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  • From: KAKerby AT aol.com
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] marketing dry beans
  • Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:26:51 -0500 (EST)

The other food safety issue is with how they are prepared (or not) prior to consumption.  The vast majority of fresh produce is eaten fresh, ie, you don't cook a salad to 180F before eating it.  So any bugs on it (macro bugs or microorganisms) are intact and alive at time of consumption.  But dried beans are categorically cooked prior to consumption, unless there's a new fashionable recipe for rock-hard raw pintos out there.  Since it's cooked immediately prior to consumption, the food safety concerns are a lot different than other veggie material, even grown side-by-side.  That might explain why you haven't found much written material on food safety of dry beans.  It's not even really on the radar as a threat.
 
Richard - I read your comments about the need to harvest large quantities efficiently, and having a good way to clean them, before making a profitable go at it.  We are already mulling the idea of (don't laugh) buying an All-Crop harvester because we want to do small grains.  To date that seems one of the more cost-effective pieces of machinery for that purpose, given our field sizes, tractors and crop mix.  Adding dried beans to the All-Crop's to-do list would seem to spread around the implement cost even further, while opening up a new product market for us.  Do you concur?  We wouldn't be going with such an old machine except for two things - first, we can count the number of newer combines in this county on one hand, and they don't leave home (ie, they are not available for contract harvesting jobs).  And second, we already know we want to harvest field peas and sunflowers for our own livestock fodder purposes, both of which are typically beyond the capacity of a standard combine.  Would the All Crop meet your definition of "efficient harvesting" equipment?  Anyone else with AllCrop experience, I'd love to hear from you before we spend money.
Kathryn Kerby
frogchorusfarm.com
Snohomish, WA
Ruminations - essays on the farming life at frogchorusfarm.com/weblog.html
 
In a message dated 1/10/2012 7:06:28 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, wshoemak AT illinois.edu writes:

Following up Richards comments, I don't think there are any special considerations for dry beans. Because they are dry rather than fresh, they would seem to me to be a lower food safety risk than most food crops. I'm certainly not aware of any special laws for them. The closest I've seen to a food safety incident with dry beans was peanuts infected with a fungus (aflatoxin?) that triggered an outbreak. However, dry beans are much less susceptible to aflatoxin than peanuts or corn. I don't think they represent much risk if cleaned properly.

 

Bill

William H. Shoemaker

University of Illinois, Crop Sciences

St Charles Horticulture Research Center

535 Randall Road, St Charles, IL  60174

630-584-7254, wshoemak AT illinois.edu


From: market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] on behalf of Richard Stewart [rstewart AT zoomtown.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2012 8:56 AM
To: Market Farming
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] marketing dry beans

I am in Ohio outside of Cincinnati.  We sell black beans.  This is our second season doing so.  They are a slow mover in our single market partly because of the high price.  We wold have a LOT of takers for the beans if we came down in price, but if I did that I would loose money.  Right now I do not mind selling them slowly.

Our total harvest was right around 1000# in 2010.  We sold half last year and started selling them again this winter to fill in the gap between January and March.   We've put aside about 250# for our farm dinners this year and have sold about half of the remaining beans.  I have chefs that want hundreds of pounds but not at 2.50 to 4.50 a pound and at least one baker that wants to make a high protein "Russian" black bread using them.  Customers also want to buy in bulk and get discount.

We plan to sell some as seed this spring as a local seed demand continues to grow.

These beans were harvested by hand in bulk then run through a harvester and a seed cleaner.  I'd love to produce them cheaper and charge less but I need good cultivated ground for that...not river bottoms with weed issues.

But to answer your question after rambling on...yes, there is a good demand for such things, especially as the Vegan/Vegetarian movement increases its numbers they need alternative sources of protein.

As to food safety they are an unprocessed dry food.  Ohio has zero laws I have found to date dealing with this or the sale of wheat berries or dried corn. 

From a economic standpoint you need to be able to grow alot of beans AND efficiently harvest and clean (debris, not wash) them to make money off them.  Reselling them as seed if you are growing small amounts is the best way to make money off them, especially if used as a rotation nitrogen crop in the garden.

Hope that helps.

Richard Stewart
Carriage House Farm
North Bend, Ohio

An Ohio Century Farm Est. 1855

(513) 967-1106


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