A pea and bean benchmarking guide designed to help pulse growers assess crop development, optimise management decisions and improve crop performance will be launched at the Cereals event by partners in the NCS project.

Developed by researchers from PGRO and ADAS as part of the NCS project, the guide summarises the development of well-performing crops monitored through the Pea and Bean Yield Enhancement Networks (YEN). It brings together key measures of crop growth and performance into a set of practical developmental benchmarks that growers can use to compare how their own crops are progressing throughout the season.

The guide is intended to support both new and experienced pea and bean growers by enabling them to compare crop performance against development observed through the YEN programme.

Erin Matlock, PGRO research agronomist, said: “There’s no single formula for growing high-performing pulse crops, but these benchmarks give growers and agronomists a practical way to compare crop progress against the development patterns typically seen in successful pea and bean crops. By doing so, they can identify where seasonal conditions or management decisions may have influenced performance, while also highlighting opportunities to refine management in future seasons.”

Tom Wilkinson, senior research consultant for ADAS, said the publication – alongside the PGRO agronomy guide and the BASF-sponsored growth guides – brings the guidance available for peas and beans in line with that available for cereals and oilseed rape.

“It’s a great outcome from many years of support and monitoring by the pulse industry and YEN growers. One thing that’s particularly exciting is that because the measurements were taken through the YEN, most of them should be replicable on individual farms too.

“We hope it supports experienced growers and also encourages new pulse growers to give peas and beans a try by removing some of the mystery around how they usually develop over the season.”

Free copies of the guide will be available at Cereals from participating project partners, including PGRO, ADAS and BOFIN. A digital version will also be available to download from the NCS project website www.ncsproject.co.uk  and via PulsePEP.