www.pulse.ab.ca

In this issue...Pea

GreenPea Soybean

Mungbean

lentil red lentil

D’Arcy Hilgartner Elected APG Chair

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

2017 Industry Innovator Award Winner

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

Showcase Features New Foods, like Licorice, Made with Pulses

PM40

0418

61

Pulse Crop NewsSpring 2017

Always read and follow label directions. AgSolutions is a registered trade-mark of BASF Corporation; HEAT, and KIXOR are registered trade-marks of BASF SE; all used with permission by BASF Canada Inc. © 2017 BASF Canada Inc.

DON’T LET GROUP-2 AND GLYPHOSATE-RESISTANT

WEEDS SLOW YOU DOWN. Powered by the unique chemistry of Kixor, Heat LQ

delivers the fastest, most complete burndown.

Strap yourself in. The convenient liquid formulation of Heat® LQ herbicide offers the fastest, most reliable weed control to get crops off to a clean start. It’s also the only solution that lets you choose between a pre-seed or pre-emerge application in cereals and pulses, with both burndown and the option for residual control. So why hesitate when it comes to resistance? Step on it. For details, visit agsolutions.ca/HeatLQ or call AgSolutions® Customer Care at 1-877-371-BASF (2273).

CREATIVE MAC ARTIST

PROOF #

ART DIR CLIENT

ACCT MGR PROD MGRCOPYWRITER SPELLCHECK

Client: BASFName: HeatLQ-CP_PCN_v1Project: Heat LQ Cereal+Pulses AdsDocket Number: 110202019AD#: kenna_IFC4C_PCN_110202019_HeatLQPreSeed

Publication: Pulse Crop NewsPage Position: IFCLive Area: 7.25” x 9.5”Trim size: 8.25” x 10.75”Bleed: 8.5” x 11”

CMYK

PMS

PMS

PMS

. Jeannette V1. .

. . 01/09/17. .

S T U D I O

Layout and Printing by:Prolific Graphics, Red Deer, ABwww.rd.prolific.ca

Editor: Rachel Peterson

POSTMASTER: Publications Mail Agreement #40041861Return Undeliverable Canadian addresses to:Alberta Pulse Growers5007B - 49 Avenue, Leduc, AB T9E 6M6Telephone: (780) 986-9398 / 1-877-550-9398Facsimile: (780) 980-2570e-mail: office@pulse.ab.ca web: www.pulse.ab.ca

Member Privacy… Member information is collected and used in accordance with the Personal Information Protection Act and is the property of the Alberta Pulse Growers and will not be shared, sold or viewed by any individual, group or organization outside of the APG Commission unless directly related to member com-munication which is legislated as a reasonable business activity of the Commission. Please direct your comments or concerns to (780) 986-9398 or email office@pulse.ab.ca.

Pulse Crop News is the official journal of and published by Alberta Pulse Growers. This is a producer organization funded by sales of pulse crops (beans, peas, lentils, fababeans, soybeans, and chick-peas) grown in the province of Alberta. Current circulation of this quarterly publication is 6,500+ copies and is distributed to produc-ers, government, and industry involved in the special crops field. The views expressed in articles and advertisements are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the views of Alberta Pulse Growers. Contents of this publication can only be reproduced with the permission of APG.

Corporate InformationChair’s Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Executive Director’s Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

NewsBlair Roth Honoured as APG’s 2017 Recipient of the Alberta

Pulse Industry Innovator Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

My First Year as an Alberta Pulse Growers Director . . . . . . . . 10

Pulses Vancouver 2017 - The Future of Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Who Will Replace Western Canada’s Aging Grain Hopper Cars? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

AGT Foods Opens Two New Pulse Facilities in Alberta, “The Next Big Frontier for Pulses” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

25 by 2025: Pulse Canada’s New Demand Target . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Climate Change Leadership – You are already doing it right! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Distinct Insurance Coverage for Red Lentils New in 2017 . . . 18

Neonicotinoids – Past, Present and Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Heightened Risk of Pea Leaf Weevil Damage in 2017 . . . . . . . 21

AgSafe Alberta offers Practical Farm Safety Solutions . . . . . . 22

Implications of the Indian Pulse Crop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

The Dirt on Intercropping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Allison Ammeter Recognized as Pulse Promoter for IYP Efforts by Saskatchewan Pulse Growers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Food and NutritionNew U of A Graduate Worked on Developing 10 Products for The Alberta Pulse Showcase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Nutrition Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Feature Guest Recipe: Sri Lankan Tempered Chickpea Mini Tarts with Savoury Yogurt Dressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

AdvertisersBASF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 31

Bayer Crop Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Canadian Canola Growers Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Dupont . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

FMC Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Monsanto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39, 40

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentilPeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

ContentsHighlights

D’Arcy Hilgartner Elected APG Chair

28

2017 Industry Innovator Award Winner

Showcase Features New Foods, like Licorice, Made with Pulses

6

8

D’Arcy Hilgartner,APG Chair

I am looking forward to lead-ing the Alberta Pulse Grow-ers as we build on the ex-citement for pulses that was kicked into high gear with International Year of Pulses (IYP) in 2016.

We had a fabulous year with IYP and we plan to carry on with that momentum with more investment in research and marketing. This includes working with our partners in Saskatchewan and Manitoba and through our national or-ganization, Pulse Canada, to expand those global markets because Canada is a leading exporter in pulses and we want to build on the success we have enjoyed so far.

As many APG members heard at FarmTech in Janu-ary from Murad Al-Katib of

AGT Foods, this is certainly an exciting time to be a pulse grower in Alberta. Read more on page 14 about why he believes that Alberta is the next frontier for pulses.

APG agrees that conditions are favourable to grow more pulses in Alberta, and pro-ducers have been proving us right with increasing pulse acreage year after year. APG’s goal of increasing pulse acres from seven per cent in 2015 to 15 per cent in 2020 (370,000 per year for next five years) was spot on with the record 2.4 mil-lion acres estimated to have been seeded last year.

Pulses have a great econom-ic story to tell for Alberta producers, who are seeing the rotational benefits and lower input costs of planting pulses.

APG’s membership grew by 900 new pulse producers last year. APG works hard to ensure that first-time grow-ers have the best agronomic advice possible, and experi-enced pulse growers receive support as required through APG staff, agronomic advice at www.pulse.ab.ca, educa-tional events, printed mate-rials like Pulse Crop News and the recent Root Rot publica-

tion that was mailed out with the last issue, the Pulse Check e-newsletter, and more.

If the buzz at FarmTech is any indication, APG should see another surge in pulse growers and markets in the coming growing season.

I eagerly anticipate announc-ing further developments in the areas of export and val-ue-added production. APG is also working to boost the demand for Alberta-grown pulses here at home. For consumers, we will build on the health and sustainability awareness that has already had such a positive impact. We are looking forward to the release of our Baking with Pulses cookbook short-ly, which will follow our very popular Pulses: Cooking with Beans, Peas, Lentils & Chick-peas recipe book that was made available earlier this year. We also have some new initiatives planned for communicating with Alber-tans about the goodness and versatility of pulses in the coming year.

Currently, the majority of Alberta-grown pulses are ex-ported overseas, but we are seeing more and more com-panies setting up pulse fa-cilities in Alberta and we are

certain that it is just a matter of time before we reach the APG goal of moving the num-ber of secondary value-add-ed processing facilities from zero in 2015 to three enter-prises by 2020.

Ultimately, all of this work is aimed at helping growers to sell more pulses. Like most of you, I’m looking forward to seeding and pulses will be in my farm’s rotation again, as they have been for over 25 years.

I have had the pleasure of meeting many of you over the years and look forward to speaking with you at APG and industry events and hearing your ideas to move the industry forward. I am also looking forward to meeting new pulse growers and hearing about your ex-periences and how APG can be of service.

Chair’s Report

4 Spring 2017

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

Your grower organization has been active this winter ad-dressing change. Producers may ask what has changed that is so important for the in-dustry? In the late fall, Health Canada issued a review of the use of imidacloprid, a neonicotinoid, and recom-mended a ban on the use of that product. There was a comment period of 90 days issued upon the announce-ment and subsequent 30-day extension.

For the pulse industry - dry beans, lentils, field peas, faba beans - imidacloprid is not a product that is of great signif-icance, but for the soybean industry it is. What is more concerning is that Health Canada is also undergoing a review of thiamethoxam - a chemistry that is more signif-icant for the pulse industry in treatment of soil borne pests like pea leaf weevil.

In working to provide com-ment to the imidacloprid review, APG is leading coor-dination of the pulse grower organization response with Pulse Canada to provide comments to Health Canada and learn how these reviews are completed and what is es-sential for feedback. This will aid us significantly in getting ready for the thiamethoxam review.

Another change that could be quite significant is with In-dia. As I write this, the pulse industry has been working with other departments within the federal govern-ment, such as Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Mar-ket Industry Services Branch and alongside the Canadian Grain Commission, to bring forward a systems approach for market access into India. Canada is India’s largest sup-plier of pulses and India is Canada’s largest market for pulses, accounting for more than $1.1 billion and more than 1.9 million tonnes in 2016.  Approximately 33 per cent of total Canadian pulse exports and 42 per cent of Canadian pea exports moved to India in 2016.

Pulses are part of the health, nutrition and environmental sustainability attributes that are important to the rising middle class within India. With rising middle class in-comes, strong population growth, and continued in-terest in using pulses in food products because of their health, nutrition and envi-ronmental sustainability at-tributes, import demand for pulses in India is expected to continue to increase. 

This past fall, India gave no-tice to the Canadian govern-

ment that they will no longer be accepting pulses that are not fumigated at origin. The issue is being worked on at highest levels government to government and will hope-fully be solved shortly to continue to allow Canadian pulses into the country.

APG has also been active with Pulse Canada’s Val-ue Chain MRL committee this winter. The committee meets to review and rec-ommend the information to be provided on the pulse industry’s Grower Advisory. The committee is comprised of agronomists, producers, grower organization staff and industry members. This year’s advisory was being worked on as Pulse Crop News went to print. Please consult the latest document, but please keep in contact with the grower organiza-tions for updates to the in-formation.

There was also change with-in the organization as Alber-ta Pulse Growers welcomed a new Chair and new board members after our Annual General Meeting. D’Arcy Hil-gartner was elected to Chair the organization and Greg Stamp (Zone 1) and Chris Al-lam (Zone 3) joined the pro-vincial board. APG welcomed back Bean Director at Large

Tim VanderHoek and Non-Bean Director at Large John Kowalchuk. The organization also said goodbye to two Di-rectors, Robert Weisgerber (Zone 1) and James Jackson (Zone 3).

The board looks forward to continuing the hard work of the industry in 2017. Building on the momentum of Inter-national Year of Pulses 2016 and capturing the opportuni-ties that the celebration pro-vided will be key to growth and advancement for the industry. As we come to the end of meeting season and look forward to the growing season, Alberta Pulse Grow-ers staff and Directors are wishing you a safe and pro-ductive spring.

Leanne Fischbuch,Executive Director

Executive Director’s Message

Spring 2017 5

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

New APG Chair & Board Builds on the Positive Pulse Story for Producers & Consumers

The new Chair of the Alber-ta Pulse Growers (APG) is looking forward to working with the APG board to build on the many strides made for beans, peas, lentils and chickpeas during Interna-tional Year of Pulses in 2016.

