Peas! Green, Yellow, Maple, Forage

Pulse Market Changes
Russia had implemented a 5% export tax on pea, lentil, & chickpea's which should increase the current floor price of pulses https://www.interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/108916/

India has extended its duty free period to Feb 2025, I doubt that means lots of new export business for Canada this season, but it does give me some hope of good pea prices longer term. https://ukragroconsult.com/en/news/india-extends-duty-free-import-of-yellow-peas-by-two-months-till-february-2025/
Thanks to Chuck Penner of LeftField for the links 

Pea Management
Plant Stand:

• Plant stand recommendations in peas has been at 7-8 plants per sq foot for a long time. There was some research into lower use rates by Alberta Pulse Growers (APG) : https://albertapulse.com/response-to-seeding-rate-and-insecticide-seed-treatment/ 
• It found that there was not a large yield drop by lowering rates but maturity was increased. I feel there is risk to lowering rates too much if there is more damage to seed though your drill than expected, environmental stress, insects that would bring the population lower than expected. I do have a couple customers using planters to seed peas and lowering their rates. They are using a fungicide and insecticide seed treat & peat inoculant on seed good for up to 30 days.

Fungicides:

• On irrigation we usually do 2 fungicides of different groups once at 1-5% flowering and again about 10-14 days later. I think some of the benefits from the second fungicide could be cleaner stems which can help the crop stand later in the season, but thats assumptions on my part.

Mid Season Nitrogen

• Steve Larocque of Beyond Agronomy had this article on mid season N applications in peas to boost yield. Since peas stop fixing N at flowering and for some soils this could be interesting. I don't know of anyone doing this right now: http://beyondagronomy.com/newsletter-archive/january-24-2012

Peat Inoculant on Seed for up to 30 Days

• Agtiv Fuel has been used by us for a number of years now. We use the peat based and meter it on as we treat seed. 40 ac per pail on peas = $9 per ac
• It's good for up to 30 days on seed with treatment. If the temperature is high when seeding (over 20C) then they recommend only 20 days. No polymer coating needed. 
  • I like not having to deal with granular as well as knowing that as long as seeds are in the ground inoculant is on them vs bridging, meter shutoffs when traveling and high humidity issues of granular. 

Seed Treatment

• Most people do seed treat peas with at least a fungicide and most of those use an insecticide as well. 
• Where pea leaf weevil is a risk or you are seeding very early an insecticide may be needed. We always do the fungicide and insecticide to reduce our risk of insect problems and to tolerate very cold soil from seeding early.

Yellow Pea Seed Offerings
We are launching 3 varieties of yellow peas this season making it hard to chose the best one to buy. All will be equal to better versus the varieties we are replacing.

You might of noticed that  we have added and dropped a few varieties quickly over the past 5 years like:  CDC Inca, CDC Lewochko, and  CDC Hickie, this was mainly due to inconstant yields on our farm. 
While others like AAC Lacombe, AAC Chrome, AAC Carver we have moved on from due to seed coat breakage issues. 

Here is our 2025 Yellow Pea Offering and Guide:

• AAC Beyond Yellow Pea
  • Medium season
  • 20% smaller vs. other varieties helping save on seed treatments
  • Consistent high yields
  • Rated fair for seed coat breakage but we have had great results with them for 2 seasons. 
  • High Protien
    
    
• PS Boost Yellow Pea
  • Early like Carver
  • Medium to large size like Carver and Chrome
  • Better seed coat breakage vs. Carver and Chrome
  • High Protein
    
    
• AAC Julius Yellow Pea
  • Medium season
  • 20% smaller vs. other varieties helping save on seed treatments.
  • Good for seed coat breakage.
  • High Protein

Green Pea Seed
Green peas have had new crop prices (fall 2025) in the $11-12 range picked up making them a lot higher than current new crop yellow pea bids. The risk with green peas is bleaching due to rain or environmental factors like extreme heat closer to maturity causing some discolouration. 
We have CDC Forest green pea seed cleaned and ready. They did well on irrigation this season, standing well and yielding about 77 bu per ac. (our yellow peas were seeded later and 40 km away so thought to compare.) Our yield demo for peas on irrigation was flooded out and uneven so we had to mow it out.

4010 Forage Pea
4010 pea seed
Most of our customers use these in forage blends to increase protein in silage. 
I was told recently that 4010's are considered by some to be a maple pea. Taslar (Hasan Taslar 306-500-5522 ) is interested in contracting 4010's. I don't know much about this company but I do see they are bonded by the CGC so thats good!
This variety will go flat on you when grown alone so roll your land and ideally seed between stubble so the stubble holds up the plants better when they lodge.