Dried Beans
Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) are a nutritious and versatile food. They fix nitrogen in the soils (for next years crops); they store well with no preservatives or processing; they are an excellent source of protein and dietary fiber with a low glycemic index. You can also make dozens of delicious recipes from them, ranging from good old baked beans to soups and stews, not to mention gluten free dishes.
We have introduced edible beans into our crop rotations. Alas the efficiency aspect takes some specialized equipment to produce at scale, and keep the cost of production down. As we improve our production methods, we will be offering more beans and bean products......
Last spring we found some small scale bean harvesting equipment from 1967. This significantly reduced the pulling labour, but cleaning is still primarily a manual task.
As with our cereals, we focus on landrace open-pollinated varieties that have been grown for generations.