Field beans

The field bean is an annual herbaceous plant that grows up to 2 metres tall and has a taproot that reaches up to 1 meter deep with extensive branching in the top part. As a legume, it is a nitrogen-fixing plant and can thus provide free nitrogen for the subsequent crop with the help of root nodule bacteria. Field beans are not sensitive to frost and have considerable water requirements, which is why they prefer moist locations such as deep soils with a high capacity for holding water. Due to the high protein content in their seeds (approx. 25-30%), they are suitable as animal feed, for human nutrition and for green manure.