“It’s really a no-brainer — we already have markets (for the protein) across the U.S. and Canada waiting for us to get into production,” said Chris Chivilo, president of W.A. Grain and Pulse Solutions.

“It’s one of those few cases of, ‘If you build it, they will come.’ Because there’s so much pent-up demand, we get calls weekly wondering when we’re going to be up and running.”

Set to open next February at W.A. Grain and Pulse’s Bowden facility, the new plant will include a lentil- and pea-splitting line and flour mill, dry and wet fractionation lines, with a pet food ingredients’ facility planned at the same site. When it opens, the plant will source roughly 60,000 tonnes of lentils and peas a year, and once the pet food ingredients facility is online, that capacity could hit 100,000 tonnes. The total project cost is $15 million, with $5 million of that to be spent over the next year.

Investment in value-added pulse processing has been relatively limited in recent years, despite this project and a massive $400-million pea-processing plant slated to be built near Portage la Prairie, Man. Despite growing demand for pulse fractions, the capital expenditure and risk has stalled growth on the processing side, said Chivilo.

“It’s been harder to grow a business in the last couple of years because of poor margins and a poor trading atmosphere around the world,” said Chivilo, who is also planning a similar facility in Prince Edward Island.

“We’ve been looking at it for two years and we’ve come up with some processes that are a little bit different than what other companies are using, which reduces the capital expenditures somewhat, and that gave us the confidence to go ahead.”

The fractionation lines — a relatively new technology that separates seeds into protein, fibre, and starch to be used in food products — will allow the company to “diversify into more value-added products,” he said.

“Currently, we basically butt heads trading bulk exports and bagged exports. With new entries into the market and the inability of larger companies to make suitable margins, it’s causing everybody some grief and cutting into margins.

“This helps diversify into higher-margin products that tend to stay in the domestic market where prices are better.”

Soaring demand

Plant proteins are a growth market right now as food companies look at ingredients that will meet changing consumer demands. And pulses fit the bill — they’re GMO free, gluten free, dairy free, and high in protein.

“They tick off all the health boxes for every consumer,” said Chivilo. “With plant proteins right now, we could have sold out our capacity for the first year 10 times over already. There is that much demand into the pet food ingredients market and into some lower-quality human use markets.

“We get to fill all needs of the market — not just the pet food market or the human market.”

Fibre fractions are limited and easy to find a market for, but starch fractions “are a little more work” to sell, he added.

“We’re looking at more of a purified starch with specific attributes that can meet a little more of the speciality demand so we can capitalize on higher prices.”

Chivilo expects that most of the value-added products produced at the facility will go into domestic food processing, where demand is growing and supply is still limited.

“The food-processing industry in Alberta is a very quiet industry and doesn’t get a lot of accolades, but there is a very active food-processing industry that uses up a lot of starch in Alberta,” he said.

“We hope to work with those customers to make sure we can hit their quality specs and access those markets so they don’t have to import from the U.S. and around the world.”

Farmers benefit

This new market will “add a few bucks to the farmers’ bottom line” by offering a premium for high-quality pulses, he added.

“We’ll be taking 100,000 tonnes once we’re at full capacity out of the export market, which isn’t a huge number when we’re exporting five million to seven million tonnes of pulses, but every little bit in a local production area has more of an impact.

“Once we run out of local product, we have to go further, so it will help underpin prices.”

W.A. Grain and Pulse Solutions will also likely implement a contract system for higher-protein varieties of peas and lentils, which will offer a premium to the producers growing them.

“The higher the quality, the higher the price… and the more choices we have in what we do with that product,” said Chivilo.

“We may get the best value out of splitting it, or we may get the best value out of selling it whole, or we could take it down the line and do our normal fractioning.

“If we can get a higher value for a farmer’s product by selling it to a higher-quality customer, they will also gain in that.”

But there are “far more than enough” pulses in Alberta to satisfy the plant’s demand once it’s up and running, so producers thinking about growing for this new market may need to think again — particularly if they haven’t grown pulses before.

“Just because we’re going to be splitting and de-hulling lentils here doesn’t mean farmers around here should grow lentils,” said Chivilo.

“If a farmer really hasn’t looked at pulses in the past, I don’t really want them looking at them now.”

The post Customers can’t wait for new pulse plant to open appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

That was only part of the good-news message that Murad Al-Katib brought to this year’s FarmTech.

The future looks even brighter, said the president and CEO of AGT Foods in Regina.

