Growing Chickpeas

Chad Denny, a farmer near Fairfield, grew chickpeas for the first time this year. Denny had planned on harvesting those around the middle of September, but was able to harvest nearly two weeks early. I spoke with Chad recently about how harvest went for him with this first crop of chickpeas.

DENNY: They were well beyond my expectations. We were hoping for 1500 pounds and they were awfully close to 2500. They were easy to harvest, nice weed control - I mean a lot of good things.

Denny, who also grows lentils and peas, talks about the harvest setup for chickpeas.

DENNY: We were all set up to do it because of lentils and peas anyway with the flex header, and it made it quite easy for us - we didn’t have to go buy anything extra. And harvesting them was a breeze.

Although Denny hasn’t seen the grade yet on his chickpeas, he says it should be good.

DENNY: I’m expecting that to be just fine. They looked uniform and (have) good color.

Denny says the desi chickpeas he raised are for the hummus market, as opposed to larger kabuli chickpeas which are raised for salads or canning. The smaller size lowers market value slightly.

DENNY: The large ones are worth quite a bit - I think they’re in that 45 to 50 cent range, and the ones I had were on a straight production contract and they’re at 28 cents. There’s quite a difference in the price, but still I’ll take it.

With the ease of harvest and the successful yield, Denny says he will definitely try growing chickpeas again next year.

I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.