US Dry Bean 2022 Crop Report/
An in-depth look at acreages, production, yields and export demand

After a 2021 that fell far below expectations for American dry beans, farmers and traders alike had been hoping for a more prosperous year for dry bean crops. Luke Wilkinson chatted with industry experts from around the different growing regions to provide an overview of this year’s harvest and understand how it compares to last year. 

2021 Drought Brought US Bean Acreage Down, but Production Set to Rise 

The effect of 2021’s drought was reflected in the drastic changes in production levels within certain bean classes. The pinto bean, the USA’s most produced bean, fell by over 44% year-on-year. Black beans, the second most produced, fell by over 29% year-on-year. Other classes of beans were less affected, as only some parts of the USA’s growing regions for dry beans were severely impacted by the drought. 

“The Minn-Dak region, that’s North Dakota and Minnesota, suffered from severe drought and only got about half a crop,” says Joe Cramer, Executive Director of the Michigan Bean Commission, “Their acreage is big, between 600,000 and 800,000 acres every year and they're only producing an average of 10 bags (100 lbs) rather than 16, 17, or 18.”

This wasn't the case for every region, however. “Here in Michigan," continues Cramer, "we were the exact opposite. We had a record year last year setting a new record average yield at 24.1 bags per acre.”

Despite this, US dry bean acreage is down across the board in 2022. In October, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that dry bean area was forecast to have fallen by 10% to 1,251,000 acres as a result of a smaller seeded area in the North Dakota and Minnesota regions. In spite of the smaller acreage, dry bean production was forecast to rise to just over 1.14 million tons - an uptick of around 11%.

Looking in more detail at each class of bean and exploring production levels, it is clear that improved yields are behind the jump in production in the face of a somewhat diminished acreage.

Successful Harvest in the Big Bean States

In the largest states for dry bean production, things have gone much better overall than last year, says Samuel Peck, of Jack’s Bean International, a specialist in bean processing based in Colorado, “In general, throughout the United States we didn't have a lot of problems with the harvest that you can sometimes have, like rains, delays, or snow. Our yields in North Dakota are very good – above average.”

Michigan, on the other hand, had some issues after a promising beginning to the planting season. Joe Cramer explains: “We had a pretty good start to the planting season - good conditions and the crop went in a little earlier than usual. Then things turned a bit dry, and during the flowering season it got very hot - I think that heat and lack of moisture really took some of the top end of our yield away.”

“When all’s said and done,” says Cramer, "I think we're going to be about our five year average, which is below last year's record setting yield.”

Bean Acreage & Production by Class 

The 2022 US Dry Bean Council (USDBC) industry report released in August gives forecasts of acreage, yield, and production as reported by region. Here we will use the production estimates for beans as described in the USDBC report, adding some additional data combined from both federal sources such as the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and statistical reports of production levels collected directly from growers. 

Initial USDB acreage estimations as collected from growers in August can be seen in the figures below.