North Dakota Dry Pea Variety Trial Results for 2025 and Selection Guide

Ana Carcedo (North Dakota State University Main Station); Kristin Simons, Qasim Khan, Steven Schaubert (Carrington Research Extension Center); Rutendo Nyamusamba, Lawrence Henry, Richard Duerr (Langdon Research Extension Center); John Rickertsen (Hettinger Research Extension Center); Glenn Martin (Dickinson Research Extension Center); Leandro Bortolon, Austin Kraklau, Jayden Hansen (North Central Research Extension Center); Tyler Tjelde, Gautam Pradhan, Kuldipkumar Gevariya (Williston REC).

North Dakota remains the leading dry pea-producing state in the U.S., consistently accounting for a large share of national acreage and production. According to USDA-NASS, the 2025 season reported roughly 375,000 acres of dry peas harvested, with an average yield of about 2,450 pounds per acre, reflecting solid performance despite variable weather patterns. Planting progressed early and fairly well: by late May, dry pea planting was reported at ~84% with about half the crop emerged, giving peas a relatively good start compared to some other crops. Recent NDSU Extension summaries also highlight that field pea yields in the state have shown steady improvement over the past decade due to better genetics, stronger disease management and more refined agronomic practices. While annual fluctuations occur — largely driven by moisture, early-season soil conditions and root-disease pressure — North Dakota’s pulse-growing regions continue to demonstrate strong productivity and are central to both domestic and international dry pea markets.

The results of WREC, HREC, and NCREC are not included in this publication due to severe hail damage and high disease pressure.

This selection guide summarizes dry pea variety performance at the various NDSU Research Extension Centers. Give special attention to dry pea yield results of those trials nearest to your production area when evaluating varieties in these trials. Also, attempt to view yield averages of several years rather than using only one year’s data as a determining factor. In addition, consider other agronomic characteristics — such as maturity, lodging score and protein percentages — if available.

The agronomic data presented are from replicated research plots using experimental designs that enable the use of statistical analysis. The least significant difference numbers beneath the columns in tables are derived from the statistical analyses. If the difference between two varieties exceeds the LSD value, it means that with 95% or 90% probability (LSD 0.05 or 0.10), the higher-yielding variety has a significant yield advantage. If the difference between two varieties is less than the LSD value, then the variety yields are considered similar.

The coefficient of variation is a measure of variability in the trial and is expressed as a percentage. Large CVs mean a large amount of variation that could not be attributed to differences in the varieties. Only compare values within the table and look for trends for the desired trait among different experimental sites and years.

Variety trial data from all NDSU Research Extension Centers for all crops can be found at www.ag.ndsu.edu/varietytrials and the variety selection tool at https://vt.ag.ndsu.edu/.

Research specialists and technicians contributed to the fieldwork and data compilation. Administrative assistants in entering data into the respective sections of this document. We greatly appreciate the assistance provided by everyone involved.

Presentation of data for the varieties tested does not imply approval or endorsement by the authors or agencies conducting the tests. NDSU approves the reproduction of any table in this publication only if no portion is deleted, appropriate footnotes are given, the order of the data is not rearranged, and NDSU is credited for the data.