“Meeting the demand and supply fundamental trend is something you guys are going to have a tremendous opportunity to monetize,” said Al-Katib, who started what is now the world’s largest lentil-processing company with Turkey’s Arslan family in 1997. “I’m a big believer that the protein requirement of the world is going to drive incomes here and abroad.”

Al-Katib praised Alberta Pulse Growers and other Canadian pulse associations for providing “a tremendous amount of leadership,” particularly for moving the industry beyond being just a supplier of commodities.

Last month, Pulse Canada announced its “25 by 2025” goal of finding new uses for up to 25 per cent of the industry’s production by the year 2025. It cited snack foods, tortillas, and breakfast cereals as just a few product categories with major growth potential for pulse ingredients such as protein, fibre, and slowly digestible starch.

• Read more: Pulse Canada sets ambitious target to expand markets

Al-Katib pointed to pea protein, isolates, concentrates, and flours as examples of food ingredients that will provide steady markets and help shield growers from roller-coaster price swings that are hallmarks of most agricultural commodities.

“Fundamentally, as we move up the chain, the food sector gives us an opportunity to boost the demand,” said Al-Katib, whose company sells more than $1.7 billion worth of pulses annually. “Even with global economic tension, we will insulate ourselves from that.”

Alberta has a number of advantages when it comes to pulses, he added. These include being closer to salt water and markets in the Asia-Pacific region, and being able to grow every single type of pulse in the southern part of the province.

He noted Alberta was the second-largest producer of lentils in the world in 2016, surpassed only by Saskatchewan. As well, Alberta and Montana are the only two regions that can increase their pulse acreage and Albertans are far ahead of Montana growers, said Al-Katib. Alberta also has the advantage of an earlier harvest than other regions.

“You guys are in a unique position from a container perspective, too,” he said. “You actually have a large number of container imports coming into Edmonton and Calgary. In Saskatchewan, we’re starving for containers. Here you’re in a surplus position.”

Growing demand

Drought in India sent pulse prices to record highs last year, but they’ve since fallen — both because of timely monsoons and increased export supply.

But demand will continue to rise in the world’s biggest market for pulses, said Al-Katib.

As incomes rise, consumers are shifting to more protein consumption, and there is currently a six-million-tonne gap between supply and demand in India, he said.

And while India, the North African subcontinent, and the Middle East continue to drive pulse demand, North America, western Europe and Asia are rapidly growing markets for high-protein, high-fibre, and high-micronutrient ingredients with a good environmental profile. Al-Katib also said he sees big opportunities in the pet food and aquaculture sectors, along with food ingredients. Companies are creating new food products such as baked lentil chips, and blending pulses with cereals to create reformulated pastas. These blended pastas have a more digestible protein fibre, and a smaller carbon footprint than regular ones.

And Prairie producers have shown they are up to the task of meeting that additional demand.

“The big crop that we had in 2013 — that’s not a blip,” said Al-Katib. “Fundamentally, agronomy is advanced, farming practices have advanced, and yields have advanced.”

Moving the crop

But the entire supply chain needs to prepare for the logistics of bigger crops and invest in on-farm storage, rail infrastructure, and port infrastructure, and also needs to make use of all freight corridors.

Canada’s grain-handling system is extremely complex, which is a disadvantage when compared with countries like Australia.

“One of the things people have been talking about is surge capacity and infrastructure,” said Al-Katib, part of a panel that recently conducted an in-depth review of the Canadian Transportation Act.

“One thing I would like regulators to know is that farmers have actually done their part.”

Producers have invested heavily in storage and can now store 40 million tonnes on their farms. That is key in both handling bumper crops and being able to feed supply chains.

“You actually allow us as grain processors and handlers to feed our factories throughout the year,” he said, adding producers need to bear that in mind in their marketing strategy.

“Producers — you’re not going to be able to market all of your grain in four months of the year. Ultimately, we have to do a better job as a country of marketing to all the windows and all the shipping periods and all the ports to be able to ensure that when we get to 70 million tonnes, we can move the crop.”

That includes the Port of Prince Rupert, which offers a tremendous business opportunity for producers in the Peace region, he said.

Working together to create a unified supply chain is worth the effort because the opportunity is golden, he said.

“Ultimately the world demand for non-traditional protein and fibre ingredients is rising.”

The post Producers could score big in pulse industry appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

That’s why Alberta Agriculture and Forestry along with the Agricultural Research and Extension Council of Alberta have teamed up to do sainfoin trials across the province.

“Sainfoin is a non-bloating legume,” provincial beef and forage specialist Karin Lindquist said at a pasture day near this Peace Country hamlet.

