Reading Time: 3 minutes Producers chasing the market are looking into lentils — but they pay off in other ways. Two are reduced disease and insect pressure, said Neil Whatley, crop specialist at the Ag-Info Centre in Stettler. “If you’ve got canola/wheat (rotation), you can put something like a lentil or a field pea or a forage in there,” […] Read more

Lentils getting lots of notice
The price is nice, but don’t forget their ability to fix nitrogen, reduce disease pressure, and improve soil

Legumex Walker puts sale, merger options on table
Pulse, canola and special-crop processing firm Legumex Walker has declared itself open to “strategic alternatives” for its future, including a sale or merger. The publicly-traded Winnipeg company said Monday its board of directors has set up a review committee to “identify and consider strategic and financial alternatives… with the ultimate goal of maximizing shareholder value.” […] Read more

Red varieties driving lentil acreage increase
CNS Canada — As Canada’s remaining old-crop lentils shuffle off to buyers overseas, interest is building in the potential for new crop in 2015. Chuck Penner of LeftField Commodity Research in Winnipeg said he expects more acres will be planted this spring as a result of the strong interest. “Oh, there’ll definitely be more; the […] Read more

VIDEO: Are pulse crops the next North American ‘superfood’?
Reading Time: < 1 minute It’s hardly an exaggeration to call pulses a ‘superfood’ — they’re high in protein and other nutrients, they’ve been proven to reduce bad cholesterol and they provide free nitrogen for the farmers who grow them. But while they’re a staple in diets in the Middle East, consumption is low in North America. In this video, […] Read more

New pulse website takes a (web) page from Wikipedia
Alberta Pulse Growers has launched a new online manual in a familiar Wikipedia-style format to share up-to-date research and agronomic best practices
Reading Time: 3 minutes Wikipedia has replaced encyclopedias as the go-to tool for people conducting a little research — and that’s just what Alberta Pulse Growers is banking on with the launch of its pulse crop wiki. “The PulsePOD — or the pulse crop wiki, as we sometimes call it — is designed to take the place of a […] Read more

Monsanto rolls out fababean inoculant
Fababean growers in Canada in the market for a granular inoculant now have their first-ever option. Monsanto BioAg, the joint microbial marketing arm for Novozymes and Monsanto, announced Friday it will now launch TagTeam fababean granular inoculant, which picked up Canadian Food Inspection Agency approval last fall. The product’s CFIA registration covers its dual-action use […] Read more

Fababeans making more inroads on Prairies
CNS Canada — Fababean acres are on the rise in Western Canada, as the crop is seen as a good pulse alternative for producers seeking other options in their rotations. Better disease resistance and ease of harvest have been two selling points for the crop. “We’ve had significant uptake on fababeans,” said Leanne Fischbuch, executive […] Read more

Low stocks-to-use ratio to keep pea bids well supported
Winnipeg | CNS Canada — Canadian pea exports have been running at a very solid pace during the 2014-15 crop year to date, but supplies are seen to be running out and the market will need to work to ration demand over the later portion of the marketing year. Canadian peas have been leaving the […] Read more

Alberta’s first bean grower honoured with inaugural industry innovator award
Reading Time: 2 minutes The man who first introduced dry beans to Alberta has been recognized as an industry innovator by the very organization he helped form 25 years ago. Idaho farmer Lud Prudek received the inaugural Alberta Pulse Industry Innovator Award at the Alberta Pulse Growers’ recent annual general meeting. “We invited nominations for individuals and organizations that […] Read more

Double-cropping project aims to cut Indian lentil imports
Researchers on a project in India and Bangladesh say they hope it will greatly reduce their lentil imports. Farmers in the project are growing lentils in fields left fallow after rice harvests, with the help of a research and training project by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). In a […] Read more