“We had a highly successful International Year of Pulses, and I am looking forward to continuing the momen-tum in pulse production and consumer awareness,” said APG Chair D’Arcy Hil-gartner. “Pulses have a great economic story to tell for producers, and I eagerly an-ticipate announcing further

developments in the areas of export and value-added production. For consumers, we will build on the health and sustainability awareness that has already had such a positive impact.”

Hilgartner farms near Cam-rose where his family grows a wide range of crops, in-cluding peas, wheat, canola, barley, and flax. Pulses have been a staple in the farm’s ro-tation for over 25 years due to rotational benefits and lower input costs. Hilgartner has participated in research plots and demonstration tri-als for many years. He joined

the Alberta Pulse Growers as a Zone 5 Advisor in 2009, and was elected to the pro-vincial board in 2013. He served as APG Vice-Chair for the past two years. Hilgar-tner has represented APG at a variety of international events, including most re-cently at the Pulse Conclave in India, which allowed him the opportunity to explore a country that depends on Canadian pulses to feed its growing population.

Hilgartner said he appreci-ated the board’s confidence in electing him as Chair for 2017-18, and looks forward

to working with the new and returning Directors to keep building Alberta’s pulse in-dustry.

“I am looking forward to working with the other Di-rectors,” he said, “and draw-ing on their vast experience with APG, other boards and on their own operations.”

Rycroft beef and grain pro-ducer Caroline Sekulic was elected as Vice-Chair. She joined APG in January 2016 and has a keen interest in the profitability, sustainabil-ity and strength of Alberta’s agriculture industry.

APG 2017-18 Board of Directors Back Row: (Left to Right) Don Shepert (Zone 5), John Kowalchuk (Director-at-Large, Non-Bean), Caroline Sekulic (Vice-Chair & Zone 4), Allison Ammeter (Past-Chair & Zone 2), Fraser Robertson (Zone 4), D’Arcy Hilgartner (Chair & Zone 5).Front Row: Tim VanderHoek (Director-at-Large, Bean), Ryan Kubinec (Zone 3), Greg Stamp (Zone 1), Doug Sell (Zone 2), Rodney Volk (Zone 1).Missing: Chris Allam (Zone 3).

6 Spring 2017

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

“There has been, and will be, a great deal of agricultural policy change over the next year,” Sekulic said. “Our ex-port markets for whole and pulse fractions are thriving. I am excited to help our indus-try navigate and welcome change to position ourselves for success.”

The Executive Committee is rounded out by Past-Chair Allison Ammeter of Sylvan Lake, who led the APG board for the last two years.

APG welcomed Greg Stamp, a partner in his family’s seed farm near Enchant, to the board as a Zone 1 Director following the Annual Gener-al Meeting held in January during FarmTech.

“I wanted to represent Zone 1 with APG because I believe pulse acres, production, and processing have lots of room to grow in Alberta,” Stamp said. “We have a very diverse climate throughout the prov-

ince, irrigation opportunities in drier regions provide sta-bility, and room to expand pulse business in Alberta. I look forward to advocating for the farmers in my re-gion and encourage promo-tion, communication, and research of pulse crops. I want to encourage and help farmers and industry contin-

ue to build a sustainable and growing pulse industry.”

Stamp replaced Robert We-isgerber, who completed his maximum six-year term.

“The best thing about being on the provincial board is the people you meet along the way, from other board members and staff, to all the connections that are made through the committees and other organizations that you can get involved with,” Weis-gerber explained. “There is opportunity for travel and to get involved with national boards, and hopefully make a real difference in the in-dustry. I would highly rec-ommend getting involved to anyone.”

Directors also bid farewell to Zone 3’s provincial represen-tative James Jackson.

Zone 3 selected third gen-eration farmer Chris Allam from the Fort Saskatchewan area as the new Zone 3 Di-rector. The farm Allam grew

up on transitioned from dairy in 2007 to grains, oil seeds and pulses, and he recently formed a partnership with his family called Allam Farms Partnership.

“As an APG board member, I would like to focus on pulses that could be a true scalable crop rotation, instead of the traditional roughly 10 per cent of farm acres,” he said. “I feel that serving on boards will help with networking and enhance agriculture in Alberta.”

Incumbent APG Direc-tor-at-Large (Bean) Tim VanderHoek and Direc-tor-at-Large (Non-Bean) John Kowalchuk were each ac-claimed to remain in these positions for a one-year term. The Board of Directors for 2017-18 also includes: Rodney Volk (Zone 1); Doug Sell (Zone 2); Ryan Kubinec (Zone 3); Fraser Robertson (Zone 4); and Don Shepert (Zone 5).

New APG Zone 1 Director Greg Stamp.

New APG Zone 3 Director Chris Allam.

Spring 2017 7

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

The Alberta Pulse Growers (APG) selected Blair Roth, who has been instrumental in building Alberta’s pulse indus-try, as the winner of the third annual Alberta Pulse Industry Innovator Award.

“Each year APG recognizes a person or organization whose progressive thinking and tire-less efforts helped build Al-berta’s pulse industry into the flourishing industry that it is today,” said APG Past-Chair Allison Ammeter. “Blair Roth has dedicated his career to

the advancement of the pulse industry and truly deserves to receive the Alberta Pulse In-dustry Innovator Award for his many contributions.”

Roth said that he was hon-oured to learn that he was chosen as the recipient of the third annual Industry Innova-tor Award. He was nominated by Zone 1.

“This means a lot to me and I truly appreciate the honour,” Roth said. “I am humbled to be put in the same catego-

ry as previous recipients. To me, these type of awards are a team game. I hope I have played some small part, and I don’t expect the momentum of this industry to slow as the next generation takes on the challenges of the future.”

Roth discovered his life-long passion for pulses when he worked in applied research at Alberta Agriculture in the 1980s and ran field scale demonstrations for many crops, including early soy-bean, lupin, faba bean, chick-

pea, bean, pea and lentil crops. He worked very closely with producers to establish the Alberta Pulse Growers Association, which he then helped transition to the Alber-ta Pulse Growers Commission in 1989. Roth saw the poten-tial for pulses in Alberta and the need for a strong provin-cial organization that could continue to improve produc-tion and marketing research. In 1990, Roth started working in special crops with Alberta Pool, and then Agricore. He has continued to support the

Blair Roth Honoured as APG’s 2017 Recipient of the Alberta Pulse Industry Innovator Award

APG Past Chair Allison Ammeter and Zone 1 Chair Richard Pepneck presented Blair Roth with the award.

8 Spring 2017

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

growth in the pulse industry over the last nine years as the Director-Special Crops for Viterra, overseeing the North American procurement, pro-cessing and marketing of puls-es for Viterra.

Roth accepted the award presented by Ammeter and Zone 1 Chair Richard Pepneck during APG’s Annual General Meeting in January at Farm-Tech.

Roth thanked the zone for nominating him, as well as all the people who helped him in his career during the last 40 years.

“Thanks to my family for com-ing along for the ride and being willing to prepare, pro-mote and eat beans or len-tils or peas even when they weren’t convinced - I think they are now,” he said from

the podium at the Edmonton Expo Centre where his son Nathan watched his father accept the honour. “Thank you to the many farmers that I have learned from, worked with, done business with and befriended over the past 40 years. Life is a continual path of learning and my association with the farming community has been a real blessing for my career.”

He also expressed gratitude to the many staff members, busi-ness associates, customers and researchers he worked with and learned from over the years.

While Roth became involved in the pulse industry in 1979, he told the crowd of about 200 people at the AGM, that the closest year he could find acreage numbers for Western

Canada was 1981 with 500,000 acres. He said that the acreage in Western Canada had grown to well over 10 million acres in 2016.

“What a sweet ride,” he re-marked. “There have been lots of challenges, and there will be more! But there has also been lots of excitement and rewarding times observing and being part of the success that the pulse industry has achieved over the past 30-odd years.”

He added: “I think back to all the dedication and time in-vested by all who have toiled to make this industry what it is today. I recall the early days when we formed the Alber-ta Pulse Growers Association in 1979 and worried how we could ever get enough fund-ing to direct research into the

most needed areas. I think of all the on-farm research that growers willingly took on to better the industry. Let’s not forget all the hard work and risk taking of those early pio-neers of our industry!”

Tim VanderHoek, APG’s Bean Director-at-Large who farms in Zone 1, had high praise for Roth’s contributions to build-ing the pulse industry.

“Blair Roth not only helped create markets for pulses,” VanderHoek explained, “but also assisted the farmers who created this body, the Alberta Pulse Growers, that is very suc-cessful today and has grown tremendously throughout his career. He was instrumental at the start of the association, and his opinion continues to be respected at the zone and provincial level.”

Blair Roth surveys a bean field with AAFC dry bean breeder Dr. Parthiba Balasubramanian.

Spring 2017 9

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

Ever since I started growing yellow peas 16 years ago, I entertained the thought of getting involved in the Alberta Pulse Growers in some way.

I enjoyed growing new crops like peas and soybeans with such potential to change the way we farm by adding anoth-er plant type to the rotation. I really wanted to share my ex-periences with other Alberta farmers and help promote this great “tool” in our fight to help with short rotations. I had stopped by the Alber-ta Pulse Growers booth in the past but felt I didn’t have the time or knowledge to be involved with an ag commis-sion. I think many farmers feel the same way and this is what holds them back. The fact of the matter is you do have to commit a certain amount of time, but it’s ba-sically your decision how

much. The more you give, the more you’ll get out of it stands very true for any ag group but there is no pres-sure. As far as not having the knowledge to contribute, if you’re willing to listen, discuss and share your opinion, you will do well on a board. Your life experiences are some of your most useful knowl-edge, not what you learned in school or post-secondary. Then, at the farm show in Red Deer in November 2015, I made a point of stopping by the Pulse booth because I knew Sarah Hoffmann from my area had stepped down and the position of Direc-tor-at-Large (Non-Bean) was opening up. It just so hap-pened that Allison Ammeter was helping out at the booth that day, and I was able to talk to her about APG and what it’s like to be on the board. After this discussion and tak-ing some time to think about it, I knew I wanted to put my name forward for election at the AGM during FarmTech. In January 2016 in Edmonton during FarmTech, I attend-ed the Alberta Pulse AGM and got in front of a crowd of pulse growers to explain to them why I wanted to be a Director. I told my story of growing peas, and also talked about growing soybeans for the first time. I was very ner-vous having never spoken in front of that many people be-fore, so it was a bit of a blur. I was happy to find out after-wards that I had been elected as a Director and was really looking forward to the year ahead.

The next year consisted of four board meetings where representatives from all five pulse zones in Alberta and the APG staff get together. Also, I volunteered for the Research Committee, as well as the Extension Committee. These are things I had a real inter-est in, and have been able to be in some very informative meetings. I am starting to feel more confident in contrib-uting to discussions. Alberta Pulse Growers uses a signif-icant portion of levy dollars investing in research and also leverages those dollars with other funding dollars. Things like root rot and pea leaf wee-vil are issues we as pea pro-ducers face in Alberta, and are being researched through your levy dollars. Also, the other pulse crops have many new and ongoing research programs to help producers such as white mold research in dry beans and chocolate spot in faba beans.

The Directors on the board are all very hard-working, interesting people. I’ve had great one-on-one conversa-tions with many of them and learned about pulse farming across our province.

