Acreage of dry beans increased approximately 20% over 2019, and 50% over 2018. Total acreage of dry beans insured by Agricorp in 2020 was 157,610 acres. There were more acres of all market classes compared to last year, except for cranberry beans.
Dry bean planting started early, and by the end of May most adzuki acres and about 20% of other dry bean acres were planted. Cool temperatures and thunderstorms forecasted for early June briefly slowed progress, and planting was wrapped up by mid-June. Crusting of soils prior to emergence was an issue in many fields and producers were observed breaking up crust.
There was an increase in herbicide injury observations this season. The wet spring of 2019 delayed herbicide applications in corn, which translated to Group 27 herbicide carry-over injury in dry beans this spring. Bleaching of new trifoliates was observed in numerous dry bean fields. Injury was often worse in fields or areas of fields where beans were subject to additional stresses such as compaction and root rot caused by wet soils. Herbicide carry over symptoms are usually highly variable across the field and can be worse in areas of spray overlaps, on headlands, and where herbicide breakdown is slow. There were a few days of cool temperatures after planting which may have caused additional plant stress and increased the risk of herbicide injury. There were also reports of dry bean injury caused by pre-emergence Group 15 herbicide applications and some fields were replanted.
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