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Weather extremes limiting dry bean yields
Photo courtesy of Michigan Beans of washed out dry bean fields in North Dakota.
A commodity trader says Michigan’s dry bean growers will fare much better this season than their counter parts in the Red River Valley.
Brad Ackerman with Ackerman Marketing tells Brownfield many dry bean varieties in Michigan are smaller than normal because a lack of rain, but white mold pressure was minimal. “I think we’re going to have a stronger yield than what we’ll see out West.” He says, “We may be in that 18 bag average to out west, the Minn-dak area, they may a 15 bag average.” On a recent dry bean tour of Minnesota and the Dakotas, Ackerman says some farmers there lost at least 50 percent of their dry bean crop because of too much rain.
Ackerman says black and navy bean prices are under pressure heading into harvest, but with an anticipated smaller carryover, growers should have some pricing opportunities heading into 2017.
He expects dry bean harvest to wrap up in the next two to three weeks in Michigan’s Thumb.
AUDIO: Interview with Brad Ackerman
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