Blair Roth is the winner of the third annual Alberta Pulse Industry Innovator Award.
While working at Alberta Agriculture in the 1980s, Roth ran field-scale demonstrations for early soybean, lupin, fababean, chickpea, bean, pea and lentil crops. He helped establish the Alberta Pulse Growers Association and its transition to the Alberta Pulse Growers Commission in 1989. In 1990, Roth started working in special crops with Alberta Pool and then Agricore. During the last nine years, he’s been the director of special crops for Viterra, overseeing the North American procurement, processing and marketing of pulses for the company.
Read Also
From winter soil to bountiful crops: Alberta’s ultra-early seeding experiment
Southern Alberta farmers are putting research into practice, pushing ahead traditional seeding times by months for spring wheat and durum.
“Blair Roth not only helped create markets for pulses but also assisted the farmers who created this body, the Alberta Pulse Growers, that is very successful today and has grown tremendously throughout his career,” said Tim VanderHoek, the director-at-large for beans with Alberta Pulse Growers.
“To me, these type of awards are a team game,” Roth said after receiving the award at FarmTech. “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.”
