The English pea harvest is expected to be about 25 per cent down on contracted tonnage after warm night temperatures and strong winds stressed plants in the final three weeks of vining.
It comes after pea growers recorded an exceptionally strong start to the season, after a mild winter and optimal spring growing conditions.
”My expectations were very good at the start, we had a very kind winter, spring looked good and things were full of promise,” said managing director of Fen Peas, Stephen Francis. “It has to be said our early peas really were good.
“Within the last three weeks, we really feel we’ve fallen off a precipice. We had a period of nights when the temperature didn’t fall below 20 degrees, strong winds and the plant didn’t know what to do to develop,” he said.
“On a plant, we’d expect to get a dozen pods with eight or nine peas in a pod. We’ve got fewer plants, smaller pods and we’ve got very few pods on the plant.”
Speaking to FPJ from a pea viner during the final field of harvest 2025, Francis said the end of the season has been “sad” considering earlier high expectations.
“The upshot of all that is we will not make our contracted tonnage. My best guess is that at best it will be something like 75 per cent. I’m not saying all the UK is like that, but certainly in the area we are, we’re all experiencing the same thing. Further north, in Scotland, I think it’s been okay,” he said.
“It’s a sad end to what was huge potential, because we got off to a flying start.”
Francis also spoke about the fears among growers about the upcoming loss of Producer Organisation funding, which has helped his cooperative invest in pea viners that use substantially less diesel.
“We had a 25 per cent reduction in our fossil fuel usage,” he said. “In the short term, the loss of this funding will mean we keep these harvesters for longer. We won’t be embracing new technology.”
