Netherlands: Acreage of field beans will double in the coming years

The Netherlands has seen a significant increase in the cultivation of field beans, with the area under cultivation rising from 1,100 hectares in 2020 to an expected 2,500 hectares in 2023. This trend is projected to continue, with the area under cultivation expected to reach 5,000 hectares by 2026 and 10,000 hectares by 2029. The rise in popularity of field beans is largely due to their ability to fix nitrogen and their financial appeal, with protein yields ranging from 5 to 8.5 tons per hectare and average protein yields of 25 to 32 percent per kilo of dry matter. Additionally, field beans are a profitable crop as they can be sold as a concentrate substitute at high feed prices. Arable Farming is planning to focus on crop optimization to make the crop more appealing and to allow for large-scale cultivation, even without subsidies from the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).