Inside the Pod

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 a...

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 enha...

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...

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 p...

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...

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 whi...

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 o...

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 p...

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 se...

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,...

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...

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 m...

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 p...

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 a...

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.