Inside the Pod

Welcome back to Inside the Pod, the PGRO podcast.

In episode two of the new season, host Ben Pike speaks to Roger Vickers, who retires as this month, to reflect on his time as PGRO’s CEO during what has been a long and successful tenure in the company’s top job.

Matt Webster then speaks to Grace Welling and David Lloyd from Germinal about their involvement in the flavourless pea protein project, in which the company partners with PGRO and other partners to produce an alternative protein crop to imported soya using peas.

Wi...

Welcome back to Inside the Pod, the PGRO podcast.

With a new episode format for this season, Inside the Pod returns with longer episodes covering more topics that hopefully interest and help you, the pulse grower.

In this first episode of a new episode, host Ben Pike speaks to Matthew Green from AB Mauri about pulse milling and their experience in developing pulse-based products for the bakery sector.

He is then joined by PGRO's Erin Matlock and George Goodwin, Managing Director at Senova, to talk about the Pulse Performance Network, a new benchmarking...

Welcome to Inside the Pod, the PGRO podcast. In this episode of the podcast, host Ben Pike attends the PGRO's annual Pulse Crop Open Day in Lincolnshire, where he takes a look at the various trials that were on show.

Ben speaks to Dr Becky Howard about PGRO's work with the ANSWERs project, as well as the NCS Project which is coming into its final year. He also catches up with Alek Ligeza to talk about PGRO's work with herbicides, plus he speaks to Will Evans about his work with lentils and chickpeas.

To find...

In this episode of Inside the Pod, host Ben Pike speaks to Dr Chris Judge from the PGRO's Vining Pea Open Day in Nocton, Lincolnshire, where PGRO's vining pea trials were on show for growers to see, which was held on Monday 15th June.

To find out more about PGRO's vining pea trial work, head to pgro.org

In this episode of Inside the Pod, host Ben Pike speaks to PGRO Research Agronomist Erin Matlock about the PGRO's Pulse Performance Network, which was launched at Cereals on 11 June.

PGRO will establish the Pulse Performance Network (PPN) this autumn, marking a significant new chapter for crop benchmarking and analysis for pea and bean growers. Following 10 successful years of the pulse yield enhancement networks (YENs) under ADAS, the PGRO will create a new structure and a sharpened focus on delivering practical, farm-ready insights for today's growers.

Benchmarking has a strong reputation for bringing together growers...

Welcome to Inside the Pod, the PGRO podcast.

In this episode of Inside the Pod, host Ben Pike is joined by Franek Smith, Associate Director and Senior Trader at Wherry & Sons Ltd, to discuss the latest market prospects from both a grower’s perspective and from a trader’s perspective.

Franek talks about the latest developments in the pulse market and how the market is looking for pulse growers across the UK in these turbulent times, with conflict in the Middle East among a number of international and domestic aspects that are influencing a complicated mark...

Welcome to Inside the Pod, the PGRO podcast.

In this special 50th episode of Inside the Pod, host Ben Pike is joined by Rob Suckling, Commercial Technical Manager at De Sangosse, and Rob Pearson, CEO of AutoSpray Systems to discuss the future of bean production and the applications of sprays with the use of drone technology.

Rob Suckling explains how Pod-Stik, De Sangosse’s trademark Pod Sealant product, protects the yield of podding crops, including pulses, by sealing the pod shut for longer to prevent the premature release of seed the combine gets in the fi...

In this episode of Inside the Pod, host Ben Pike speaks to Donal O'Sullivan from the University of Reading about the Raising the Pulse project, a three year project focused on faba beans designed to transform the food system for health and environment and aiming to increase UK pulse consumption for health and sustainability.

You can read more about the Raising the Pulse project at https://research.reading.ac.uk/raising-the-pulse/

In this episode of Inside the Pod, Ben Pike takes a look at the latest Pulse Market Update for March 2026.

Market values have been remarkably static since the autumn of 2025 with little to report and a clear explanation is not so easy to find. The DEFRA declared cropped area for pulses in 2025 was below 200,000ha - the lowest since crop 2019 and a drop of over 73,000ha over two years - most of which appears to have been at the expense of field beans. It is highly likely that this reflects the negative impact of the uptake of...

In this episode of Inside the Pod, Emily Scaife is joined by Alistair Bell and Jessica Saunders from Frontier to discuss the Frontier Faba Bean Project, which is creating a secure market for human-consumption beans through an exclusive contract, helping growers to manage risk, add further value to the supply chain, and build more sustainable rotations.

