Crops For Health at Colorado State University

COOL BEANS! 😎 🫘

My good friend and colleague Dr. Carlos Urrea is the bean breeder for University of Nebraska Lincoln (University of Nebraska-Lincoln). This week, he took us on a tour of his greenhouse and variety trials. In the greenhouse, he explained the bean breeding process and showed us what it looks like - so fascinating!

Thank you, Carlos, for taking the time to share with us and for all the important work you do! 😊

Welcome to bean harvest season! 🫘 Pinto beans are the bean Colorado grows the most of, and it is now officially harvest season. Most growers in Colorado cut beans, let them finish drying down in windrows, and then come through with the combine to harvest them. Thank you to the growers who invited us to watch harvest and let me ride along in the bean cutter, too! I learn so much from our conversations. ☺ #Beans #Harvest #Agriculture #HealthyFood #Farming

Last Saturday was Colorado State University Ag Day. Naturally, I was there to chat beans with folks! 🫘

Topics ranged from what beans are grown in Colorado (Colorado Dry Beans) and the United States overall, to favorite bean recipes, to discovering our bean personalities, and more bean-y goodness! Thank you Jennifer Hansen of Northarvest Bean Growers Association for sharing some fun bean personality stickers - attendees loved them! 🙃

It was great to see the energy and participate in this celebration of agriculture. Thank you to everyone who stopped by the booth, and to those who worked so hard to bring this year's to life! Colorado State University College of Agricultural Sciences

Here is the latest video update to share a glimpse into pinto bean fields in Northern Colorado! 🌱🫘 On August 26, we visited the same pinto bean fields we have been visiting throughout the season to share video updates. The plants are definitely bigger! There are still some flowers, but now the pinto bean plants are covered in pods. Many of the pods are green still, but the beans inside them are getting bigger. We also found some pods with pinto beans that are starting to look more like, well, pinto beans! You can see their color and pattern kicking in. As always, a big thank you to our farmer friends for letting us visit! 🥰 #Beans #PintoBeans #Agriculture #Farming #Legumes

Had a wonderful time today on a bean tour with a great group of folks! We visited Northern Feed & Bean (High Plains Beans) to see their facility and learn about how they process beans. Colorado Dry Beans

Then, we went to a lovely Mayocoba bean field and chatted more about the importance of beans to Colorado agriculture (Colorado Department of Agriculture) - and to all of us! As you maaaay have heard me say before, beans and other pulses are delicious and sustainable nutritional powerhouses with a critical role in our farming systems. 🫘 😋 💪 🌎 🚜

I really appreciate everyone who joined for making the time, and for asking such engaged questions! 🙏 I look forward to continuing the bean-y conversation with all of you. 😀

A huge thank you to Jay Ewald, Ken E, and the Northern Feed & Bean team for hosting! Marilyn Bay, thanks for helping us spread the word about the tour in your Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association news!

Pinto bean pods!! Can’t wait to eat them 😆

Dr. Ray Glahn, a nutrition expert who is well known for iron nutrition in beans, shares about the benefits of eating a variety of beans. You can find the full interview with Dr. Glahn on my YouTube channel, in the Bean interview playlist. In it, he dives into iron nutrition in beans, including great tips to get more iron from your beans. Especially if you are plant-based or plant forward, this is very important information. #Beans #Iron #Nutrition #Legumes #BeanNutrition

We recently visited the Great Smoky National Park, which is absolutely gorgeous. 🤩 There is only one thing that can make it better - enjoying beans in the wild! 🫘⛰🌲

My husband helped me make a video that shares a few tips of how you can enjoy beans while hiking, picnicking, or otherwise exploring national parks or other favorite nature spots. Fueling yourself with protein, fiber, healthy carbs, and other excellent nutrition - a great recipe to keep going strong during your adventuring!

Video on my YouTube channel now. 🙃

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Had a delicious bean salad during Northarvest Bean Growers Association's Bean Day yesterday!

I love a good mix of beans and lots of vinegar. How do you like your bean salad?

Beans on North Dakota Today!! 🫘

In this live news interview, Jed Brazier shared about the upcoming BEAN DAY, the largest dry bean grower gathering in the US! 🙌 It happens in Fargo every January. I also got to share a bit about beans, how it really appreciate all that Northarvest Bean Growers Association is doing for agriculture and local beans, we chatted favorite bean dishes (listen to hear Jed and Sophia share some unexpected answers), and Beany Buddy made a star appearance.

When is Bean Day this year? I'm glad you asked! This Friday (Jan 17th) - aka TOMORROW (!!) - is Northarvest Bean Growers Association's 50th annual Bean Day, so it's extra special. 5️⃣0️⃣ 🎉 Thank you for inviting me, Northarvest, and for having us, Sophia Richards and North Dakota Today!

Check out the news clip here: https://www.valleynewslive.com/video/2025/01/15/north-dakota-today-northarvest-bean-growers/