“The tannins in sainfoin are significantly higher than other non-bloating legumes like cicer milk vetch and bird’s-foot trefoil.”

Tannins bind proteins produced by the rumen that normally cause bloat.

Surya Acharya, a plant breeder at the Lethbridge Research Station, recently released AC Mountainview, a new sainfoin variety. Unlike past varieties, it is hardier and can compete with alfalfa.

• Read more: Grazing cattle on legumes offers unique benefits

The variety is being tested at 14 farms across the province, in co-operation with 12 forage and research associations. All producers in the trial are using a blend of 15 to 20 per cent sainfoin with grass, blended by Northstar seeds. They’ve all used the same protocols to seed 10-acre plots. (See our ‘Events’ section for upcoming pasture walks or call the Agricultural Research and Extension Council of Alberta at 780-612-9712.)

This summer marks the first year of a two-year project, with a focus on sainfoin stand establishment and proper seeding. Next year the co-operators in the trial will cover grazing management.

“With sainfoin, you want to let it set seeds in the first three years. In the first two years of grazing, you want to delay grazing until after the seed has set,” said Lindquist.

Sainfoin needs to be seeded into the cultivated seedbed, not with sod seed, because of high competition with grasses, even if glyphosate is added.

“The glyphosate isn’t effective because grasses will just come back again,” said Lindquist.

Animals can help to spread the seed by tapping the seeds down into the soil.

High-legume pastures are the most profitable of all pasture types. In northern Alberta, a legume grass mix resulted in a gross margin of $7 to $27 per acre in 2013-14, while tame grass only resulted in a gross margin of $8 to $9 per acre. Livestock can spend 35 to 126 animal unit days on a legume/grass mix, and only 35 to 56 animal unit days on tame grass.

Legumes also fix nitrogen and increase water infiltration rates. Legume/grass mixes can also weather the extremes of climate change, said Lindquist.

The post New non-bloating legume can power up your pastures appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Luckily, a more rigorous Statistics Canada survey tells the real story — there are a whole lot of hands growing lentils this year.

“There’s close to six million acres on the Prairies this year, and Alberta has close to 565,000 of those,” the provincial crop specialist said at the Battle River Research Group crop tour in mid-July.

“That’s a significant increase from what it was five years ago, and the acreage seems to be growing.”

Alberta more than doubled its lentil acreage in 2016, shooting up to 564,882 acres from 249,823 acres in 2015, according to Statistics Canada’s field crops report released June 29.

And that jump is thanks to strong lentil prices in 2015, said Nevin Rosaasen, policy and program specialist with Alberta Pulse Growers.

“The increased lentil acreage definitely has to do with the profitable returns that lentils can bring producers,” said Rosaasen.

“Last year, we saw record-high lentil prices across the Prairies, and of course, we saw some very attractive fall delivery contracts around that 40-cents-a-pound mark. When you pencil in a yield of, say, 20 to 30 bushels an acre for lentils, it’s very profitable.”

• Read more: Lentil harvest — and marketing — comes with a learning curve

Lentils become even more attractive to growers when they factor in the cost savings of a crop that fixes its own nitrogen, added Rosaasen.

“When you can scrap your entire nitrogen bill off your cost of production, it makes for a very good net return per acre.”

Producers are also realizing that the new red lentil varieties are “much better” than the old green varieties that used to be the standard, said Whatley.

“The agronomic package is much more comfortable for the grain producer,” said Whatley, adding that the new red varieties have higher yields, reduced lodging, and improved disease resistance.

“These crops are much easier to grow than they used to be, so acres are expanding because of that.”

‘An irreversible trend’

And acres will only continue to expand as consumers become more interested in healthy eating, said Murad Al-Katib, president and CEO of Saskatchewan-based AGT Food and Ingredients.

“As a food industry, I think we have to be prepared for what could be a transformational earthquake that is coming with consumers where there is a connection between natural and non-GMO and healthy, clean labels. And pulses give us that opportunity to look at protein, fibre… micronutrients, natural biofortification.

“We are seeing all these trends aligning.

“When I look at the demand fundamentals from a product development standpoint and a consumer trend standpoint, this is actually an irreversible trend,” Al-Katib, who is also president of the Canadian Special Crops Association, told a record crowd at the Pulse and Special Crops Convention in Toronto last month.

“It’s not one that I think is grounded in a fad or some type of a temporary phenomenon where we are going to see pulse consumption and ingredients rise and then potentially taper off. We are ultimately looking at a high-protein, high-fibre, non-GMO, gluten-free product, with a very strong and environmental story to tell.”