Pea bruchid beetle was detected for the first time in peas harvested in the UK in 2025. The AIC, BSPB, NFU and PGRO are working together to identify mitigations and minimise the risk of spread from the two sites in Landbeach, Cambridgeshire and Stubton, Lincolnshire.

Having been confirmed post-harvest on both sites, the crops were removed and fumigated. However, due to the risk of mature beetles overwintering in the local area we have identified the need to establish a voluntary restriction zone within which we ask that growers abstain from planting pea crops in 2026.

In the...

Pea bruchid beetle was detected for the first time in peas harvested in the UK in 2025. The AIC, BSPB, NFU and PGRO are working together to identify mitigations and minimise the risk of spread from the two sites in Landbeach, Cambridgeshire and Stubton, Lincolnshire.

Having been confirmed post-harvest on both sites, the crops were removed and fumigated. However, due to the risk of mature beetles overwintering in the local area we have identified the need to establish a voluntary restriction zone within which we ask that growers abstain from planting pea crops in 2026. In the intermediary, establishment...

In this episode of Inside the Pod, we’re joined by Charlotte Apsey, a PhD student at the University of Cambridge whose research gets right to the heart of one of the biggest questions facing pulse growers. How can we improve field bean yields while working with nature rather than against it.

Charlotte’s work focuses on pollination in field beans and, specifically, the role wildflower margins can play in attracting pollinators into crops. Speaking to episode host, Ben Pike, she explains why beans are more reliant on insect activity than many growers might assume, what happens when...

PGRO has unveiled its 2026 Descriptive List for pulses, which contains 11 new pea and bean varieties. Joining Ben Pike in today's special episode of Inside the Pod is Dr Chris Judge, who goes through the new varieties from this year's list, which contains seven new combining peas, two winter beans, and two spring beans.

Chris also talks to us about how the Descriptive List trials performed this season, after contending with drought conditions across much of the country and a small number of trial sites failing.

The Descriptive List gives growers the opportunity to compare different...

In this Supply Chain Focus edition of Inside the Pod, host Matt Webster speaks to George Goodwin, the managing director of Senova, a private and independent seed marketing and crop development company with an innovative approach.

In this episode Matt and George discuss what companies such as Senova are looking to achieve from their breeding programs, and what's coming down the innovation pipeline, as well as looking at what products and pulse varieties Senova have to offer to growers in the industry, and Senova's working relationship with the PGRO.

In this episode of Inside the Pod, host Ben Pike sits down with pulses trader James Ormerod from Bunge UK to unpack the current dynamics shaping the UK pulse market. James offers a trader’s view of supply and demand, exploring how policy, global competition, and shifting domestic priorities are influencing bean and pea prices.

UK bean production has halved in recent years, falling from around 800,000 tonnes to nearer 400,000 tonnes. James attributes much of this decline to SFI (Sustainable Farming Incentive) payments, which have encouraged growers to take land out of production for guaranteed returns. Although Defra’s la...

In this episode of Inside the Pod from the Processors and Growers Research Organisation (PGRO), host Ben Pike is joined by Dr. Becky Howard from PGRO and Joe Martin from Corteva Agriscience to discuss responsible use of propyzamide, the active ingredient in Kerb® and Kerb® Flo, a key herbicide for grassweed control in winter beans.

Becky and Joe explain why propyzamide remains a crucial tool for managing resistant blackgrass and other grass and broadleaf weeds, thanks to its unique mode of action and effectiveness in cooler, moist soils. However, they also stress that increasing environmental scrutiny, particularly ar...

In this episode of Inside the Pod, Emily Scaife speaks to John McArthur, Managing Director at McArthur BDC, about his involvement in the NCS Project.

In this episode of Inside the Pod, Ben Pike speaks to Dr Becky Howard about the recent confirmation of the presence of pea bruchid in a UK-grown commercial pea crop for the first time.

Ben and Becky discuss what to look out for, how to prevent infestation, and what to do should pea bruchid be found in your crop.

For more information about the recent pea bruchid discovery, you can read the recent press release at https://www.pgro.org/first-occurrence-of-pea-bruchid-in-uk-commercial-crop-confirmed/

For more details on the life cycle of the pea bruchid, read...

In this extended episode of Inside the Pod, Matt Webster and Emily Scaife speak to PGRO's experts from the 2025 Pulse Open Day, discussing the various crops, projects and trials on show including the NCS Project, the Descriptive List, Lentils, Lupins, and more.

In this episode of Inside the Pod, Matt Webster and Emily Scaife speak to Simon Jackson, Field Technical Manager at Syngenta, about the company's work in developing biostimulants for the pulse market.

The latest Pulse Market Update from the Processors and Growers Research Organisation.

