MarketsFarm — Manitoba could be looking at its largest edible bean crop in over a decade, as acres were up and early development generally looks good.

Manitoba farmers seeded an estimated 163,700 acres of edible beans in 2019, according to Statistics Canada data. That would be up 20 per cent on the year and marks the largest bean acreage in the province since 2006.

Seeding went as planned, although the beans were slower coming out of the ground due to cooler spring conditions, said Manitoba Agriculture pulse specialist Dennis Lange.

Much of southern Manitoba received rain over the past week.

“Depending on where you are, it will either be just about perfect or way too much,” said Lange.

The wettest areas were not prime edible bean areas, “so overall we should be pretty good,” he added.

Edible beans do better in dry conditions than soybeans and lower yields for soybeans over the past few dry years likely contributed to farmers switching some acres out of soybeans and back into edible beans, according to Lange.

Manitoba farmers seeded an estimated 1.47 million acres of soybeans in 2019, which would be down by roughly 400,000 from the previous year, according to Statistics Canada data.

Navy beans are currently priced in the 32-37 cents/lb. area, according to Prairie Ag Hotwire data. Pintos top out at 28 cents and black beans at 33 cents. Light kidney beans and cranberry beans are both in the 44-45 cents/lb. area.

— Phil Franz-Warkentin writes for MarketsFarm, a Glacier FarmMedia division specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.