Crop Year Explained

Crop year is the season in which a lot was harvested. It appears on bag markings, in specifications and in contracts, and it is one of the parameters least likely to be argued about at the point of agreement and most likely to matter on arrival. Pulses store reasonably well, which is precisely why old crop stays in the market alongside new crop for months and why the distinction has to be made explicitly.

What changes as a pulse ages

Colour

Darkens and dulls. Mung beans lose the bright green that commands a premium; black beans lose gloss; dark red kidney beans lose depth. On pale types, the background yellows.

Cooking time

Increases. Older pulses take longer to hydrate and to soften, which matters to canners working a fixed process and to retail buyers whose customers notice.

Milling behaviour

Changes. Older grain can be harder and dehusk differently, affecting recovery and the appearance of the finished dal.

Insect load

Accumulates. Every additional month in store is another month in which bruchid populations can develop, so old crop carries a higher latent risk even when it looks sound.

Moisture equilibrium

Shifts with the storage environment. A lot held through a humid season is not necessarily at the moisture it was packed at.

Why offers late in the season need checking

The export window for most East African pulses extends several months beyond the harvest, because shipment continues from stored crop. Early in that window an offer is almost certainly new crop. Late in it, an offer may be new crop, carry-over, or a blend — and a blend is the case most worth asking about, because a lot mixing two crop years averages the good and the bad without disclosing either.

How to write it into a contract

• State the crop year explicitly rather than relying on "current crop", which means different things at different points in the season.
• State whether blending across crop years is permitted.
• Require crop year on the bag marking, so it is verifiable at discharge.
• Where colour matters, pair the crop year with an approved sample drawn from the actual lot.
• For sprouting-grade mung beans, treat crop year as a gating parameter — germination declines with age.

Old crop is not automatically bad

Well-stored carry-over material can be perfectly serviceable for the right buyer at the right price, particularly where the product is milled or where colour is not the selling point. The problem is not old crop; the problem is old crop sold as new. Stating crop year honestly lets both parties price the lot for what it is.

When each origin harvests, and how long its export window runs. East African crop calendar →