It wasn’t ideal, but the AdFarm pinto beans were harvested by an alternative method on Thursday, November 5.Cooperating Farmer Fred Lukens reported that he started harvesting the AdFarm fields at approximately 2:30 in the afternoon and finished at 11 p.m. with his 1688 self-propelled combine and 30-foot flex head. The total production for the AdFarm fields was 101,041 lbs. of grade #1 pinto beans. This is an average yield of 1,443 lbs. per acre.

Harvesting the pinto beans with the flex head is not the normal harvest procedure on the Lukens farm. He explains, “We usually run a Pickett one step ahead of the combine to cut, lift and windrow the pinto beans. Yet with our October snow and rain and the prediction for more rain on November 8 and 9, we didn’t want to risk losing the entire crop snow. I’m guessing that we left close to 500 lbs. of pinto beans per acre on the field by flexing the crop compared to our traditional harvest method. As always, Mother Nature holds the cards. Farmers try to play the hand we’re dealt as best we can.”

The average moisture of the AdFarm pinto beans was 18.2%. This is higher than the desired 16% moisture pinto bean processors require for long term storage. The higher moisture resulted in a 2.5% moisture dockage reduction. The beans earned #1 grade based on the low deductions for splits, unacceptable beans (pick) and foreign material. The AdFarm beans graded 1% splits, .15% pick and .2% foreign material for a total of 1.35% dockage deduction. This is an above average dockage deduction.

Mike Hallingstad of Sharon Bean said, “These might be the nicest looking beans we’ve seen all fall. Total dockage less than 2% is exceptional.” Dockage less than 5% makes the #1 bean status.Beans rated below number one are paid at a discounted rate.

Hallingstad expects pinto bean prices to continue moving higher. He says, “On November 1, we had about 50% of the pinto beans in North Dakota harvested. Normal is 95%. We had a short crop going into this year. With our weather this fall, I expect that 15-20% of this year’s crop will be abandoned and not harvested. Our pinto bean price now is 30¢ per pound. I expect 35¢ per pound soon.”

With the AdFarm yield, and the 25¢ per pound contract on the first 800 pounds of production, Lukens projects a 30¢ per pound on the remaining production will result in a break-even price. Stay tuned…

Follow the crop on Griggsdakota.blogspot.com

The AdFarm North Dakota Farm marketing committee met via conference call this morning to discuss and prepare their marketing plan for the 2009 AdFarm Pinto bean crop. Before agreeing on the plan, the group heard the following from Cooperating Farmer Fred Lukens:

1. First fields of pinto beans on Lukens farm have been harvested. AdFarm field will be harvested next.
2. Average yield on first fields is 1,800 lbs. per acre.
3. Centrol crop scout predicts that AdFarm field will exceed 2,000 lbs. per acre.
4. Pinto bean market appears to be in “harvest low” with prices at 24¢ and 25¢ per pound at Sharon Bean and Central Valley Bean respectively.
5. U.S. pinto bean planted acres are down 5% this year, carryover crop is small, and an “average” U.S. crop is predicted.
6. Mexico’s pinto bean crop has been hurt by drought and will be short.
7. Experienced pinto bean market watchers believe that market has upside potential to 30¢ or higher after January 1, 2010.
8. 800 lbs. per acre of the AdFarm crop was contracted @ 25¢ back in February 2009 with Sharon Bean.
9. Central Valley Bean is paying freight from Aneta to Buxton, ND (approximately 60 miles). Sharon Bean (10 miles from Aneta) is not paying freight.
10. Both Central Valley Bean and Sharon Bean offer free storage of pinto beans as follows: Central Valley Bean to February 1 and Sharon Bean to March 1.
11. At a yield of 1,800 lbs. and a price of 25¢ per pound, the AdFarm crop should earn a profit of approximately $50 per acre. (The 2008 AdFarm crop was a record $74 per acre net profit.)

A good time to roll the dice

The group agreed on the following plan:

1. Deliver the 800-pound per acre-contracted portion of the crop to Sharon Bean.
2. Deliver the balance of the crop to a combination of Sharon Bean and Central Valley Bean as logistics dictate.
3. Watch the post-harvest price trends with the intention of selling the balance of AdFarm pinto beans early 2010 for a price at 30¢ or higher.
4. Conduct a follow-up marketing committee call at an appropriate time.

