Field Beans – Uses and Market Outlook

15 September 2026

Field beans are a relatively low input crop, requiring no artificial nitrogen fertiliser and relatively moderate levels of field cultivation. They also offer a good entry for following cereal crops with documented benefits for cereal yields. A key benefit of field beans is that they represent a home-grown source of relatively high protein feed for livestock feeding. They also have potential for human nutrition with several positive health benefits. On the other hand, yields are generally more variable than cereals from one year to another and they carry a higher risk of a late harvest and subsequent increased drying costs compared to cereals.

Field beans also benefit from a low carbon footprint, both in their production (not requiring artificial nitrogen) and also through a low association with land use change, unlike some other protein crops, particularly soyameal. Given that the UK imports more than 2mt of soyameal the potential market demand appears high. So what is the current status of field beans as a crop in Scotland and what pointers are there to future demand?

Field Beans - Current Area and Production

Field beans grown for protein have been a relatively minor crop in Scotland with an area of 3,020 ha in 2025. While still small, this has grown significantly in the last 6 years, rising 52% since 2020. Field bean yields are not surveyed by Scottish Government but data collated by SRUC from Agrecalc returns indicate yields of 4.78t/ha in 2025 with a range between 3.95 t/ha in 2021 to a high of 5.05t/ha in 2023.

Table 1 – Field beans in Scotland – Area, Yield and Production (2020-2025)

Year	Area (ha)	Yield (t/ha)	Production (t)
2020	2,138	4.43	9,481
2021	2,051	3.95	8,098
2022	2,720	4.7	12,781
2023	2,654	5.05	13,413
2024	2,919	4.18	12,190
2025	3,020	4.78	14,422
Change '20 to '25	882	0.34	4,941
Change '20 to'25 (%)	41%	8%	52%

Source: Scottish Government (areas) and SRUC Agrecalc crop yields / production estimates

When compared to other cropping in Scotland, field beans represented on average of 2,584ha or just 0.5% of the combinable crop area of 474,801ha across the 2020-25 period. The field bean area was also just slightly above the area of beans grown for freezing / canning which averaged 2,329 ha over this time period.

Table 2 – Field beans in Scotland – average crop areas in 2020-25 versus other cropping

Crop	2020-25 Av. Area (ha)	Share of combinable area
Field beans	2,584	0.50%
Protein peas	404	0.10%
Total combinable crops	474,801
Peas for freezing/canning	9,571
Beans for freezing/canning	2,329

Source: Scottish Government

Gross Margins for Harvest 2027

The table below outlines current estimated gross margins for the main combinable crops in Scotland for sowing this autumn / next spring for harvest in 2027. With gross margins estimated at £683/ha for field beans, this represents around half that of the main cereals or oilseed rape.

Gross margins are only a partial representation as they omit fixed costs and in general, field beans can help reduce these since sowing and harvesting work fall outside the main cereal activity windows, reducing calls on staff and machinery. They also tend to need less cultivation. However, they can need extra drying with quite heavy fuel costs in wet years.

Cereal margins also benefit strongly from the sale of straw given recent high straw prices. Removing straw does however carry additional costs that are not always clearly captured; such as higher machinery costs, replacement of P&K and loss of soil organic matter impacting yield resilience.

	Winter wheat	Winter barley	Spr. barley (malt)	Oilseed rape	Field bean
Yield: fresh (t/ha)	9	7.9	6.3	4.1	4.5
Price: (£/t)	195	155	185	435	235
Grain income	1,751	1,221	1,162	1,784	1,062
Straw income	462	492	348	0	0
Total income	2,213	1,713	1,510	1,784	1,062

Variable costs	712	606	453	588	379

Gross margin (£/ha)	1,501	1,106	1,057	1,196	683

Source: SRUC

But overall, field beans are not being grown due to their inherent level of market returns. The price premiums of beans over wheat have been insufficient in recent years to compensate for the sharply lower yields, despite savings in variable costs. Where farmers are seeking to benefit their rotation from growing pulses, the first port of call where catchment and contract permit, is to grow fresh peas or beans for freezing / processing.

So why is the area of field beans rising and what does the future hold?

Benefits of Growing Field Beans

Field beans can:

Contribute to ensuring that Greening requirements are met, protecting area payments.
Reduce peak workloads, reducing the cost and strain on staff and machinery, a valuable benefit given rising machinery and labour costs.
Bring yield benefits to following cereal crops, including potentially a small saving in nitrogen use.
Benefit soil structure and diversifying the rotation for weed control and biodiversity gains.
Provide a source of home-grown protein on mixed farms where livestock enterprises can benefit from security of supply and price of a key feed.

Clearly enough farmers find these and other reasons of sufficient benefit to continue to grow and potentially increase the area cropped despite generally low margins. The question is, can the value of beans be improved to continue these benefits while boosting returns?

Improving Margins and the Outlook for Beans

Agronomy

As a minor crop, field beans do not always receive as much attention to detail in part due to the lack of knowledge or experience. Recent research under the Nitrogen Climate Smart (NCS) project (https://ncsproject.co.uk/) has indicated that increasing the application of sulphur and molybdenum alongside other changes can significantly enhance both yields and protein content of the beans, raising the crop’s value.

Feeding trials

Again under the NCS project, SRUC and other partners have identified the potential to substantially increase the level of beans in the rations for many livestock both through reviewing the literature and from trials. The potential for increased feeding of beans in the UK could represent a strong market if competitive with existing protein sources or if the market offered premiums for lower carbon protein feeds. There is industry interest in this but this still needs to be developed.

Processing

De-hulling the beans removes a source of anti-nutritive traits inherent in beans and also results in a higher protein and energy content of the de-hulled beans. Further heat treatment can also bring some smaller, but additional benefits to the nutritional value of the beans. This additional processing can enable greater inclusion rates of beans, particularly in pig and poultry diets. It can also lead to new markets in human nutrition such as blending with wheat flour to improve the health value of bread while lowering its carbon footprint.

Making Field Beans Viable

Better premiums for beans, nearer £80-£100/t+ over wheat futures, compared to current levels of £30-£40/t would make a significant difference to the viability of the crop. To achieve this would require sufficient value added through processing, tapping into higher value human food markets and / or market support to reflect the greater sustainability of the crop.

Julian Bell, SAC Consulting

Field Beans – Uses and Market Outlook