Canada, the world’s largest pulse exporter, is expecting a record pulse harvest this year. The Statistics Canada survey showed that field pea acres across Canada increased from nearly 1.5 million acres in 2015 to more than 1.7 million acres in this year, with an increase in Alberta pea acreage from 584,800 acres in 2015 to 752,600 acres in 2016.

An expanding market

Despite a depressed stock market and low commodity prices, the future demand for pulses is huge, said Peter Hall, vice-president and chief economist with Export Development Canada. The U.S. economy is growing and so is China’s, along with its middle class and that of India’s, he said.

With Canadian pulse exports on the increase, people came to the convention to see what’s happening, said Gordon Bacon, president of Pulse Canada and CEO of the Canadian Special Crops Association.

“This is our biggest convention ever,” Bacon told reporters. “This is the biggest number of international delegates that we have ever had. I think it is all saying what we’ve been feeling, and that is this, the pulse industry is in the midst of an expansion in market base. Not only are we a big supplier on a global, traditional market scale, but we are starting to see this new level of interest.”

Back-to-back droughts in India, the world’s largest pulse importer, have contributed to the increased demand, pushing world prices up and enticing Canadian farmers to produce more, he added.

And interest will only grow, Al-Katib said, based on what he sees in young people, including his 14-year-old daughter.

“I would consider (her) a socially conscious, very intelligent young lady,” he said. “And she cares about her food labels. She wants to see natural ingredients. She cares about the environment. I wouldn’t consider her an environmentalist, but I consider her somebody who is… what the model consumer 10 years from now is going to look like.”

The post Pulses’ popularity points to bright future appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The trick to doing it successfully? Patience, said Nevin Rosaasen, policy and program specialist with Alberta Pulse Growers.

“Harvesting lentils can be tricky, and you need to be patient,” said Rosaasen. “Lentils pod up very close to the ground, and they are one of the more challenging crops to harvest. Just like a pea crop, they can be difficult to pick up.

“Most producers who are seasoned lentil growers will be using flex headers to help with contouring of the ground.”

It can also be difficult to tell when the lentils are actually ready for harvest, said provincial crop specialist Neil Whatley.

“Lentils are different from other crops. With other crops, you can look from the road and say, ‘OK, that looks like it’s ready,’” said Whatley. “But lentils stay green. The indication for being ready to desiccate is that the lower pods rattle when shaken.

“What I generally do is walk up into the crop, grab the top of the crop, and shake it. If you hear some rattling, get down and take a look.”

• Read more: Pulses’ popularity points to bright future

When to start checking if the lentils are ready to desiccate depends on your seeding date, said Whatley, adding producers should check with their buyers about maximum residue limits on any desiccants they plan to use.

“If you seeded the beginning of May, you want to start looking the first of August and look for the next two weeks,” he said.

“Some people seeded later, so it will be a little later than that. It’s about a 95-day crop.”

Because lentils have an indeterminate growth period, producers need to “compromise” by harvesting the high-yielding pods at the bottom of the plant when they’re ready, even if the top of the plant is still growing.

“Even when these bottom and middle pods are ready, you may continue to see a little bit of flowering going on because of the indeterminate growth,” he said. “But you want to prevent shattering, so you don’t want to leave it too late.”

Because of the possibility of shattering, safe storage of lentils is between 13 to 14 per cent moisture content, but take the crop off at a higher moisture level if possible, said Whatley.

“If you take this crop and thresh it at 14 per cent moisture content, you can get some seed chipping and you’ll definitely get some shattering of those lower riper pods,” he said. “It’s good to take this crop off at 16 to 17 per cent moisture content, put it on air, and bring it down to 14 per cent.”

Marketing

There’s a “learning curve” when it comes to marketing lentils as well, added Rosaasen.

“Hindsight is always 20/20, so I hope producers are locked in at 42 cents a pound. But for those who aren’t, the best thing to do is to try to stay up to date and current on what’s happening in other parts of the world, specifically in India with their monsoon season,” he said.

“In lentils, we see market price can move 20 cents a pound during the season, though 10 cents is more likely. So you can take advantage of some of those opportunities when bid prices are higher in the November peak shipping period.”

But one of the “largest caveats” with this year’s increased acreage is the potential for a drop in quality, he said.

“It’s been wet all across the Prairies, especially during key growing periods. We’ve seen a lot of disease pressure and waterlogging of soils, and that’s been detrimental to the lentil plants. They don’t like water,” he said.