Getting an opportunity to work with the staff at APG has been an eye-opener as well. These men and women bring a wealth of industry and pro-ducer knowledge to the ta-ble, and having the chance to learn from them about pulses has been invaluable. They do an amazing job of represent-ing the Alberta Pulse Growers

on a provincial and national stage and in helping to pro-mote pulses. I have seen first-hand how committed they are to the success of all the projects that APG has taken on in the last year. They rep-resent us well, and we are lucky to have every one of them. 

I was re-elected in January at the AGM since Direc-tor-at-Large terms are only one year. The last few months have been a great opportuni-ty to meet many interesting people from our ag com-munity, and I have enjoyed the chance to learn from all them. All of us in agriculture have many battles ahead and these grower groups will be there working alongside us to help with all the agronom-ic and social issues. My hope for all farmers out there is that you take the time to get involved in one of the grower groups. They do great work on our behalf and, once you get an inside look, you will better understand how much goes on behind the scenes to help farmers. So, get involved if you have the chance, you’ll be amazed at how much you can contribute and the friend-ships and knowledge you gain in return.

A version of this story first appeared as a blog post at http://johnkowalchuk.blog-spot.ca/2016_12_01_archive.html .

My First Year as an Alberta Pulse Growers DirectorJohn Kowalchuk, APG Director-at-Large (Non-Bean), Chair of Extension Committee.

John Kowalchuk examines the soybeans on his farm last

summer.

10 Spring 2017

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

* Growers who pay levies to any of the provincial pulse associations are not required to pay CSCA or GPC membership fees in order to attend Pulses 2017.

www.pulses2017.com

For the first time, the Global Pulse Confederation and the Canadian Special Crops Association are bringing their conventions together for the biggest event the pulse industry has ever seen – Pulses 2017: The Future of Food.

• The world is coming to Canada. Help represent the Canadian pulse industry as buyers and traders from around the world see where and who their product comes from.

• Enjoy all that Vancouver has to offer. The mountain views, the ocean, and a buzzing business hub right next to Canada’s largest international port where your crops are transported to feed the world.

• See the innovation that is possible using pulses and pulse ingredients, and hear about the progress on all industry issues.

• Learn about the global supply and demand outlook for 2017.

Don’t miss this extraordinary pulse event!

REGISTRATION OPEN NOW! Register before April 3, 2017 for a discounted early bird rate.*

JULY 10-13, 2017

VANCOUVER

2 17

PULSES

THE FUTURE OF FOOD

GPC AND CSCA PRESENT:

10779CSCA-PULSE2017-GrowerAssocAd-APG[8.25x10.75]-Feb2017-FNL.indd 1 2017-02-24 3:02 PM

Much of Canada’s grain hop-per car fleet is “duct-taped to-gether and on its last legs,” a transportation policy expert told a packed room during FarmTech in January.

Advancements in railcar tech-nology mean that fewer new rail cars will be needed to replace retiring older ones, but it still isn’t clear who will bankroll a fleet that is nearing the end of its life expectancy, said Steve Pratte, Policy Man-ager with the Canadian Cano-la Growers Association.

“This whole system has rest-ed on the hopper cars we’ve had since the 1970s,” he said. “Underpinning that is the hopper car fleet is a mixed bag of ownership, and age

and stage of the hopper car.”

Pratte said that advances in hopper car design since the 1970s include capacity increasing from 4,550 ft3 to 5,150 ft3 and 5,400 ft3. The maximum gross weight also swelled from 120 tonnes to 130 tonnes. He also point-ed to structural design im-provements and lighter tare weights.

In early 2016, there were 22,400 publicly-supplied hop-per cars in circulation but how many are online at once varies by month depending on fleet, storage and back or-der, Pratte noted. There are a lot of players in the Western Canadian grain supply chain, he said, and the average

crop production of 60 million tonnes was moved for each of the last five years.

The Canadian Transporta-tion Act (CTA) Review Report devoted a page to the issue of aging grain hopper cars, Pratte said.

The report states that: “Be-tween 1972 and 1994, the federal government pur-chased 13,500 rail hopper cars to carry Canadian grain from the Prairies to Western Canadian ports for export. The expected service life of these hopper cars was about 40 years. Under past and cur-rent operating agreements, these hopper cars are pro-vided at no cost to CN and CP for grain transport, although

the federal government col-lects annual revenues in the range of $10 to 15 million for alternate uses of the cars. Due to losses from accidents and aging, the federal fleet was estimated at about 8,410 hopper cars in 2014. The Governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan respectively acquired 1,000 hopper cars in 1980-81 of which about 900 currently remain in ser-vice. The Canadian Wheat Board (now G3 Global Grain Group) bought about 2,000 hopper cars in 1979-80 and purchased 1,663 leased rail cars in 2005-06; about 3,380 hopper cars remain in their fleet. The total number of Canadian grain hopper cars is estimated at about 23,000.”

Who Will Replace Western Canada’s Aging Grain Hopper Cars?

12 Spring 2017

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

Pratte noted over the last few decades, public policy gradu-ally shifted toward deregula-tion and 900 Alberta cars are now approaching 50 years of age.

“The major issue from the farmer’s perspective is: As this publicly-provided poli-cy is phased out, how is that reflected in the price of your grain,” Pratte asked the room filled with producers at Farm-Tech in Edmonton. “Is this go-ing to be one more of those costs downloaded to you eventually?”

APG Past-Chair Allison Am-meter, who farms near Syl-van Lake, agreed that it’s a problem that is top of mind for producers.

“As a farmer, dependable grain movement is a critical part of our business,” she

said.  “However, the concern is that yet another cost will be added to our bottom line if we leave car replacement to the railways. An additional concern is that replacement will not be done in a time-ly manner.  This is the time to address these concerns to ensure that the railways, grain companies, and gov-ernments do not simply wait for someone to make the first move.”

Unfortunately, the CTA re-port didn’t make any specific recommendations on that front, Pratte said.

The report states: “The exist-ing grain hopper car fleet in Canada is nearing the end of its useful life and must be expanded and renewed. The federal government can play a role in the development of a long-term strategic plan on

how best this can be achieved and under what timelines. It also has a role to ensure a favorable regulatory regime exists that does not generate barriers to investment. Mod-ifications to the MRE (Maxi-mum Revenue Entitlement) methodology (or elimination of the MRE, outright) could reduce “free-riders” and in-vestment disincentives. Oth-er options include, an accel-erated capital cost allowance of railway cars (e.g. to levels comparable to those in the United States, 30 percent for railway cars), and the explo-ration of the appropriateness of an investment tax credit are initiatives that foster a positive investment climate.”

In a speech on Nov. 3, Min-ister of Transport Marc Gar-neau promised legislation to be tabled in the spring to “advance a long-term agenda

for a more transparent, bal-anced, and efficient rail sys-tem that reliably moves our goods to global markets.”

Pratte added that there is some interest from private companies to make the in-vestment but government still has a part in the process.

“The role of government po-tentially is as broker – who’s going to do what and who is going to move first,” Pratte said. “The motivation for shipping companies to main-tain their own cars versus the railways is the legal promise of service. If you put in so many units, we guarantee you so many lines of service per week. You obtain it and we’ll give you better service.”

Cash Flow Solutions For Your FarmBoost your marketing plan and lower your financing costs with a cash advance.

INTEREST FREE

$400,000$100,000GRAIN & LIVESTOCK COMMODITIES

ONE APPLICATION, ONE LOW FEE MAXIMUM ADVANCE

45

Whether you’re just getting started or have been farming for years, a cash advance offers solutions for your farm, including:

• financial flexibility, so you can market your crop or livestock when the timing and price is best for you,

• a low blended interest rate, so you can lower your cost of production, and • cash flow solutions for the everyday challenges of managing a farm.

Applying is easier than ever too, with all your advance needs in one place at CCGA.Fall advances for livestock and stored grains are available now.

The cash advance program administered by CCGA is made available to Canadian farmers through Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada’s Advance Payments Program.

Find out more at 1-866-745-2256 or ccga.ca.

Follow us @ccga_ca

Spring 2017 13

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

AGT Foods is banking on the continued popularity of puls-es with Alberta farmers by opening new pulse facilities in Gibbons and near Calgary.

“The next big frontier in the world for pulses is either Alberta or Montana,” AGT Foods President and CEO Murad Al-Katib told a packed room during FarmTech 2017.

AGT’s new and improved Gibbons plant opened up in 2016, and the plant 14 km south of Calgary is under construction with opening scheduled for fall 2017.

The company entered into binding agreements to ac-quire all of the assets of Fino-

ra Inc., including the Gibbons plant (approximately 40 km north of  Edmonton) and three others in Saskatche-wan, in 2009.

“Southern Alberta is one of the only all-pulses regions in the world,” Al-Katib said. “This year, Alberta exceeded Australia for the first time. Alberta’s growth is beneficial to the pulse sector in Canada because we need balance in the organization.”

Al-Katib added that Alberta was the second largest pro-ducer of lentils in the world in 2016. Saskatchewan was the largest producer. He said that the Alberta advantage also includes the proximity

to ports, a typical-ly earlier harvest, and room to grow the acreage.

He took the op-portunity to praise the Alberta Pulse Growers for efforts to grow the industry as well.

“The leadership of the Alberta Pulse Growers has re-ally impressed us,” Al-Katib said. “Your Directors get that it’s about protein.”

AGT Foods began in 2002 and showed Saskatchewan producers that lentils were something that they should be growing for many rea-sons. Al-Katib had seen how the red lentils that were grown in Canada were shipped to Turkey and oth-er countries to be split, and wondered why the splitting couldn’t be done in Canada.

“I said I’m going to start an agricultural company and make a lot of money,” he re-called. “I have made a lot of money, but producers have made a lot of money too.”

The Regina-based company

buys lentils and other puls-es from producers and sells them around the world. It began production in 2003, went public  in 2007 and eventually grew into one of the world’s largest lentil companies, handling about a quarter of the global supply.

“We were able to take that pulse opportunity and we were able to monetize it,” Al-Katib explained. “About 24 per cent of the world’s lentils go through our facilities to-day. From producer to the world was my vision, and as a $2 billion company today, that is still our vision.”

AGT Foods Opens Two NewPulse Facilities in Alberta,“The Next Big Frontier for Pulses”

AGT Foods President and CEO Murad Al-Katib

14 Spring 2017

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

DISEASE DEFEATED IN FOUR QUICK MOVES. Crop diseases travel fast. Your fungicide needs to move quicker. DuPont™ Acapela® fungicide unleashes 4 unique movement properties to surround and penetrate each plant, stopping key diseases in canola, cereals, corn, soybeans and pulses. And because it’s rapidly absorbed, you can spray even under challenging conditions. Acapela® delivers more consistent protection and plant performance bene� ts for a greener, healthier plant, so you can take your yields all the way.

Questions? Ask your retailer, call 1-800-667-3925 or visit acapela.dupont.ca

DuPontTM

Acapela®

fungicide

As with all crop protection products, read and follow label instructions carefully. Member of CropLife Canada.

Unless indicated, trademarks with ®, TM or SM are trademarks of DuPont or affi liates. © 2017 DuPont.