As Marketing committee member Jason Laqua summarized the plan: “Seems like a good time to roll the dice.”

Rain and cold weather have delayed the AdFarm pinto bean harvest. With current weather forecasts, Lukens expects harvest to resume the week of October 19.

Follow the crop at: GriggsDakota.blogspot.com

The AdFarm North Dakota pinto beans are now turning golden from lush summer green. (That’s a good thing.) Cooperating Farmer Fred Lukens says: “These beans are now above average. There are lots of pods, including plenty of big pods with six more beans each.

“There’s no frost predicted for the next two weeks, so the crop should finish strong. Our Central Crop Scout, Patrick Estvold, looked at the crop on September 1 and predicted 2,000 pounds per acre potential for this field. The county average is about 1,300 pounds per acre.”

Scout for yourself

Look at the AdFarm pinto beans, including what’s inside most pods and a reminder of what mature pinto beans look like—and what these beans ought to look like off the combine in two weeks without a frost.

It’s all at http://griggsdakota.blogspot.com (scroll down to Thurs, Sept. 3 post)

Recent rains have created excellent growing conditions for edible beans–and white mold–in eastern and northeastern North Dakota. As a result, AdFarm Cooperating Farmer Fred Lukens decided on Saturday morning, August 22, to spray the AdFarm pinto bean field as well as all of his remaining pinto bean fields for white mold. He explains, “Left unchecked, white mold can decimate beautiful edible bean fields. Several years ago, before modern fungicides, we saw pinto bean fields on our farm that had 2,500 lbs. per acre potential turn to 1,200 lbs. per acre as a result of severe infestations of white mold.”

The decision to spray for white mold is complicated in that the fungicide is preventative, not curative. This means fungicide must be applied to the plant while the pinto bean plant is still healthy. A second complication is the cost of the fungicide and application. Fred expects the cost in the $30/per acre range. He explains, “We’ll use the highest labeled rate of Proline fungicide, 5.8 oz. per acre. With adjuvants, the cost of the fungicide will be nearly $24 per acre. With the heavy crop canopy, we’ll save beans applying the fungicide by plane. Air application is more expensive, but does no damage to the standing crop.”

Another complicating factor in the decision to spray this year is timing. Normal frost dates for the Aneta area are around September 20. Early killing frosts have come in late August. Late killing frosts have come in early October. “With this late season spray application, we’re gambling on at least an average killing frost date. We have a potential for a big yield with conditions conducive to white mold. Our call is that in this situation, the fungicide application is worth investment,” Fred says.

He concludes: “We’ll know in about a month if this was a good decision.”

To see the airplane applying the fungicide, go to GriggsDakota.blogspot.com.

AdFarm North Dakota Cooperating Farmer Fred Lukens reports: “Our AdFarm pinto beans have had about three inches of rain in two major rain events with a couple of smaller rains from August 7 through today August 20. Area meteorologists say the faucet is supposed to turn off for awhile now.”

He continues: “To keep the white mold at bay, we could use two weeks of dry, sunny weather. ”

Rain also brings disease threats

Also addressing disease potential, Northarvest Bean Growers Association President Jon Ewy says the light red and dark red kidney bean crop, grown under irrigation in central Minnesota, looks good, but they are having some white mold issues. He says white mold is quite difficult to control. “We’ll just have to see what Mother Nature gives us in the next few weeks as to how much damage we do get from the white mold,” Jon says.

In other news from Northarvest, a minimum of 30 fields will be scouted throughout the dry bean growing areas in North Dakota. The goals of the survey are to assess the impacts of different diseases on edible beans, detect any new diseases, and collect any diseases that attract the pathologists’ attention. It was during this survey last year that the new race of rust was collected and identified, thanks in large part to several consultants and growers who pointed researchers to several suspect fields or sent in samples. The data generated in the survey helps plant pathologists develop management strategies and determine future pathology needs.

As for AdFarm North Dakota’s pinto beans, Fred says: “Disease issues (white mold and rust) and early frost are now the biggest threats to our pinto bean crop, yet the current yield potential of our crop is very good.”

Follow the crop more closely at http://griggsdakota.blogspot.com