Bumper Pea Crop Ripens In Area Fields Wet Spring, Bigger Planting Set Stage For Record Harvest
Waves of spring rain and a market thick with willing buyers has an enormous crop of Inland Northwest peas looking Mmm! Mmm! good to area farmers and processors.
From Spokane to Grangeville, Idaho, farmers are growing record numbers of the split peas used in soups and salads. Lush fields have been putting out white blooms for several days, and harvest of an estimated 191,100 acres of peas should commence next month.
If the crop comes in as expected, it will be the largest in more than a decade - a significant feat for an area that produces 95 percent of the nation’s green pea supply.
“Your eyes do not deceive you,” said Pete Johnstone, president of Spokane Seed Co., referring to the patchwork of pea fields lining highways through the Palouse. “Acreage is up significantly.”
Peas gained popularity among farmers over the winter as prices reached their highest level since 1990. Many producers switched from lentils to peas to take advantage of higher prices. Others, who had postponed planting winter wheat during last fall’s drought conditions, seeded peas in the spring when wave after wave of rain storms soaked the earth, increasing the odds of a bountiful crop and good profits.
“Price was a big factor,” said Chris Meyer, manager of Oakesdale Grain Growers Inc. “Lentil acres went down so pea acres went up.”
Prices for the new crop have adjusted quickly to the increased acres, however, and farmers won’t pocket the kind of money they made a few months ago when the U.S. government was outbidding Campbell Soup and other commercial buyers to secure tons of peas for food aide programs. Bosnia, Sudan and Peru were some of the nations that feasted on Inland Northwest peas.
Buyers on Tuesday were bidding 9.5 cents per pound for new peas about to be harvested, still above the five-year average of 9 cents per pound. Old crop, if it was available, would sell for 12 cents a pound, Johnstone said. But nearly everything has been sold.
As an alternative to peas, lentils were selling for 14 cents per pound.
The USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council in Moscow estimated that farmers this summer would reap 36.1 million pounds of peas, up 64 percent from 22 million pounds harvested in 1994. At 9 cents a pound, the 1995 pea crop would fetch growers $3.2 million.
Lentil production, however, may suffer proportionately. The council estimates a coming crop of 12.9 million pounds on 175,465 acres, down 20 percent from 16.2 million pounds on 222,800 acres in 1994.
Farmers and processors will be watching the next few weeks to see if hot, sunny weather saps the pea plants of their potentially high yielding, quality crop. If not, the crop will be one of the best ever.
“It’s not in the bin, yet, but it’s looking good,” Johnstone said.
, DataTimes