Translaminar Movement Xylem Systemic Activity Local Gas Activity Wax Diffusion

1831 Acapela West ad_2017_PulseCropNews.indd 1 2/21/17 12:48 PM

Pulse Canada is aiming high to accelerate growth and generate significant new de-mand for pulses and pulse ingredients. The Pulse Cana-da Board of Directors recent-ly set the “25 by 2025” target as part of the organization’s strategic planning process. The association’s focus will now include uniting the in-dustry around the bold new goal.

The 25 by 2025 goal will aim to create demand in new use categories for 25 per cent of the Canadian pulse indus-try’s productive capacity by

2025. Snack foods, tortillas and breakfast cereals are just a few product categories that represent growth po-tential for pulse ingredients, which offer food manufac-turers protein, fibre, slow-ly digestible starch and an unparalleled environmental sustainability story.

The demand target comes as Pulse Canada considers its sustainable growth strat-egy. The Canadian pulse in-dustry continued to expand production in 2016 to meet strong demand with a 28 per cent increase in lentil pro-duction and a 51 per cent increase in pea production over the last year.

“Our traditional markets will always be a top priority for us and we’ll continue to in-vest into improving service and product quality for Can-ada’s long standing custom-ers,” said Lee Moats, Chair of Pulse Canada and member of the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers Board of Directors. “Pulse ingredients are also attracting a lot of attention from non-traditional mar-kets, and we need to ensure that we sharpen our focus on that new demand in or-der to diversify our options

and deliver the value we know that pulse ingredients can add to a wide range of new food products.”

Pulse Canada’s demand tar-get, announced on Global Pulse Day (Jan. 18), proved timely as European ingredi-ent company Roquette also revealed its plans to build a pea processing facility in Canada that day. Global Pulse Day was recognized across the globe during over 200 events in 63 countries, which generated over 36 million social media impres-sions.

“Global Pulse Day and the 2016 International Year of Pulses have been incredibly successful platforms that have helped create aware-ness for pulses and the contribution they make to human health and environ-mental sustainability,” Moats said. “We believe we can con-tinue to build momentum and turn that awareness into increased demand and high-er consumption.”

In 2016, the number of food products containing pulses launched in North Ameri-ca grew by approximately 30 per cent with the fastest growth coming from the snack foods category.

“Roquette’s announcement, along with other invest-

ments into value-added pro-cessing that have been made by Canadian companies and other foreign investors to date, is a strong signal that the industry is well posi-tioned to serve an expanding food and ingredient market,” said Greg Cherewyk, COO of Pulse Canada.

Reformulating food products to include pulse ingredients can significantly increase their nutritional quality while lowering their environmen-tal footprint. For example, a reformulation of traditional durum pasta to include 25 per cent lentil flour can in-crease fibre content by 100 per cent and protein content by 25 per cent while lowering its carbon footprint by up to 26 per cent.

“As we look ahead, the defi-nition of food quality will include social indicators like health outcomes, en-vironmental indicators like greenhouse gas emissions and economic indicators such as affordability,” Moats said. “Our journey to 25 by 2025 aligns well with the fu-ture of food and we’re look-ing forward to working with our partners at home and around the world to meet the needs of customers of today and customers of to-morrow.”

25 by 2025Pulse Canada’s New Demand TargetPulse Canada Staff

Greg Cherewyk, Pulse Canada COO.

16 Spring 2017

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

When it comes to minimiz-ing agricultural impact on the climate, and specifically carbon dioxide levels, the Alberta cropping sector has exemplified climate change leadership.

Yes. That’s correct. Alberta broad-acre cropping sys-tems have evolved over time to be one of the greatest allies in the global quest to decarbonize our economy. Imagine your fields as mas-sive solar collectors for ener-gy and calories, but also an atmospheric carbon filtra-tion and sequestration bio-logical super machine like no other on Earth.

The management practic-es producers have adopted are numerous, and include aspects of continuous crop-ping, soil conservation from minimum tillage, adoption of GPS and precision guidance, sectional control in sprayers and planters, and adopting new genetics that have high-er water use efficiency, nu-trient use efficiency as well as soil sampling. All of these practices reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. Many producers haven’t re-alized that they are leaders in taking action on climate change. In the early 2000s, scientists already recognized that the Canadian cropping

sector was a net negative contributor to greenhouse gases due to changes in practices and the ability to sequester carbon.

So why aren’t Alberta pro-ducers being recognized for their actions? Why are they paying a carbon tax?

Alberta has been leading the way in conservation cropping offset protocol de-velopment, and the use of carbon offsets combined with taxing large final emit-ters in the creation of a quasi-market-based system combining tax and trade, in order to meet climate goals. These offsets and protocols continue to be developed, recalculated and scrutinized in order to ensure the objec-tives of government are met. The current government ob-jective is to decarbonize the Alberta economy by taxing the externality (C02), which is a by-product of combus-tion of fossil fuels and whose concentrations continue to climb in the atmosphere. So why aren’t producers getting paid if they are sequestering more carbon than they emit?

The answer is, it’s complicat-ed. Many protocols are de-veloped before the science is settled and they often need to be tweaked in order to

capture the three elements of a proven offset, protocol or ecosystem service being provided. The three factors determining quality offsets include permanence, base-line and additionality. The tests are: Is the carbon se-questered permanent in nature, is the baseline for comparison appropriate and is the practice change addi-tional to business as usual?

As the government finds its way through current policy pertaining to taxing carbon and rewarding those compa-nies, corporations and pro-ducers such as yourselves who are reducing their cli-matic impact, it is important that producer commissions communicate what advanc-es the cropping sector has made in this area. New tech-

nologies already exist, and their commercialization and adoption tomorrow and into the future will continue to advance the way agriculture is done in Alberta. Be proud of the climate leadership you have exemplified – You are already doing it! The trick lies in communicating to urban cousins and neighbours, as well as politicians, as to how we are producing food in the most economical, efficient and cost effective way possi-ble – a method that not only make economic cents, but climate sense all at the same time.

Climate Change Leadership:You are Already Doing it Right!

Nevin Rosaasen, APG Policy & Program Specialist

Nevin Rosaasen, APG Policy & Program Specialist

Spring 2017 17

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

Lentils were a small acreage crop in Alberta until strong export demand from mar-kets like India helped drive an increase in acres. Until recently, both red and green lentil types were insured based on a large green type, but the increase in red lentil acreage created an opportu-nity to give them distinct and separate coverage. Starting in 2017, Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC)

will provide lentil growers with insurance coverage that reflects differences for each type.

Recently, the increasingly di-vergent trends for green and red lentils have caught the eye of various stakeholders in the pulse industry. Red lentils have driven the acre-age expansion while greens have only experienced mod-est increases in the last few years.

Acreage allocated to lentils in the province has grown consistently over the last decade, and the estimate

for the total lentil acreage in the province is now over 400,000.

Given the increased pro-duction of red lentils in a consistent pattern, AFSC will separate red and green len-tils to give red lentils distinct insurance coverage and in-demnification. “In reaching this decision, pulse growers helped significantly in un-derstanding the workings of the lentil market,” said Jesse Cole, Research Analyst for Innovation and Product De-velopment at AFSC.

Under the new practice, cov-

erage and indemnification for red and green lentils will be calculated separately and based on the current market prices. Yield history averag-es for the two products will remain the same for calcu-lation purposes in 2017, but they will begin to diverge in 2018 as yields are experi-enced.

“Splitting them will be a positive change for red len-til growers because of the accuracy that it will bring in pricing,“ Cole said.

Spring price endorsement (SPE) and variable price ben-

Distinct Insurance Coverage for Red Lentils New in 2017Agriculture Financial Services Corporation Staff

18 Spring 2017

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

efit calculations will also be separately made for red len-tils in 2017.

But the change focusing on red lentils will not affect other small acre crops, with “other” lentils, such as French Greens and Spanish Browns, still receiving the same cov-erage as green lentils.

Unharvested acres pose a challenge for farmers and AFSC

Due to the excessive mois-ture and early snowfall in October and November last year, many farmers were unable to get their crop off the ground. By mid-Febru-ary, producers had reported 967,569 acres as unharvest-ed. As a result, AFSC has been processing an unusu-ally high number of claims over the last few months. While the numbers are high, established claim inspection standards are strictly upheld by AFSC’s team of qualified and experienced inspectors.

And it is that commitment to a high inspection stan-dard that explains why the claims processing is not proceeding faster. As each and every on-farm inspector employed by AFSC is trained and equipped with a special skillset that qualifies them for their position, employing temporary inspectors for a job that requires expertise and specialization is not con-sidered by the Corporation to be a proper solution to speed up claim processing.

However, extra measures are being taken to address the extraordinarily high number of claims. Among these steps are allocating available resources to high demand areas and plans to combine inspections of wild-life damage with those of un-harvested crop in the fields.

Despite the above average number of claims, as of Feb-ruary 24, a total of 1,531 claims, covering more than 75 per cent of eligible unhar-vested acreage have been

processed with $27.2 million paid in benefits. “We esti-mate processing unharvest-ed acreage benefits will be completed mid-March,” said Daniel Graham, Manager, Financial Analysis, Analysis Solutions at AFSC.

Contact a Branch Office if wildlife damage discov-ered

The number of wildlife dam-age claims is expected to rise as snow melts away and farmers determine the state of their crop still on the ground. Producers should apply to the Wild-life Damage Compensation Program (WDCP) if they identify wildlife damage on their unharvested crops. If a producer has plans to put their crops to another use, they should contact their lo-cal AFSC Branch Office and indicate their requests for both pre-harvest and wildlife damage inspection, as those inspections can occur simul-taneously.

The WDCP is in place to bring relief to farmers whose crops are affected by wild-life. There is no requirement for farmers to have an insur-ance policy with AFSC to be eligible for support under WDCP. Inspection requests must be submitted, and AFSC will need to inspect the damage before the crop can be harvested or put to another use. Information about the number of pro-cessed and pending claims is updated weekly on the AFSC website.

Producers who wish to apply to or receive more informa-tion about the Wildlife Dam-age Compensation Program are advised to contact their local AFSC Branch Office, call the AFSC Client Contact Cen-tre at 1-877-899-2372 or visit www.afsc.ca

Spring 2017 19

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

Neonicotinoids are one of the most widely used in-secticides in the world. The class of insecticides, to which imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and clothianidin belong, was welcomed by all sectors of agriculture as this new tech-nology was much less toxic than earlier pesticides such as Lindane and others. Ne-onics offered a cost-effective alternative that provided the control or suppression need-ed to ensure producers could continue to produce crops.

From 2012 to 2013, Eastern Canada went through a peri-od of tension between grain producers and their respec-tive government ministries. Neonicotinoids were target-ed as the culprit for colony collapse disorder in Ontario and Quebec apiaries. After years of court litigation and with cooperation between equipment manufacturers and re-designed polymer coatings for seed treatments, farmers were deemed to

have mitigated any risks to beekeepers and pollinators.

This past November, the Pes-ticide Management Regula-tory Agency (PMRA), an arm of Health Canada, released a re-evaluation decision re-garding imidacloprid, and the proposed intention to phase out imidacloprid over three to five years. This de-cision was not based on the risk of neonics to bees, but rather that there is a risk to aquatic invertebrates given the two data sets that were used to model the risk across Canada. The Canadian agri-cultural sector was also no-tified that a re-evalution of thiamethoxam and clothian-idin were forthcoming.