In this extended episode of Inside the Pod, we speak to the PGRO team from their stand at the 2025 Cereals, speaking to Pulse Pioneer Bryony Graham about her involvement in the NCS Project, Erin Matlock gives her top tips to those who are either growing pulses for the first time or getting back to pulses after a long time away, and Roger Vickers and Dr. Chris Judge talk us through the PGRO stand and trial plots on show at Cereals.

In this episode of Inside the Pod, Ben Pike and Emily Scaife speak to Tom Astill, Market Development Representative from Bayer, and Dr Becky Howard from PGRO about Bayer's work on crop protection and insecticides for pulse crops, including their newest product, Sivanto Prime.

In this episode of Inside the Pod, Ben Pike and Emily Scaife are joined by Iain Ford, Business Development Manager for Agricultural Solutions at BASF to discuss the newly released Pea Growth Guide, helping growers with the best ways to get the best out of their peas.

In this episode of Inside the Pod, we take a look at the latest pulse market update for April 2025.

In this episode of Inside the Pod, we take a look at the latest Pulse Market Update for March 2025, in which the UK's pulse markets have continued to be quiet since the turn of the year, and overall export demand has been much lower since the last harvest.

In this Supply Chain Focus edition of Inside the Pod, we speak to Mark Herriman, Head of Sales and Corporate Operations at PheroSyn, a start-up company spun out of Rothamsted Research supporting a new method of pest control in crops - pheromone-based monitoring, with the aim of reducing pesticide use in agriculture.

In this extended episode of Inside the Pod, we take a look at the From Soya to Sustainability conference held in January by the NCS Project partners.

Ben Pike speaks to a variety of speakers and attendees from the conference, including Philip Lymbery from Compassion in World Farming, Gemma Hoskins from Mighty Earth, and Pulse Pioneers John Seed and Rob Waterston, plus more, about the importance of home grown pulses in replacing imported soya and creating a more sustainable food system.

In this extended episode of Inside the Pod, we look at the 2025 Descriptive List for Pulses which was unveiled by PGRO at CropTec 2024.

We speak to PGRO Chief Technical Officer Dr Chris Judge who talks us through what's new on the list, as well as representatives from two of the breeders who have varieties on this year's list, Heather Oldfield from Limagrain and Michael Shuldham from NPZ.

In this episode of Inside the Pod, Ben Pike takes a look at the highlights from this year's Pea and Bean Conference, run by the British Growers Association, which took place in Lincolnshire earlier this month.

It was a full day with speakers such as Simon Conway from Horticulture Crop Protection Ltd, Sam Trevey, the Fresh Produce Technical Manager from Red Tractor, the Lincolnshire Rural Support Network, and Hatch PR, who are behind the Yes Peas campaign, all speaking at the event.

In this episode of Inside the Pod, we speak to Agrii Agronomist Todd Jex who has recently achieved a bean crop yield of over 8-tonnes per hectare on one of his farms, an exciting development that we want to get to the bottom of.

In this episode of Inside the Pod, we take a look at the Pulse Market Update for October 2024, with guest pulse trader Andy Bury from Frontier Agriculture giving his views on the latest market movements.

In this bitesized episode of Inside the Pod, Ben Pike looks at the latest Pulse Market Update for September 2024, looking at the latest market trends and the outlooks for the rest of the year and into next year for pulse crops.

In this episode of Inside the Pod, Matt Webster speaks to PGRO Technical Officer Will Evans who leads PGRO's research on lentils, looking at how viable lentil growth is in the UK and the benefits of growing them.

In this episode of the Inside the Pod, Keith Costello returns to the podcast to give his outlook and advice on the harvesting period for peas, drawing on what he's seen from fields all over the country and over fifty years of knowledge and experience.

In this episode of Inside the Pod, Matt Webster welcomes Keith Costello back to the podcast to speak about his work over the last few months inspecting peas across the country, and giving his advice and outlook on the upcoming harvesting window.

In this Supply Chain Focus edition of Inside the Pod, Matt Webster speaks to Anna-Sophie Deetjen, co-founder of Morrow, a company who's venture into a pulse-based coffee is looking to secure the future of coffee and save the environment.

In this Supply Chain Focus edition of Inside the Pod, Matt Webster speaks to Emily Williams, Managing Director of Novo Farina, about their company - the only UK manufacturer with the capabilities to develop extruded, texturised pea protein using only yellow peas.

In this episode of Inside the Pod, Matt Webster visits the PGRO's Vining Pea Open Day and speaks to Dr Chris Judge about the day and the trials that are being conducted at the site.