We’ve been farming here in the heart of the Yorkshire Wolds for over 20 years now. But this year, for the very first time, we decided to grow our own fava beans!

Here are a few benefits of growing beans:

• Beans are nitrogen fixing, with great yield benefits in following crops. Learn more about nitrogen fixing here.
• They have rotational benefits that increase microbial populations.
• Great for pollinating insects (especially bees!)
• An amazing source of home-grown protein (we only use 100% British beans in our products)
• Cut costs, energy use and CO2 emissions, as there is less need for using nitrogen based fertilisers

How do you plant beans?

Daisy our Marketing Bean ventured out with to help the farm team direct drill our spring beans. You can watch the process here. 

And 3 weeks later, we’re already seeing fava bean plants! Green and leafy, with a root structure. These plants will flower in the summer, and start to blacken off before we harvest them in October. Then we’ll dry, spilt and skin them, ready to turn them into delicious healthy roasted fava bean snacks.