Stakeholders and the pub-lic were given 120 days to provide submissions. It is believed that tens of thou-sands of submissions were received, although that is not confirmed. Many national, provincial and even munic-ipal organizations provid-ed submissions on behalf of producers. APG, along with Pulse Canada and our provincial partners from Saskatchewan to Ontario, worked collaboratively along with other cropping counter-parts, to best communicate the impact that removing neonicotinoids will have on control of insect pests. Many of our insect pests controlled or suppressed by these seed treatments no longer have

any viable alternatives and producers are losing func-tional groups from which to choose in order to rotate their mode of action when targeting insect pests.

Through integrated pest management, using crop rotation, rotating herbicide, fungicide and insecticide functional groups ensures that insects and weeds do not develop resistance. This may be the largest threat to crop, vegetable and other agricultural production in Canada, should the phase-out decision be made. This will result in a competitive disadvantage to our trading partners including the Unit-ed States, where the Envi-ronmental Protection Agency (EPA) presently will not be re-moving neonicotinoids as a tool for their agricultural pro-ducers. The EPA has deemed that there is perhaps a risk to aquatic invertebrates as the PMRA has suggested, how-ever, the EPA also looks at cost-benefit of the pesticide in question, and has decided the risk to be minimal and the loss of this invaluable tool to be too costly.

Presently, producer groups, boards, associations and or-ganizations across the coun-try are working through an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Round Table facilitat-ed process, and have agreed to look at additional water monitoring in order to pro-

vide more robust data on which to base this decision.

The 2017 growing season will offer some time to coordi-nate and cooperate with the PMRA and Health Canada to obtain the comprehensive data they need to make deci-sions. It may also afford pro-ducer groups more time to look at further practices that can mitigate the risk to our waterways, communicate the importance of alterna-tives and find a solution that works for all.

Unfortunately, the task of communicating to our urban friends and relatives regard-ing the role of sound scien-tific process in the post-truth social media era will be a difficult one. It will take hard work to change the frequen-cy from bees to aquatic in-vertebrates. This is a time for technical experts to augment the robustness and quality of their data, for agricultural producers to discuss this is-sue with their MLAs, MPs and urban counterparts.

Our industry is a technolo-gy-based, scientific process. Let’s not let social media determine the license to op-erate. The industry needs to ensure that the complex scientific process, sound science and due diligence is exercised when determining the future of our industry, livelihoods and food security.

Neonicotinoids –Past, Present and Future

Pea Leaf Weevil

20 Spring 2017

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

Properly inoculated annu-al legume crops, like field pea and faba bean, produce most of the nitrogen they re-quire for growth through the growing season via nitrogen fixation carried out by nod-ules on plant roots. Hence, field pea and faba bean are generally grown on nitrogen deficient soil without much, if any, additional synthetic nitrogen fertilizer. When the pea leaf weevil (PLW) insect pest feeds on the nodules of pea and faba bean seed-lings in the spring and early summer, this natural nitro-gen source is greatly com-promised, inhibiting optimal pea and faba bean growth throughout the remainder of the growing season as well as decreasing crop yield.

The pea leaf weevil was re-ported in southern Alberta in 1997 and remained for sev-eral years south of Highway 1. Since 2013, this insect’s geographic range has greatly expanded into central Alber-ta, extending as far north as Sturgeon County, north of Edmonton, with lower levels of feeding reported in east central Alberta.

Given that 2016 survey levels were high in the aforemen-tioned areas, there is a high risk of infestation in the same areas if winter and spring conditions are favourable. A

potential predictor of popula-tion increase is precipitation in August. As many areas with high weevil populations in 2016 experienced August precipitation, pea and faba bean producers in these ar-eas are advised to plan con-trol strategies for the 2017 crop year.

After spending the winter as an adult beetle in perennial legumes, adults are attract-ed to annual and perennial legume crops in spring, in-cluding field pea, faba bean, lentil, alfalfa, and bean. How-ever, egg laying only takes place in soil near field pea or faba bean seedlings, so root nodules of lentil and alfalfa, for example, are not affected. Just prior to egg laying, adult PLW insects feed on the mar-gins of seedling leaves result-ing in a notched or scalloped leaf appearance (see Figure 1), which is not expected to reduce yield. After hatching from eggs, the worm-like lar-vae proceed downward into the soil where they primarily feed on root nodules result-ing in decreased nitrogen fixation by pea and faba bean plants.

Spring weather conditions can alter the timing and se-verity of PLW damage. Wee-vils arrive early to pea and faba bean fields if warm tem-peratures above 20 degrees

C persist for more than a few days in late April or early May, potentially corresponding with higher yield losses. Alter-natively, if cool weather oc-curs during the same period, yield is generally not as com-promised especially when the crop advances past the sixth node stage before the weevils arrive. In either case, field scouting is required to make control decisions on a field by field basis.

Yield losses may occur when there are more than 30 per cent of seedlings (three out of 10 plants along a seed row; assess groups of 10 plants in multiple rows) with feed-ing damage on the clam leaf before the sixth node stage in peas. Most research does not show that control of wee-vils using foliar insecticide prevent yield loss. The inef-fectiveness of foliar spraying probably arises because wee-vils have already laid enough eggs to significantly damage root nodules. According to research on the Prairies, nod-ule protection is more effec-tive when pea seed is treat-ed with systemic insecticide, such as neonicotinoids.

If feeding damage is only ap-parent on the older, lower leaves and not on the new-er clam leaf, the weevil has probably already laid eggs and spraying would be of no

value. Therefore, producers should scout for damage on the clam leaf and not on low-er leaves. Since PLW migrate into field pea and faba bean fields, foliar damage is initial-ly observed along field edges. Foliar insecticides applied early in an infestation to field edges may be a sound eco-nomic decision; however, ad-ditional on-farm research will provide more clarity. Limited spraying would also reduce the risk of affecting benefi-cial species, such as ground beetles, that may help man-age PLW populations via pre-dation, and other beneficial insects including parasitoids and pollinators.

Heightened Risk of Pea Leaf Weevil Damage in 2017Neil Whatley, Alberta Agriculture & Forestry, with files from Hector Carcamo and Meghan Vankosky, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Figure 1. PLW feeding damage on pea leaves (photo: L. Dosdall)

Spring 2017 21

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

Farm and ranch safety has always been a top priority for the agriculture commu-nity in Alberta. Farmers and ranchers take the safety of their farms, their families and their employees very se-riously. All farms have some degree of safety measures in place, however, farm man-agers also recognize that there may be room for im-provement. Producers feel that farm and ranch safety should be directed by the ag-riculture industry, and they are motivated to lead the process of enhancing safety practices on their farms and ranches.

Representatives from a broad collection of Alberta’s agricultural crop and live-stock commodity groups

have teamed up to form an industry-led farm safety con-sortium, AgSafe Alberta. The team received funding from Alberta Agriculture and For-estry’s Growing Forward 2 Program (GF2). These funds are being used for the devel-opment and delivery of prac-tical farm safety education and awareness resources aiming to enable and en-courage Alberta farmers and ranchers to improve on-farm safety programs and practic-es.

The introduction of Bill 6 the Enhanced Protection for Farm and Ranch Work-ers Act in Alberta in January 2016 created hype around the topic of farm safety. Pro-ducers have, however, ex-pressed hesitation in moving full steam ahead with farm safety programming for sev-eral reasons: The authorities have not, to date, revealed how the Alberta Occupation-al Health and Safety Code will apply on farms; per-ceived cost of farm safety programming; time involved to set up and operate pro-gramming; fear of complex programs; and not wanting external interference with the management of the farm. AgSafe Alberta will of-fer adaptable programming and design approaches to help farmers and ranchers overcome these obstacles.

AgSafe Alberta will develop farm safety resources for all people on the farm includ-ing family members, chil-dren, farm employees and owner operators, regardless of whether OHS legislation applies to them or not. Ex-tension activities such as presentations, seminars and articles will be delivered to elevate farm safety aware-ness and to distribute Ag-Safe Alberta resources. The group will establish and pilot a set of farm safety services that will lay out a roadmap and form the foundation for stable industry-led farm safety programming for Al-berta farms and ranches into the future. Guidance and re-sources for regulatory com-pliance requirements will be developed after more defi-nition is given on how the OH&S Regulations and Code apply to Alberta farms. In the meantime, farms can contin-ue to improve on farm safe-ty by implementing a safety program that complies with the OH&S Act.

Development of AgSafe Al-berta farm safety tools is now underway starting with the Quick Start Farm Safety Management Guide, Farm Risk Assessment Tool and training resources for hazard assessment and farm em-ployee orientation. AgSafe Alberta is also in the process

of recruiting qualified, com-petent farm safety advisors to help in the delivery of the tools, training and farm safety services. Training and resources will be made avail-able in multiple platforms and will be practical and adaptable to all sectors with-in our agriculture industry.

Why have a farm safety man-agement program? The ob-vious benefit to implement-ing a safety program on the farm is the prevention of in-juries, illnesses and fatalities. A successful farm safety sys-tem helps incorporate a safe-ty philosophy into the op-eration, reduces risk-taking activities and helps prevent incidents. Farm safety does not have to be complicated, and AgSafe Alberta will pro-vide the guidance and tools to help get you started. Keep it simple and let it grow over time. A few simple preventa-tive measures can go a long way towards a safe working environment on the farm.

Contact AgSafe Alberta’s Farm and Ranch Safety Ex-tension Coordinator Donna Trottier at dtrottier@alber-tawheat.com for further in-formation or to express your interest in AgSafe Alberta re-sources and services.

AgSafe Alberta Offers Practical Farm Safety SolutionsDonna Trottier, AgSafe Alberta

Donna Trottier,AgSafe Alberta

22 Spring 2017

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

10707526-Delaro 8.25x10.75-4C-062.indd BAYER-062-4C-2017

1GRACoL

8.25” x 10.75”8.25” x 10.75”

7.25” x 9.5”8.5” x 11”100%

--Manny.Augusto

None----

Bayer10707526

2-22-2017 9:54 AM2-22-2017 9:54 AM

Ferreira, Jamy (TOR-MWG)

AB Pulse Crop News

--

--

--

--

--

--DELARO 4C

Helvetica Neue LT Std

Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black

S:7.25”S:9.5”

T:8.25”T:10.75”

B:8.5”B:11”

Delaro® fungicide doesn’t take kindly to diseases like anthracnose, ascochyta, mycosphaerella, grey mould and white mould threatening the yield potential of innocent pulse and soybean crops.

Powerful broad-spectrum, long-lasting disease control with exceptional yield protection, Delaro sets a new standard in pulse and soybean crops.

TELL ’EM DELARO’S COMING

THERE’S A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN.

cropscience.bayer.ca or 1 888-283-6847 or contact your Bayer representative. @Bayer4CropsCA Always read and follow label directions. Delaro® is a registered trademark of the Bayer Group. Bayer CropScience Inc. is a member of CropLife Canada.

Over the past year, pric-es of various pulses in In-dia have been historically high. Farmers there have responded the same way farmers do everywhere by planting more acres. In the latest kharif (summer) crop, seeded area of pulses was 32% larger than the previous year and 26% more than the long-term average. In the rabi (winter) crop that’s just wrapping up now, plantings were 15% above last year and 10% more than average.

On top of the increased acre-age, conditions were mostly favourable for both the khar-if and rabi crops. That com-pares to the past two years, when drought and poor harvest weather damaged the crops badly. The Indian government’s production es-timate is 22 million tonnes, a new record by a wide mar-gin. And that could still be understated, as the rabi es-timate was issued before the harvest began.

