This season, Illinois farmers may harvest a new crop that could help the state’s agriculture economy.

Yellow field peas may make their way into farmers’ crops this March. The peas, which resemble soybeans, are like the ones used for split pea soup or other soup mixes. They are dried – not canned or fresh.

Risk Assurance Programs Company, an agriculture consulting firm in Rochelle, conducted a test on the crop last year. A contract was signed with Cuba during a Tuesday press conference in Sycamore to export 15,000 tons of the field peas. RAPCO now is recruiting farmers to try the crop.

“We’ve been watching this in earnest,” RAPCO CEO Ron Hagemann said. “We think the program makes a lot of sense on a lot of levels.”

Field peas are a tough crop, Hagemann said, and do not require a lot of fertilizer input. Also, the plant can survive under adverse weather conditions.

“If you’re environmentally conscious, it puts nitrogen back into the soil so you don’t have to use as much fertilizer,” said Gerald Barton, office manager and special projects coordinator for the U.S.A. Dry Pea and Lentil Council.

Hagemann said RAPCO looked at fixed costs that were affecting farms and found land and machinery were the biggest items.

Field peas can be harvested with the same combines as soybeans, so there is no need for new equipment. Also, the peas are planted in March and harvested in late May or early June, which allows for a second crop in the same field. Farmers will receive about $5 a bushel, close to the same price as soybeans.

“The unique thing is you use the same equipment,” Hagemann said. “You can also raise two crops in the same field, so you don’t have to expand acreage.”

Hagemann said several thousand acres have been recruited to grow the crop in northern Illinois.

Local DeKalb farmer Joe Gulotta attended a press conference about the field peas, but he said he needs more information before trying the crop.

“We need to be looking beyond corn and soybeans and looking for alternative crops,” Gulotta said. “[Yellow field peas] might be a good fit, but I don’t want to jump on the bandwagon too quickly.”

Gulotta said the early harvest appealed to him because he would be able to plant another crop, but he would like to know about the plant yield and the cost to plant the crop before he decided to plant.

Bill Brink, crop systems educator at the Springfield Extension Center, said introducing the crop in southern Illinois is a bit of a mystery to him.

“I’m not really sure that it’s possible,” Brink said. “We are a little bit surprised that a cool season crop like this is being brought this far south.”

The yellow field pea currently is grown in areas such as Saskatchewan, Canada and North Dakota.

Brink said farmers must be timely in order for the crop to work and cautions farmers about putting all their resources into something new.

“If I was a farmer, I may try it but on extremely limited acreage,” Brink said.

However, Hagemann said farmers can try the new crop on their back acres and see if they like it.

“We are actively moving right now on this program,” Hagemann said. “We think it is something to look at that will affect farm profitability to the positive.”