“In a wet year such as we’ve seen, it’s not a great year for lentils. With the large amount of rainfall, it’s doubtful that they’ll grade up at a 1 or a 2.

“But we’ll see. Let’s keep our fingers crossed because they do show promise.”

The post Lentil harvest — and marketing — comes with a learning curve appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“Realistically, we could see a 20 to 25 per cent increase in acres just based on seed sales and the usage of inoculant,” said Mark Olson, pulse crops unit head at Alberta Agriculture and Forestry.

“We know from what the seed growers were saying last fall, they were sold out of field pea and lentil seed in late November to early December.

“That’s a good indication that there’s a lot of interest in pulse crops.”

While “some crystal balls are better than others,” early indicators point to a big jump in acres, said Nevin Rosaasen, policy and program specialist for Alberta Pulse Growers.

“Based on all of our lead indicators for seeding intentions from Statistics Canada, as well as hearsay from input suppliers, we do know that acres will be increasing this year,” said Rosaasen.

“Forecasts are only forecasts, of course, but everyone has acres going up.”

Last year, Alberta farmers grew 1.4 million acres of peas. That’s likely to climb to 1.6 million to 1.8 million in 2016, said Rosaasen.

“If you haven’t already purchased your yellow peas, it’s unlikely that you’ll find any,” he said.

“I have heard that there are green peas available, but seed is extremely difficult to come by right now for peas.”

Lentils could also jump from 250,000 acres last year to 300,000 this year. But fababeans — which have seen a recent resurgence, going from 20,000 acres in 2013 to around 100,000 seeded acres in 2015 — will likely hold steady this year, or even take a dip, following last year’s drought.

“Last year was such a challenging year for fababean growers,” said Rosaasen, adding fababeans “very much like water.”

“There weren’t any crops that were absolutely beautiful in the countryside due to the drought stress. By the indication of current moisture maps in the province, it looks like we have another dry year or potentially a challenging start ahead of us.

“Some of the other crops, like peas and lentils, will likely be more favourable for growers this year given the dry conditions.”

Pencil in profitability

Provincial crop profitability forecasts earlier this year pegged field peas as an across-the-province winner, with strong prices making for lower break-even yields across the board.

“The returns per acre and the profitability of growing pulses exceed most other crops,” said Rosaasen.

Right now, pea prices are hovering around $12 a bushel — a strong net return per acre that makes good economic sense for many growers, said Olson.

“A number of guys did lock in some pretty good contracts last fall for this year,” he said.

It’s the same story for lentils, said Rosaasen.

“When you pencil out lentils, it’s by far one of the most profitable mainstream crops.”

That could lead to “a fairly big jump in red lentil,” added Olson.

“That’s part and parcel of prices being really quite lucrative right now — you’re seeing 35 to 40 cents a pound for lentils on average,” he said.

Strong prices are “huge,” said Olson, but ultimately, “we know that diverse crop rotations are the most economical and profitable.”

“We’re getting all the benefits of getting a crop that’s fixing its own nitrogen in the year you grow it and leaving some residual nitrogen in years following,” he said. “You’re lowering the carbon footprint by not having to spend a whole bunch of money on manufactured nitrogen and having to transport and apply it.

“There’s the whole environmental aspect, which people are keenly aware of.”

Production considerations

Some producers will be trying pulses for the first time or in larger acreages than they have in the past — and those growers need to “arm themselves with information,” said Rosaasen.

“The best way to do that is to come to PulsePod.ca, which is an online agronomy wiki,” he said. “You can learn about everything from seeding rate to the types of diseases you may need to be scouting for.”

Producers who tried pulses “once upon a time” might be worried about lodging, but “standability of peas has greatly increased with the introduction of new genetics and better lines,” said Rosaasen. “We do recommend rolling in peas and lentils to ensure that you push any stones down below the surface and allow for a smooth contour.”

Field selection is particularly important for lentils, added Olson.

“You want to avoid rocky fields,” he said. “You want to be able to roll your land because it’s a crop that’s close to the ground for harvest.”

Producers also need to be careful about herbicide residues.

“With drier conditions, a lot of the herbicides just don’t break down as quickly as they would normally,” said Olson. “I would strongly recommend that before they put a seed in the ground, guys should go to their Blue Book and make sure the products they’ve used aren’t going to be haunting us.”

In drier conditions, which we’re likely to see again in 2016, producers should also try to seed into moisture — “within reason.”