The response in Indian pric-es has been about as expect-ed; bigger crops have a way of causing smaller prices. Of course, larger crops from farmers in other countries like Canada, the US, Austra-lia, Russia and others have all contributed to the pressure on prices. The drop from the highs seems extremely large, but prices are actually just returning to the longer-term levels that are more normal for these crops.

The larger Indian crop won’t have the same impact on ev-ery type of Canadian pulse crop. India is a larger player in the yellow pea and red lentil markets and that’s where the greatest influence would be. Even so, stronger Chinese demand for yellow peas and heavier Turkish purchases of red lentils are helping offset slower Indian purchases. For pulses like green peas and green len-tils, India is just one of many buyers and reduced Indian interest will have less effect on prices, although there could be some spillover ef-fect. Kabuli chickpea mar-kets will also see some influ-ence as India is actually a net exporter and a larger crop could be negative for prices.

One of the implications is that price expectations like-ly need to be recalibrated. The high-price environment that’s been around for the past couple of years is now in the rearview mirror. As long as weather remains sort of normal in India and exporting countries like Can-ada, pulse markets looked like they’ll get a little more “boring”. It will take another big crop problem here or in India to really drive prices back up again.

The bigger Indian pulse crop also means the flow of exports will slow. Export volumes already tend to be fairly quiet in the spring and summer months so this im-pact may not be all that no-ticeable yet. The difference will show up more this fall

when the pace of exports is solid compared to the near-frantic activity of the past two years. The practice of buyers phoning regularly to see if farmers are finally ready to sell their peas or lentils will likely change. If the Canadian crop is a de-cent size this year, the onus may be on farmers to find out which buyers are paying the best prices for their puls-es.

That’s not to say pulse de-mand will disappear. In fact, one of the benefits of a lower price environment is that it can stimulate additional de-mand and could help broad-en Canadian export oppor-tunities. Other countries in South Asia that have been priced out of the market the last couple of years may re-

Implications of the Indian Pulse CropChuck Penner, LeftField Commodity Research

24 Spring 2017

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

turn and buy larger volumes again.

From a longer-term per-spective, the lower price environment that accompa-nies this big crop is the first step in helping the market

shift higher again. As the old saying goes, “the best cure for low prices is low prices”. While Canadian farmers are still seeing decent new-crop prices and may not cut back on acreage this year, Indian farmers won’t be nearly as

exuberant about planting pulses in 2017, increasing the odds that India’s 2017/18 crop will be smaller again. That could set the stage for another turn of the cycle higher.

Of course, layered onto all of these ideas is the realization that weather events, either here or on the other side of the globe, will have the final say. And that uncertainty is what keeps my job endlessly interesting.

Spring 2017 25

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

A perfectly standing pea crop on the day of harvest remains the Holy Grail for most producers. Solving this challenge has been the quest of plant breeders, agrono-mists and pathologists since the time the very first com-bine hit the field.

The shift to semi-leafless pea varieties, finding the perfect plant density, and learning the ins and outs of manag-ing Ascochyta blight along with proper fungicide timing have resulted in giant leaps forward to ensuring a crop that stands beautifully right through until the last hop-per goes into storage. How-ever, for the majority of the province, we aren’t there yet. Many producers get creative in their approaches and look outside the box of traditional ways of doing things.

Intercropping is not a new concept. Key to the discus-sion, however, is to clearly understand what exactly we

mean when talking about intercropping. There are many variations on the same theme. At its most basic, in-tercropping is the purposed growing of more than one species of plant in the same space.

For example, a hay field of alfalfa and timothy is in fact an intercrop. Another famil-iar place where intercrop-ping is common is in silage mixtures either to maximize quality or yield or both. In very dry locations, two crops (often a legume and a cereal) are planted simultaneously to provide weed control as well as potential for addi-tional nutrient and moisture conservation benefits to the higher value crop. This is often done with clovers or peas/lentils and maize where only the corn grain is harvested. In other coun-tries, two crops are planted together to maximize land use since each crop can be harvested at their own in-

dividual maturities because the harvests are done by hand.

From an ecological stand-point, planting two or more crops with different root sizes, shapes and depths, leaf structures, angles and heights, as well as different nutrient and water needs is a very effective way of max-imizing resource use per unit land, managing water use and light use efficiently and may even provide risk mitigation against diseases, drought, flooding, etc. After all, there is no such thing as a monoculture found in na-ture. Production agriculture could perhaps be enhanced mimicking natural environ-ments.

Plants are much more aware of their surrounding envi-ronment than one would think. Researchers have shown that plants can cre-ate natural insecticides and fungicides, complex mole-

cules, and exude chemical messengers that trigger a response throughout the plant to begin producing natural pesticides. Research-ers have also shown that the type of natural insecticides produced are not only de-termined by insect mouth-parts, but that plants can change the type of response based on mouthparts of dif-ferent insects. This research has focused mostly on to-bacco, and other species of plants most commonly used in laboratory studies. The question remains wheth-er or not plants can com-municate across species, if these plants are aiding and abetting their neighbours, or whether neighbouring species of plants are simply eavesdropping, picking up chemical messaging signals around them and respond-ing to that environmental stimuli.

Mycorrhizae fungi, a com-plex hyphae of mycelial web-

The Dirt on Intercropping

26 Spring 2017

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

bing in the rhizosphere, are nutrient, mineral and water super highways. Scientific research has shown the abil-ity of certain plant species to transfer nutrients including simple carbohydrates, sug-ars and other minerals from plant to plant. The question remains whether or not plants can signal produc-tion of fungicidal/insecticidal molecules across species, from one crop to the other, and whether plants can also transfer nutrients across plant species through mycor-rhizae networks. This type of research is extremely diffi-cult to conduct in the field as the variables are so great, it is hard to isolate, observe and quantify the amount of plant to plant interaction. To date, we have no scientifical-ly conclusive evidence of this occurring in intercropping, but it hasn’t stopped produc-ers from experimenting.

Testimony and anecdotes from producers that have intercropped pulses with ce-reals, or canola, have spoken of perceived benefits. Some of these suggested benefits of intercropping include:

• Decreased weed com-petition and in some

instances, no need for herbicide application;

• Increased standability resulting in easier har-vest of peas/lentils when intercropped with cano-la or other vertical struc-tured canopies such as cereals and flax;

• Risk management in the form of one of the two crops yielding well given environmental condi-tions or lack of moisture (ie. Canola yields well in higher moisture seasons and peas better when moisture is limited.);

• Decreased disease pres-sure often resulting in no need for fungicide application; and

• Increased net return per acre or higher contri-bution margins due to decreased input costs should there be no fun-gicide and herbicide ap-plication.

There is currently no scientif-ic research to support these claims, however, produc-ers who have intercropped speak of these benefits. There are also many logisti-cal challenges of intercrop-ping. These may include:

• The difficulty of seeding

two crops and ensuring soil-seed contact, appro-priate depths and seed-bed for both species;

• The incompatibility of herbicide options be-tween crops;

• Timing of harvest to re-duce shatter loss or pre-mature harvest of imma-ture seeds;

• Difficulty combining and having appropriate set-tings to retain both seed sizes without throwing over; and

• Challenges separating or cleaning the two crops after harvest.

When reviewing all of the sci-entific literature, the jury is still out on whether there is improved yield through im-proved water, nutrient and light use efficiency. Scientists have not yet determined for certain that this is the case. Whether or not intercropping reduces the need for herbi-cides, insecticides or fungi-cides has not been proven. The logistical challenges of seeding, selecting compati-ble herbicide options, timing harvest and separating crops after harvest remain large obstacles for more produc-ers to try intercropping.

The only way for certain to know if intercropping has any additional benefit is by knowing your costs of pro-duction and your net return per acre. Perhaps the jury has not yet finished deliberating on the scientific arguments, however, should you be able to reduce risk through lower costs of production, and in-crease your net return per acre, intercropping may still pay dividends on your oper-ation. Before embarking on an intercropping adventure, be sure to speak to those with experience, sort out herbicide options for crops beforehand, and ensure that you have the time to sort out the logistical challenges of harvest and subsequent cleaning. Intercropping is a practice where producers are pioneering old tech-niques in a low input cost environment in order to im-prove returns per acre.

The scientific community is watching closely and will continue to assess the per-ceived benefits, when pos-sible, to confirm or debunk the many hypotheses that intercropping has been sug-gested to offer producers.

Harvest management of mixed crops needs to be carefully considered.

A pea-cereal intercrop purposed for silage. The pulse crop increases overall protein content and digestibility of the crop.

Spring 2017 27

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

In mid-2015, we met with Alberta Pulse Growers to discuss how we could join in the celebration of Interna-tional Year of Pulses 2016. We wanted to do something uniquely different from what was being planned elsewhere in Canada. We all agreed that there is not

enough inclusion and ex-posure of pulses and pulse ingredients in our retail of-ferings. We can talk about where pulses can be used, but creating real products is more impactful. So it was from this discussion that the idea of a showcase of prod-ucts was inspired – The Al-

berta Pulse. We also felt this was a dynamic way to cele-brate the great success of in-creased pulse production by Alberta Pulse Growers and its members.

When we proposed the idea to our scientific team, they were excited to have the op-portunity to showcase their

creativity in developing new products highlighting the functional and nutrition-al benefits of pulses. This project not only advocates for our primary produc-ers, but also supports our industry processors and generates products that are market-ready, benefit-

Alberta Ag Scientists Eager to Demonstrate Their Expertise and the Versatility of Alberta Pulses for IYP ShowcaseDr. Jay Han, Senior Crops Food Scientist, and Michelle Sigvaldson, Sensory Food Scientist, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, Food Processing Development Centre

The scientists involved in creating the Pulse Showcase products.

28 Spring 2017

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

ing consumers. This project would not have happened without the generous contri-bution made by the Alberta Pulse Growers Commission and its members.

We felt that Alberta Agricul-ture and Forestry’s Food Pro-cessing Development Centre (FPDC) and the Food Science and Technology Centre were ideally suited to lead the creation of innovative pulse-containing products, as we not only have the ex-pertise in product develop-ment to deliver but also have state-of-the-art facilities.

During brainstorming meet-ings, we tossed around many ideas for new products using pulses, such as roasted pulse beans for a coffee-type bev-erage, cold pulse beverage, various pastas, confectionar-ies, tofu, yogurt, bread, bak-ery items, pulse meat bar, pulse coating systems, su-rimi pulse analog, and pulse binders in meats, to name a few. We called out to in-dustry for partnerships, and there was a great response.

The project team selected 11 products. For seven of those, we partnered with industry and an additional four were proactive products devel-oped solely by FPDC scien-tists.

Products presented at The Alberta Pulse showcase in-cluded:• Ready to eat meat bars• Ravioli• Old fashioned black and

red licorice• Hot Italian and chorizo

sausages

• Decadent rich chocolate cake

• Thin and crispy chips• Sweet delicate macarons• Savoury beef patties• Frozen vanilla and choc-

olate flavoured desserts• Chocolate faba toffee bar• Healthy dog treats

Dr. Xiangfeng Meng, Re-search  Scientist at the Food Science and Technology Cen-tre, worked on the Healthy Hoggy Treats for dogs and found that pulses like len-tils and yellow pea can be used to replace expensive, imported rice flour in baked pet treat products.

