Bean Harvest

Pull and windrow vs. direct cut, which is the better way to harvest dry beans? There is some controversy about which method works better. But first what is pulling, windrowing, and direct cutting?

Pulling is probably the most common method of dry bean harvest. To me the term pulling is kind of misleading. I picture dry bean plants being pulled out of the ground by hand, just like weeds. Harvest of dry beans is usually mechanical and makes use of two types of pullers: knife and rod. These devices cut the bean plants just below the soil surface. The process reminds me a little bit of digging potatoes.

After pulling the beans are then windrowed. Windrowing is kind of like raking hay, the bean plants are moved into small piles that run the length or width of the field. The windrows are then picked up with a combine which separates out the seeds from the rest of the plant, this process is called threshing.

Traditional dry bean harvest methods require several passes over the field and can be time consuming. For this reason some growers have moved to direct cutting their beans. Direct cutting requires one pass with a combine which cuts and threshes the beans at the same time.

Why would beans be pulled and windrowed instead of directly combined? After all self propelled combines have been around for quite awhile. The main problem with direct cutting is that it tends beat up the beans a lot more. Damage is more visible on lighter colored varieties like those in the light red kidney class. Darker beans like black turtle soups don’t show as much damage.

The salability of direct combined beans comes down to visible damage. Buyers may discourage direct combining, but if the beans look okay then they’ll sell and usually there won’t be any questions about harvest. If there are a lot of damaged beans, that’s when they start to ask about how they were harvested.