“In a dry year, don’t be afraid to seed a little deeper than usual. If you’re between two inches and 2.5 inches deep, that’s OK,” he said. “If you seed too shallow, you could get germination and have the small plantlet being stranded in dry conditions.

“You’d be better off to seed deeper than shallower in a year that’s dry.”

The post No question about it — pulses are hot, hot, hot appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“Red lentils and yellow peas will be the leaders,” said Wes Reid, purchasing manager for WA Pulse Solutions, an Innisfail-based commodity buyer and seller. “Prices are very high, probably the highest we’ve ever seen.”

In the past year, yellow peas have soared from an average price of $6.75 all the way up to $12.50 a bushel — a sharp drop even from the fall, when growers were thrilled to be getting $9.50 a bushel.

Pulse acres have increased exponentially in the last five years, and are expected to grow across Western Canada, and the northern U.S., as far down as South Dakota. Turkey is also expected to grow a lot of red lentils, while Russia, Ukraine and Pakistan will be growing lots of yellow peas. Australia is planting large yellow pea and red lentil crops.

“India is under the worst drought conditions that it’s seen in a long time, so it’s going to need all it can get,” said Reid.

But there are a few challenges that new growers face when they are growing pulses. Pulses need to be taken off early enough that the rain doesn’t affect the grades, and the crops don’t tolerate frost well. Lentils need high heat units to grow properly, and do best in the southern parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Peas don’t need the same amount of heat units and are the most popular pulse crop grown throughout Alberta.

• Read more: Here’s where to get help if you’re leaping into growing pulses

Until three years ago, peas used to be difficult to combine because they were so low to the ground. Many growers picked up dirt and rocks trying to get their peas into the combine.

“The newer varieties of green and yellow peas are standing up better, so that challenge is gone,” said Reid.

But another one has emerged — finding seed for yellow peas and red lentils.

“The seed is in short supply,” said Reid. “There’s really not too much seed out there to be purchased. Finding yellow pea seed is amazingly difficult, and the same is true for red lentils.”

While seed for green lentils will be easier to find and that pulse crop is also fetching good prices, it doesn’t yield as much as red lentils.

Pulses offer a few benefits in addition to their ability to fix nitrogen in the soil. They require less water and fertilizer than some other crops and can be harvested earlier, so that part of the harvest is done before wheat, barley, or canola.

Aside from the economic and agronomic benefits, world demand for pulses is growing.

The United Nations has designated 2016 as the International Year of the Pulse, and it’s hoped that boosting international awareness about pulses will drive demand. Pulses are used in dishes around the world, and have become an ingredient in foods such as breads, noodles, snacks and gluten-free foods.

Canada is the world’s largest pulse-exporting nation, with 77 per cent of all pulses produced exported to 150 countries. In 2014, those pulses exports were valued at more than $3 billion. Pulses are a low-fat, high-fibre source of protein, that can be used to help manage health issues like diabetes and heart disease. Pulse crops are Canada’s fifth-largest crop, after wheat, canola, corn, and barley.

Chris Chivilo, owner of WA Pulse Solutions, is one of the speakers at Agronomy Update in Red Deer on Jan. 19-20. The conference will also feature presentations on red lentil agronomy and on aphanomyces, which cause root rot in peas and lentils and are now widespread across the Prairies.

The post Sky-high prices spark a boom in pulse production appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

But Canadian researchers are discovering Mother Nature has developed her own mitigation strategy for bovine burps, flatulence, and excrement — and showing that grazing cattle has major environmental benefits.

In 2000, concerns over cattle and greenhouse gases prompted Allan Iwaasa of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Swift Current research centre to launch a study to see what happens when cropland is seeded to pasture. The fields, which had been cropped since the 1920s (despite having marginal soils) were seeded to two different native perennial mixes. There was a simple mix of seven species of cool-season grasses and a complex one with 14 species of cool- and warm-season grasses. Both included a legume — purple prairie clover.

The latter eventually caught the attention of Iwaasa and his research colleagues.

“We noticed the animals enjoyed grazing the purple prairie clover,” he said. “So five years ago we looked to see if there were some benefits from the purple prairie clover in regards to having condensed tannins. We then, with the help of (colleague) Yuxi Wang, started looking at how the purple prairie clover condensed tannin levels compared to sainfoin. The purple prairie clover had some of the highest levels of condensed tannins that we were able to find for any of the tame or native species that we were evaluating.”

Sainfoin’s condensed tannins protect against bloat, and many Alberta producers have been anxiously awaiting the commercial availability of AC Mountainview, developed by Ag Canada forage breeder Surya Acharya in Lethbridge and currently being increased for seed sales by Northstar Seed. (It’s expected to be available for sale next year.)

