Pulse Crops

Pulse crops are leguminous crops that are harvested solely for dry seed. Dried beans, lentils, chickpeas (garbanzo beans), and other dry peas are the most well-known and consumed pulses.  

Production differs in important ways between certified organic and non-organic systems, and organic pulses in general are of higher value. Pulses are a growing market, and limited available evidence suggests that producing organic pulses is significantly more profitable than non-organic pulses.

The practical ATTRA resources in this section discuss pulse production, economics, and marketing. We do not include soybeans here, since they are a unique leguminous crop, of which about 30 percent is made into biodiesel.