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| Fewer Michigan dry beans as growers switch to corn |
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| By SHELLY STRAUTZ-SPRINGBORN
Michigan Correspondent
STANTON, Mich. — Growers shifting acres to corn production this year has taken its toll on Michigan’s dry bean industry.
During a bean plot tour last week at Larry Ek’s farm in Montcalm County’s Sidney Township, Michigan dry bean officials said the state’s growers planted fewer than 200,000 acres of dry edible beans this year.
That’s down from 225,000 acres in 2006 and 235,000 in 2005, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).
The change in acres planted, coupled with a dry growing season and extreme midsummer heat, has left the Number Two-ranked dry edible bean-producing state expecting lower than usual yields as well as the possibility for reduced quality, depending on harvest conditions throughout the fall.
“We have a little over 8,000 acres planted in Montcalm County,” said Bob Green, executive director of the Michigan Bean Commission. “That’s certainly down from what we have seen in years past.”
Larry Sprague, a bean marketer with Kelly Bean Co. in Durand, said, “Irrigated corn really took its toll on dry bean acreage this year.
Unfortunately, the bean industry didn’t realize corn was going to push as hard and fast as it did.”
Sprague told the group of about 30 farmers that he expects the industry to experience similar pressure in 2008.
“In 2008, dry beans will still meet competition with corn, winter wheat, soybeans, canola and sunflowers,” he said. “There’s a lot of competition and dry beans are going to have to be very competitive.”
To top it off, drought conditions throughout much of the state have dried up hope of high yields, which could have helped the lesser acreage
A recent crop report from the Michigan NASS ranks the state’s crop as “fair.”
“The fair percentage says we have a below average dry bean crop in Michigan,” said Greg Varner, research director with the Michigan Dry Bean Research and Production Advisory Board.
According to Varner, the state’s five-year yield average is around 1,700-1,800 pounds per acre.
However, as of the end of July he expected this year’s yields to be around 1,600 pounds per acre or less. That also could be affected by fall harvest conditions.
“We are seeing some blackbacks or blemishes on the cranberry beans due to dryness,” he said while walking through his test plot on Ek’s farm.
Varner told the group of farmers that “a lot of beans are coming down fast this year” and he expects harvest to be a little ahead of schedule.
Last year Michigan growers were hit by heavy fall rains that wreaked havoc on dry bean quality. Many waded through a month of above average rainfall in the fall of 2006 that left beans discolored and in some cases battling disease.
“We saw a lot of discoloration when they sat out in the rain last year,” Varner said.
On the bright side, reduced acreages and increasing demand this year could push prices up.
While none of the experts would give a price estimate, they acknowledged that many variables in the market could mean more dollars in farmers’ pockets this growing season.
Green said the end of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) could be a bright spot for the industry that may open up new potential in the dry edible bean market.
“NAFTA is done. That’s free trade for us and for Mexico,” Green said. “We’re seeing some opportunities there.”
Sprague agreed.
“What the prices are going to do is uncertain,” he said of this year’s crop. “But probably the highest priced beans we’ll have will be the light red kidneys.”
Sprague also said that because of increased consumption and trade “there probably won’t be much surplus going into the 2008 growing season.” He said weather will continue to be a factor in the upcoming year.
“It will not take much of an act of nature to really put pressure on the bean market, when you consider that we have virtually no carryover in any class of beans,” Sprague said. |
| 9/5/2007 |
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