Older sainfoin cultivars, such as Nova and Melrose, were generally single-harvest-type sainfoins; did not persist long in alfalfa mix stands; and didn’t regrow at the same rate as alfalfa after grazing or cutting. However, Mountainview has better regrowth potential and Iwaasa is conducting research comparing the Canadian Mountainview sainfoin to the U.S. Delaney sainfoin which also has traits for multiple cuts.

Other benefits

Like purple prairie clover, sainfoin is high in condensed tannins and Iwaasa’s research should add to the anticipation of graziers wanting a source of condensed tannins in their pastures. That’s because they appear to offer benefits beyond bloat reduction.

“Condensed tannins associated with purple prairie clover result in a reduction in E. coli shedding by the ruminant animal,” said Iwaasa.

This finding could have a huge impact in terms of food safety and also mitigating contamination during run-off, especially when there are large numbers of animals in concentrated areas, such as dairies and feedlots.

“We have been able to show that the pastures have this beneficial effect by reducing E. coli shedding in the animal dung,” said Iwaasa. “We are trying to quantify the amount of purple prairie clover in the mixture that will give us the most bang for our buck.”

Another potential benefit of condensed tannins being studied is their potential to reduce methane emissions.

The researchers have also looked at carbon sequestration in pastures and are studying a mix of alfalfa — a.k.a. ‘the queen of forages’ — and sainfoin.

“Currently we are looking at the different sainfoin germplasms that were used in the development of AC Mountainview, and some of these sainfoin germplasms and U.S. cultivars may be better suited to grow in southwest Saskatchewan and arid areas of the Prairies,” he said.

Although alfalfa fixes more nitrogen, sainfoin is very palatable and preferred by grazing cattle. By utilizing the new cultivars there may be opportunities for the animals to select the sainfoin and reap the benefits of the condensed tannins over a long period of time.

But Iwaasa’s ongoing research also has a big-picture focus — not just the performance of the sainfoin-alfalfa mixture itself, but also nitrogen fixation and carbon sequestration back into the soil.

“We are measuring the amount of nitrous oxides and other greenhouse gases being emitted by the animals; looking at the benefit of a perennial forage that animals can utilize in the field; and all those nutrients being recycled back into the system and still promoting the production of that forage,” said Iwaasa.

What started as a response to criticism of cattle emissions is leading to discoveries that could boost production and the environment at the same time.

“Looking at grazing management and utilizing our land base with environmentally sustainable practices will benefit not only the producer, but the public as a whole,” said Iwaasa.

The post Saving the environment one legume at a time appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“Growers need to have an objective in mind in terms of what they want to get out of a cover crop,” said Bob Blackshaw, a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

“You have to choose the cover crop that will address what you hope to improve on your farm.”

Cover crops improve farmland and that allows producers to “make more money in subsequent years,” said Blackshaw.

Depending on the species, cover crops can prevent soil erosion, improve soil quality, reduce soil compaction, fix nitrogen, and suppress weeds.

The first step to picking the right cover crops is to choose plants from “the four different categories — warm-season broadleaf and grasses, and cool-season broadleaf and grasses,” said Nora Paulovich, manager of Northern Peace Applied Research Association.

That level of diversity brings in different benefits for the land, including a variety of rooting systems and nutrients for the soil, said Paulovich.

“We used to think that every plant you put in there was competing with other plants for moisture and nutrients,” she said.

“But we’re really seeing now that with the diversity of roots, you’re really increasing the diversity of the microflora in the soil, and there really is a synergistic effect.”

That’s why Kevin Elmy blends up to 20 different species of cover crops on his farm near Saltcoats, Sask.

“In a monoculture, you’ve got the roots growing at the same speed, same direction, same depth, and competing for the same nutrients and moisture,” said Elmy, who has been growing cover crops for six years.

“When you grow a polyculture, you’re not competing for all the same nutrients.”

The right tool

Choosing the right species to add to the blend “really depends on the type of goals that the producer has,” said Elmy.

If soil nitrogen is an issue, for instance, legumes are a must-have.

“If a person’s looking at fixing nitrogen, we can use things like sun hemp, crimson clover, red clover, and annual alfalfas,” said Elmy, adding that soybeans, faba beans, chickpeas, peas, and lentils are other options.

