet conditions combined with a relatively early fall frost created perfect conditions for causing disasters for all pulse crops except faba bean and pea. In both the Northeast and Rosthern groups, many growers tried CDC Expresso (one of the few varieties with available seed) because of its early maturity. Most growers experienced difficulty with stand establishment. The main reasons were low seeding rate, damage of dry seed during seeding, and poor emergence caused by cold wet conditions for an extended period after seeding. Some growers had problems with weed control, some yield was lost due to sclerotinia, some had trouble combining. Trouble with new crops is not unusual. The most interesting part of this tale is that some fields had decent stands, good weed control and a few fields in the Rosthern area had yield as high as 1200 lb/acre.
In Saskatchewan, where dryland production is considered high risk due to a short frost-free period and drought, we may see groups of producers willing to take a high degree of risk with a small amount of bean production within the pulse sector of the rotation. Variety choice will be limited at first, and the risk management strategy will be to keep production costs to a minimum, while marketing risk will be managed by ensuring that sufficient production is maintained to support local cleaning and bagging enterprises. This model of industry development, small groups of producers working with a cleaning plant, is very common throughout the dry bean industry. This adds potential for spreading risk in marketing, weather, timing of farm operations, weed control - a multidimensional diversification strategy.
Dry bean production systems may be more complex compared to those of other pulses because of the large interactions between environment and genotype. Virtually every component of the production system may require modification. There are no traditions when something is new. The suitability of dry bean to no-till cropping systems is not well understood. The few studies conducted to date have been in different environments and have had conflicting results. Research from various experiments in Rosthern, Saskatoon and other areas in the past 2 years showed that some varieties (CDC Camino, for example) are very poor nitrogen fixers, and new growers should probably consider adding 50 lb/acre of nitrogen for the dry bean crop. Research in some regions of North America shows that addition of zinc fertilizer may help advance maturity of some varieties in certain soil types. An example of this is CDC Expresso black bean. We may eventually find that agronomy for dry beans is variety and location specific. This means that growers will have to remain in touch with new information.
The suitability of different production systems may depend on the growth habit of the variety. For example, in the prairies, determinate varieties may be more suited to narrow row spacing in wet, cool environments. If grown under irrigation, maximum production of determinate types may only be achievable in narrow spacing systems. Indeterminate varieties may be more suited to wide row spacing in wet environments in long season years or narrow row production in dry environments. New harvest technologies such as the Bean Sweep or the Un-Reel may have specific interactions with varieties and environments.
Two very specific areas of agronomic research are critical to the successful development of the dry bean industry in non-traditional areas. One is the development of reliable seed production systems that will encourage the use of high quality, disease-free (bacterial blights), reasonably priced, certified seed as a logical and economic alternative to higher priced imported seed or bin-run seed. The second area is that of focussing agronomy on production of high quality beans. In non-traditional areas, the risk of producing lower quality beans due to drought and frost will increase. Lower quality beans sell at lower prices, and poor quality beans become very difficult to market.
The main lessons learned (many of them the hard way) in 1999 for dryland production systems for the dry bean crop are:
The last point to remember is that patience is required. The learning curve for this crop is steep and it may take some time to get to the top. Start with a small field and work with a group if possible.