A Norfolk farmer has praised the productive power of peas to unlock higher yields and reduce pests for other crops in his rotation.

Chris Eglington, who farms at Letton, near Shipdham, has an eight-year rotation of wheat and winter barley, alternating between peas and oilseed rape (OSR) as a break crop.

He said while peas are not particularly profitable on their own, they brought significant benefits to his other crops.

“You can’t consider the benefits of peas in isolation; on their own peas don’t produce the margins, but as part of the whole rotation, they improve the margins of all the other crops," he said.

"We always get a good wheat crop following peas, for example, and there are long-term benefits in terms of soil health.

“On our farm, peas spread the rotation of the rape and help control the associated pests and diseases. As a result, we’ve higher rape yields too."

The farm suffers from a high number of cabbage stem flea beetles, a pest which was previously controlled using neonicotinoid seed treatments, now banned due to fears over their impact on the health of bees.

“We’ve been part of the OSR YEN (Yield Enhancement Network) for three years and recently had the dubious honour of having the highest number of cabbage stem flea beetle larvae per plant," said Mr Eglington.

"While our crop management approach means we have very large plants, 55 larvae per plant is still very high.

"Growing rape just one year in eight should help to reduce populations.”

This year, the farm is growing four fields of peas, which were drilled later than usual on April 1 after the wet winter delayed field preparations.

“After we’ve harvested the winter barley and taken off the straw, we plant a cover crop of stubble turnips which is grazed off by sheep," said Mr Eglington. "We then prepare the land for the peas in spring.

“Historically we’ve grown yellows but this year we are trying Mankato, a large blue variety, for the first time."