Crops that provide a lot of cover — like grasses and legumes — can help prevent soil erosion, and “scavengers” like hybrid brassicas, turnips, radishes, and buckwheat are “really good” at drawing nutrients out of the soil for other crops. For salinity issues, Elmy recommends fall rye, barley, sunflower, sugar beets, and safflower.

Cover crops can also be used to combat drought by increasing the soil’s water infiltration and water-holding capacity, he said.

“If that’s your main goal, the way you’re going to get to it is by increasing organic matter and breaking up that hardpan,” said Elmy.

To build organic matter in the soil, pick species with higher root biomass, he said.

“That will be a lot of your grasses — oats, triticale, annual ryegrass, sorghum, corn.”

For breaking up hardpan, tillage radish is his go-to cover crop.

“You want to include some deep-rooted species like chicory and tillage radish so you’ve got some roots that are going to chip away at the hardpan,” he said.

“The roots will exert 290 psi and will break up the hardpan, and once it goes through that hardpan, it’s going to keep drilling down. They’ll go down past where the normal annual cropping roots will go and get the nutrients those crops can’t get.”

Creating the right blend involves “a lot of research” and trial and error, said Elmy, who uses two different blends on his own farm.

“We bring in different species from around the world — India, South Africa, United States — to get enough diversity of warm- and cool-season grasses, broad leaves, and legumes, and then we have to see how they adapt when they’re grown here,” he said.

“This year, I’m bringing in eight new crops for trials. The only way we’re going to know how they work is by putting them in the ground, doing some blends, and getting some experience with them.”

The post Pick the right tool for the job when creating cover crop blends appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

That was one of the many bits of wisdom shared by University of Saskatchewan soil scientist Diane Knight at the Western Canadian Grazing Conference.

The province’s ag ministry funds research into the often-mysterious biological processes in soil and Knight’s work is aimed at better understanding the relationship between plants and rhizobial bacteria. This type of bacteria ‘infects’ a plant via the tiny hairs that sprout from a root — but in this symbiotic relationship, infection is a good thing because rhizobial bacteria fix nitrogen.

“The infection process is like sticking a finger into a balloon and making an indentation,” said Knight. “That’s what happens in the root hair. The bacteria indent into the plant, and then they start to enter into the interior of the root.”

The bacteria then create nodules, which are enveloped by plant cells. The nodules are made up of bacteria that can move nitrogen from the soil into the plant. But rhizobium bacteria are selective, and generally only form nodules with certain legume plants.

“There’s no one rhizobium species that can nodulate more than one per cent of the known legume plants,” said Knight. “Some rhizobia will nodulate a lot of different plants and some are very specific.”

Faba beans need a specific rhizobia for nodulation, while sainfoin is less selective.

Nodules come in different sizes and shapes. Some are determinate, which means they grow to a certain size. Others, like those found on red clover alfalfa, are indeterminate and keep growing, although their nitrogen-fixing activity changes during the growing season.

If you pull up your plant, you can have some idea of whether or not it is fixing nitrogen.

“We can usually tell whether or not the rhizobia have been able to initiate nodules within five or six days,” said Knight.

Rhizobia initially form small white nodules on the plant. Nodules don’t form evenly, and can continue to grow during a plant’s lifetime.

Colour is everything with nodules. White indicates they’re not able to fix nitrogen yet, but red or pink ones are busy fixing nitrogen. (Hemoglobin, the same substance found in human blood, makes the nodules red.)

Active nitrogen fixation starts about two weeks after plants emerge, with most pulse crops experiencing maximum fixation around flowering.

But it’s not a one-way street — the rhizobia want something in return.

“We have to remember that nodules are using energy from the plant and drawing away energy that could be used for carbon development and growing leaves,” said Knight. “There’s a balance between how many nodules the plant needs and the energy (they are) using.”

Some people may think big nodules are desirable, but that’s not the case. Small ones are actually more effective.

Knight recommends using a commercial inoculant on all legumes.

“We recommend that all legume crops be inoculated because we want to introduce strains that we know to be effective. Bacteria have very short life cycles, so they multiply and change over in a few days to a few weeks.”

Every time a bacteria goes through a life cycle, there’s an opportunity for a mutation, and so rhizobia can lose their effectiveness over the long term.

Environmental factors also play a role. Rhizobia thrive in soils with good organic matter, and need a little bit of moisture to be effective. Too much water hampers the nitrogen-fixing process while a deficit dries out both plants and rhizobia. Root hairs also don’t form when the soil is dry. As well, nodules won’t form below 10 C, and will die off at 37 C.

The post When it comes to rhizobial bacteria, an infection is a good thing appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.