“Most baked pet treats are grain-based, low in protein and high in fast-digestion carbohydrates, which may contribute to pet obesi-ty and diabetes,” she said. “With our past experience in using pulse ingredients in pet foods, they have good binding properties, impart nice natural colour to prod-ucts, and more importantly, provide health benefits to the animals, for example low glycemic. These attributes would make pulses work well in baked pet treats and allow us to create a grain-free product.”

Meng added that the project increased public awareness of benefits of using pulses in foods and pet foods. It also helped promote the Food Science and Technology Cen-tre in Brooks, and fostered potential collaborations with ingredient suppliers and pet food manufacturers, which may lead to more pulse ap-plications.

Product development and sensory evaluations took place over a six-month peri-od during 2016. New prod-ucts were created, promot-ing the versatility of pulse ingredients. The products were showcased at invita-tional events in Leduc and Calgary in November. In-gredient suppliers, other processors, representatives from foodservice and retail were invited to join us and our industry partners. We had underestimated the ex-citement generated by this project and, as a result, a third open event was add-ed bringing the total atten-dance to more than 200 for the three events.

Facilitating networking op-portunities at these events amongst industry stakehold-ers was imperative. Pulse suppliers promoted the vast array of locally avail-able pulse ingredients – pre-cooked pulses, pulse flours and fractions, de-flavoured products - and shared suc-cessful pulse ingredient applications. Connecting pro-

cessors directly with suppli-ers, from whom they can source pulse ingredients, was invaluable. Processors had the opportunity to hear first-hand the excitement around pulses and learn of the high nutritional value and functionality of various pulse ingredients. Attendees also had the opportunity to make connections with po-tential foodservice and retail buyers. We also heard from guest speakers that consum-ers are more educated on the benefits of pulses and seeking to add pulses to their diet. Lively discussions ensued about filling the gaps to provide more pulse con-taining items in foodservice and retail offerings. Advocat-ing for the value and versa-tility of pulse ingredients was accentuated by our team and representatives of APG.

“APG was very excited to share these delicious food products that inventively use pulses grown by Alberta farmers,” said APG Past-Chair Allison Ammeter, who spoke at the showcase events. “We

The Pulse Advantage.

Spring 2017 29

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

worked on this project with the scientists from the Alber-ta Agriculture and Forestry centres throughout 2016, and we couldn’t think of a more fitting tribute to the International Year of Pulses than sharing the creations they developed with the in-tent to commercialize.”

The significance for industry was to increase awareness of pulse ingredients and their versatility. Developing new products has an inher-ent financial risk, so the fi-nancial support provided by the pulse producers for this project was a key to mini-

mizing the financial risk to our industry partners and those interested in pulse in-gredients. This project also provided access to research staff and facilities needed to develop new products with pulse ingredient solutions. The introduction to suppli-ers and Alberta Agriculture and Forestry scientific staff who are knowledgeable in pulse ingredient functional-ity eliminated the first hurdle of where to start.

Industry partner Melissa Bourgoin was thrilled with the opportunity to work with the FPDC scientists on the

Ready-to-Eat Meat Bar, say-ing: “Thanks to the showcase we are turning our idea into reality.”

Food Scientist Dr. Kevin Swallow worked on incorpo-rating pulses into a delicious, gluten-free licorice at the Food Processing Develop-ment Centre in Leduc.

“The plan was to make a glu-ten-free licorice that would appeal to celiacs and the general population,” he said. “We were also fortunate to have an enthusiastic client wanting to partner with us to develop this product. The added bonus for this project was that there are no glu-ten-free licorice options on the market in Canada.”

He added that pulses offer good functionality and taste and the team was able to de-velop black and red licorice made with lentil flour that were well received by senso-ry evaluation panelists. Like most product development projects, there were some setbacks when replacing wheat flour with anything else.

“The lessons learned during this project will be used to develop other products us-

ing pulses,” Swallow added. “The other great news is that the client wants to put this product on the market as soon as possible. It is a great success story.”

We will continue to share the great work that came out of The Alberta Pulse with promotion of the pro-active products created and foster the connections that were made at the showcase events.

Pulse ingredient functional-ities include but are not limit-ed to: thickeners, stabilizers, binders and texture modifi-ers. Pulses are proven func-tional alternatives to priori-ty allergens and genetically modified ingredients. Pulses are often added to enhance the nutritional content of a food product as they are packed with fibre, protein, vi-tamins and minerals. Pulses are also being incorporated for health benefits as they’ve been shown to reduce the risk factors for diabetes and heart disease. As we are be-coming more aware of sus-tainability, we recognize the value of choosing products that contain pulses as they positively benefit agricultur-al and environmental sus-tainability.

Continued from page 29

Scientists work to perfect sausages made with faba beans.

Ready to eat meat bars.Project co-leads Jay Han and Michelle Sigvaldson preparefor the showcase.

30 Spring 2017

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

CREATIVE MAC ARTIST

PROOF #

ART DIR CLIENT

ACCT MGR PROD MGRCOPYWRITER SPELLCHECK

Client: BASFName: Pulse Solutions_PCN_SP_v1Project: Pulse Solutions AdsDocket Number: 110202018 (bill: 2368)AD#: kenna_P4C_PCN_110202018_PulseSolution

Pub: Pulse Crop NewsPage Position: Full PageLive Area: 7.25” x 9.5”Trim size: 8.25” x 10.75”Bleed: 8.25” x 11”

CMYK

PMS

PMS

PMS

. Jeannette V1. .

. . 03/15/17. .

S T U D I O

WE’RE AS COMMITTED TO THE FUTURE OFGROWING PULSES AS YOU ARE.

Always read and follow label directions.AgSolutions, and NODULATOR are registered trade-marks of BASF Corporation; HEAT, INSURE, KIXOR, PRIAXOR, and SOLO are registered trade-marks of BASF SE; all used with permission by BASF Canada Inc. INSURE PULSE fungicide seed treatment and/or PRIAXOR fungicide should be used in a preventative disease control program. © 2017 BASF Canada Inc.

For over 30 years, we’ve prided ourselves in providing pea and lentil growers with the most leading-edge products. In addition to our most recent innovations, the complete portfolio of pulse solutions has you covered from seed to harvest. To learn more about the entire BASF pulse lineup, visit agsolutions.ca/pulses or call AgSolutions® Customer Care at 1-877-371-BASF (2273).

APG Past Chair Allison Am-meter was presented with the Pulse Promoter Award at the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers (SPG) Annual Gen-eral Meeting in January.

Ammeter was selected as the recipient of the Pulse Promoter Award to acknowl-edge the leadership role she played throughout 2016 In-ternational Year of Pulses (IYP).

“It was a great honour to be chosen as the recipient of SPG’s Pulse Promoter Award,” Ammeter said. “Be-ing on the team to promote International Year of Pulses 2016 within Canada was very rewarding, a once-in-a-life-time opportunity. Being giv-en this award by my peers at Saskatchewan Pulse Grow-ers was over the top, ‘icing on the icing’, for me!”

Ammeter was also serving as APG Chair during IYP, and has long been a cham-pion for pulses. She and her husband, Michael, operate a third-generation grain farm near Sylvan Lake where they crop approximately 2,000 acres in a rotation of canola, wheat, barley, faba beans, and peas, practicing mini-mum tillage and using vari-able rate seeding technolo-gy. In addition to her work supporting IYP, over the past

three years Ammeter has also spearheaded initiatives with the foodservice indus-try, food ingredient compa-nies, health professionals, schools, and media.

“There was a team of indi-viduals from across the Ca-nadian pulse industry that played a key role in the exe-cution of activities related to International Year of Pulses,” said SPG Chair Tim Wiens. “Allison Ammeter was an in-strumental part of that team.

She stepped up to take on the role of Chair of the IYP Canada Committee early on in the preparation for IYP. In this role, she spent count-less hours working with staff across Canada to ensure IYP was as successful as possi-ble.”

The award, given out since 1994, has recognized many industry leaders including Saskatchewan Ag Hall of Fame member Dr. Robin Morrall, pulse farmer Lyle

Minogue, and plant breed-er Dr. Tom Warkentin. Last year’s recipient was Dr. Rob-ert Tyler from the University of Saskatchewan, who was honoured for his contribu-tion in the area of research and development, focusing on pulse ingredient utiliza-tion.

BASF Canada has been a long-time partner in the Pulse Promoter award.

Allison Ammeter Recognized as Pulse Promoter for IYP Efforts by Saskatchewan Pulse Growers

Robert Pederson, Regional Sales Manager for BASF, presented Allison Ammeter with the Pulse Promoter Award at a ceremony in January. Photo Credit: Dave Stobbe Photography

32 Spring 2017

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

JOIN THE UNDERGROUNDREVOLUTION

Always read and follow label directions. FMC and Authority are trademarks of FMC Corporation. © 2017 FMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

16FMC075_Authority WestPulse Crop News (AB)1/2 page vertical (3.5”Wx9.5”H)Mar 31

GROUP14PRE -EMERGENT

Take a stand against resistance.

Arm yourself with the residual broadleaf control of Authority – a Group 14 pre-emergent herbicide. It’s your secret weapon for cleaner fields and higher yields.

PEAS | SOYBEANS | CHICKPEAS

FLAX | SUNFLOWERS | FMCcrop.ca

Alberta Pulse Growers Eligible for 21% SR&ED

Tax Credit

For more details, visit www.pulse.ab.ca/producers/

research-and-trials/ sred-tax-credit/

Spring 2017 33

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

The Alberta Pulse Showcase provided an exciting oppor-tunity for a new graduate from the University of Alber-ta’s Food, Science and Nutri-tion program to put her edu-cation into action.

Following her April 2016 graduation, Olivia Thomp-son was contracted by Al-berta Agriculture’s Food Pro-cessing Development Centre (FPDC) to work exclusively on The Alberta Pulse show-case. She ended up working on many of the pulse-based products developed for the November events in honour of International Year of Puls-es.

“I was involved in 10 of the projects – some more so than others,” said Thompson, who was hired as a Product/Process Development Tech-nologist. “Some I was more hands-on with the scientists and the clients, while others I was just involved in sourc-ing the ingredients and the background things like writ-ing the reports. I was sole-ly focusing on The Alberta Pulse showcase.”

She said the best part about getting out of the classroom and working with industry was learning from the peo-ple she met on the project.

“Initially, it was a little over-

whelming because there were so many products go-ing on so it took a little or-ganization and teamwork,” she added. “As the ball got rolling, it was amazing to be able to apply the knowledge you learn in school and meet people who give you new opportunities and teach you new things.”

Thompson explained that she learned a lot from the scientists, through trial and error, reading research pa-pers, and exploring the op-tions available through vari-ous suppliers, and what kind

of processing techniques they’re using to modify or get pulse fractions for devel-opers like the food scientists at the FPDC.

She said that working on The Alberta Pulse showcase opened her eyes to the end-less possibilities for includ-ing pulses in food products.

“Coming into it, I knew what pulses were and I’d worked on a few things with pulses on my own at home,” she said. “I think they’re pretty awesome. It’s a great oppor-tunity for the food industry

New U of A Graduate Worked on Developing 10 Products for The Alberta Pulse Showcase

Olivia Thompson explains the projects she worked on to the crowd at The Alberta Pulse Showcase.

