Nature and Beans in Idaho

 Harvesting beans has been a challenge. There’s growing beans and then harvesting beans and both can be a challenge because of a lady most of us know by her formal name…”Mother Nature”…and she has been wielding her power this year as it relates to beans. First, there was the cold, wet spring, which is the growing part that also affects the harvest. A lot of the bean crops were harvested on time and most of the fields left to harvest this fall were either planted late because of that aforementioned wet, cool spring or are later maturing varieties. It really doesn’t matter at this point because it appears that temperatures could be falling into the 20’s and there have been some wet storms rolling through that could hurt the yield and quality.

 There’s another factor according to Roy Sneddon, Rupert Warehouse Manager for Kelly Bean. This factor is something that howls.: “Right now we’re looking at 35-40 MPH winds which is not really good…the bean rows, if they’ve been cut and they’re somewhat dry and a little fluffy, 35 mph winds will start lifting the bean rows and roll them across the field and as they roll across the field they shell out and you have to chase the wind rolls around with your combine and pitchfork to pick them up and thrash what’s left.