Measuring ingredients for development of prototype pulse products.

34 Spring 2017

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

to apply these to their prod-ucts because they’re low allergen, great for replac-ing gluten as an alternative binder compared to wheat crumb, and also as a great source of fibre and protein. From the sustainability side, there’s also an awesome op-portunity for farmers and agriculture in general.”

Of course, all of the hard work was focused on pre-senting the new products at the three pulse showcase events in Leduc and Calgary in November.

“I feel like there could always be more time for develop-ment - it’s always so much fun to be able to create new products,” she said. “But at the same time, it’s nice to have it wrapped up so that these clients can go on to the next stages of commer-cialization and getting their

products to the marketplace, if that’s what they choose to do.”

Thompson was pleased to see local researchers, in-gredient suppliers, farmers and representatives of oth-er organizations attend the events focused entirely on pulses.

“It really showcased our knowledge and resources within Alberta from the local farmers’ perspective to the local businesses wanting to get on board,” she said. “And then from the Food Process-ing Development Centre’s perspective, bringing it to life to help businesses com-mercialize these innovative products and bring them to the masses for everyone to enjoy.”

The excitement about puls-es didn’t end with the pulse

showcase events, Thompson said.

“I think there’s still a very high demand for incorpo-rating pulses into food prod-ucts,” she noted. “With the International Year of Pulses there was a lot of exposure to local businesses and mov-ing forward we’ll probably see a lot of people request-ing to incorporate pulses into their products. As well going forward, we’ll probably be working with the clients involved in the pulse show-case to extend their product lines or get their products involved in The Alberta Pulse showcase to the market.”

Thompson said that she sampled many new pulse products throughout the showcase project and tried many new pulse recipes at

home, as well. Her favour-ite, she said, is a black bean salsa. One of the recipes she has enjoyed making for this is APG’s Black Bean Pico de Gallo (http://pulse.ab.ca/consumers/recipes/black-bean-pico-de-gallo-salsa/ ).

“It’s becoming a more versa-tile source of protein and fi-bre in my diet, for sure,” she said.

Thompson’s contract to work on the Pulse Showcase ended in March, but she re-ceived an extension to work at Alberta Agriculture and Forestry’s Food Process-ing Development Centre in Leduc on other projects.

Pouring gluten-free chocolate faba bean cake batter into mini molds.

Stirring the yellow lentil licorice ingredients in a steam kettle.

Spring 2017 35

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

Debra McLennan, RDAPG Food & Nutrition Coordinator

Did you celebrate Canada’s Agriculture Day on February 16? This first ever event was announced on June 1, 2016 in Ottawa on the last day of the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity Public Trust

Summit. This was to be a day to celebrate the agriculture industry and connect Cana-dian consumers with Cana-dian food and the people who produce it. Canada’s Ag-riculture Day was celebrated across Canada and created thousands of conversations about our food and agricul-ture. It was so popular on so-cial media that the hashtag (#CdnAgDay) trended on Twitter!

What did APG do to cele-brate? We were approached, along with other commodi-ty groups, by ATB Financial about an idea they had to gather together a group of people to listen, learn and share conversations about

farming and food. In con-junction with Canada’s 150th Anniversary, the goal was to get 150 Millennial guests representing agriculture, commodities, culinary media and consumers for a “Meet-ing in the Middle” long table dinner in Olds, Alberta.

Why this type of event? There were a few reasons. First, according to Statistics Canada, less than three per cent of Canadians have a connection to agriculture to-day, compared to 90 per cent in the 1930s. Everyone eats food, but the connection to where that food comes from, who produces it and how it’s processed is being lost in our urban centers. Second,

the agriculture industry is often overlooked as a ma-jor contributor to our econ-omy. Third, there isn’t a lot of trust between agriculture and consumers. What better way to ignite the conversa-tion and create those con-nections about agriculture and food than sitting down together at the dinner table and enjoying a meal made with Alberta products and prepared by Alberta chefs!

Once the format was decid-ed, the focus shifted to who to invite. It didn’t take long to decide that it should be those who belong to our next generation, under 35 years of age, the Millennials. This population group is now

Nutrition Notes

Meeting in the Middle - Seated for Dinner.

36 Spring 2017

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

the largest, bigger than the population of Baby Boom-ers. And their voices and choices have a huge influ-ence on our food landscape, so it only made sense to en-gage this group in our event!

In the end, there were 154 guests from Edmonton and Calgary in attendance who, along with producers from all over the province, en-joyed a five-course meal accompanied by beverages from Alberta craft breweries and distilleries as well as a Calgary coffee roaster.

APG invited four pulse pro-ducers to share their agri-culture story, and I had the opportunity to talk to the chefs. I personally thought the event was a success for APG because pulses were featured in three of the five

courses at the dinner, and a white bean and green lentil hummus snack was provid-ed for those who took the bus! This also showed me that International Year of Pulses 2016 had an impact on our culinary industry since the chefs took it upon themselves to include puls-es in their creations with no prompting from me!

Surveys have been sent to all the invited guests who attended, and it will be in-teresting to see what they thought of the event and if the goal of connecting Al-berta Millennial consumers to agriculture in Alberta was achieved.

Shaved Thundering Ground Bison Brisket with Corn Fry Bread and Smashed Peas & Lentils with Bison Marrow Sauce by Chef Jesse Woodland – Chartier Restaurant, Beaumont, Alberta.

Highwood Crossing Bannock Tuile with Sylvan Star Gouda, Smoked Alberta Green Split Pea & Lentil Soup by Chef Marie Willier – Winsport Canada, Calgary, Alberta

Spring 2017 37

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

Tart Shells:• 2 ½ cups (625 mL) all-purpose

flour• Pinch of salt• ½ cup (125 mL) chilled butter cut

into half inch cubes• 5-8 Tbsp (75 – 120 mL) water

Directions1. Mix flour and salt together. 

2. Cut in chilled butter cubes until coarse meal consistency using hands or food processor. 

3. Slowly add water 2 Tbsp (30 mL) at a time and knead until dough comes together. 

4. Form dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for minimum 30 minutes. 

5. Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C).  

6. On a floured surface, roll out your dough until 1/8-inch thickness. 

7. Using approximately 4-inch (10 cm) cookie cutter, cut as many circles of dough as you can. 

8. Place each circle in lightly greased small muffin or tartlet pan. 

9. Press gently down to form a cup and ensure dough comes up uni-formly around the rim. 

10. Use a fork to gently prick the bot-tom of each tart to prevent them from forming bubbles. 

11. Put the tarts in the oven and bake for approximately 20 minutes until lightly golden brown. 

12. Transfer into a rack to cool. 

Makes 24-30 tarts. 

Tempered Chickpeas:• 3 cups (750 mL) dried chickpeas,

soaked overnight • 5 Tbsp (75 mL) canola oil• 2 Tbsp (30 mL) curry leaves,

optional • 1 tsp (5 mL) black or yellow

mustard seeds• 5 cloves of garlic, minced• 2 Tbsp (30 mL) ginger, finely

chopped• 1 small onion, finely chopped• 1 small tomato, finely chopped • 4 green chilies, de-seeded and

finely chopped • 1/2 tsp (2 mL) turmeric • 1 tsp (5 mL) dried chili flakes • 1 tsp (5 mL) black pepper• 2 Tbsp (30 mL) lime juice • Salt to taste

1. Boil soaked chickpeas until tender, approximately 45 min-1 hour. 

2. Drain and set aside. 

3. Heat up oil in a frying pan until hot. 

4. Add curry leaves and mustard seeds until mustard seeds pop. 

5. Add garlic, ginger, onion, tomato, chilies, turmeric, chili flakes and pepper in this order. 

6. Sauté on high heat until paste forms. 

7. Add chickpeas. 

8. Sauté until well combined. Add lime juice.

9. Sauté for additional 5 minutes. 

10. Add salt to taste. 

11. Remove from heat. 

Savoury Yogurt Dressing:• 1/2 cup (125 mL) plain 2% yogurt• 1/2 tsp (2 mL) turmeric • 1/2 tsp (2 mL) paprika • 1/2 tsp (2 mL) sugar• 1/4 tsp (1 mL) black pepper • 1/4 tsp (1 mL) ground cumin • 1 Tbsp (15 mL) lime juice• Salt to taste

Add all ingredients to small bowl and whisk together until well combined. 

To make tarts:

1. Using a spoon fill cooled down tarts with tempered chickpeas. 

2. Drizzle with savoury yogurt dressing. 

3. Add green onion sprouts as an optional garnish. 

4. Best served warm or at room temperature. 

GUEST RECIPE:

Sri Lankan Tempered Chickpea Mini Tarts with Savoury Yogurt DressingCourtesy of Chef Samath Rajapaksa of Rajapaksa Catering, Olds, AB

Nutrition Informationper serving (1 tart or 1/30th of recipe)

Calories 169 kcalFat 7 gSaturated Fat 2 gCholesterol 9 mgCarbohydrates 21 gFibre 3 gSugar 3 gProtein 6 gSodium 42 mgPotassium 150 mgIron 2 mgFolate 150 mcg

38 Spring 2017

PeaGreen

Pea SoybeanMungbean

lentil red lentil

Always read and follow label directions.

Valtera™ is a trademark of Valent U.S.A. Corporation. Real Farm Rewards is a trademark of Monsanto Technology LLC, Monsanto Canada, Inc. licensee.51099-01-0217

THE BURNDOWN THAT RE-IGNITES.

Don’t forget your reward savings at realfarmrewards.ca

Valtera™ is reinvigorated by moisture, which is why it gives you extended control in lentils (fall application), field peas, chickpeas, spring wheat and soybeans. It quickly and effectively gets back to work eliminating weeds before they even emerge. Its unmatched, extended control really fires-up your yields.

Ask your local retailer for more information.

1.800.868.5444 | Nufarm.ca

NOW REGISTERED FOR FALL APPLICATION

BEFORE

LENTILS!

51586-01_NFC_2017_ValteraPrint_8-25x10-75.indd 1 2017-02-17 9:05 AM

Additional terms and conditions apply. Register at RealFarmRewards.ca

ALWAYS FOLLOW GRAIN MARKETING AND ALL OTHER STEWARDSHIP PRACTICE AND PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. Tank mixtures: The applicable labeling for each product must be in the possession of the user at the time of application. Follow applicable use instructions, including application rates, precautions and restrictions of

each product used in the tank mixture. Monsanto has not tested all tank mix product formulations for compatibility or performance other than specifically listed by brand name. Always predetermine the compatibility of tank mixtures by mixing small proportional quantities in advance. Genuity®, Real Farm Rewards™, Roundup Ready®,

Roundup WeatherMAX® and Roundup Transorb® are trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC, Monsanto Canada, Inc. licensee. ©2016 Monsanto Canada Inc.

*Registration required. Growers must purchase a minimum of 32 bags of a qualifying brand of Genuity® Roundup Ready® canola to be eligible to earn rewards. Visit RealFarmRewards.ca for full details.

Get a customized chemistry recommendation at MonsantoCMS.ca

Sustainability is important – for you and the generations ahead. So we’re making tank mixing a little easier on your bottom line. Qualify to earn cash rewards when you tank mix Roundup WeatherMAX®

or Roundup Transorb® HC herbicides with select Nufarm herbicides.*