man in a pea crop

No question about it — pulses are hot, hot, hot

Yellow pea and lentil seed haven’t been available for months, 
and some see pulse acres soaring by 20 per cent or more

Reading Time: 4 minutes Pulse acres are set to rise in 2016 — but the multimillion-dollar question is: How much? “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 […] Read more

This pea field near Three Hills was devastated by root rot in 2014, 
but pea growers saw fewer disease problems in 2015.

Root rot pathogen lying in wait

Aphanomyces can persist for a decade in soil and are just waiting for another wet year

Reading Time: 3 minutes Syama Chatterton had a hunch that pea root rots would be less of a problem in a dry year. And sometimes, she said, “it’s nice to be right.” “Root rot severity was definitely lower in 2015 compared to what we had seen in 2013 and 2014, which were very wet years,” the federal research scientist […] Read more


Alberta producer Allison Ammeter (right) joined celebrity chef Michael Smith and culinary author Anita Stewart at the launch of the International Year of Pulses in Toronto earlier this month. Ammeter is the Canadian chair of the IYP as well as chair of Alberta Pulse Growers. The trio was photobombed by cookbook author Julie Van Rosendaal at the event, part of this year’s worldwide effort to promote pulse consumption.

Sky-high prices spark a boom in pulse production

Drought in India has sent prices to record highs, but the challenge for 
Alberta growers is finding yellow pea and red lentil seed

Reading Time: 3 minutes Expect to be hearing a lot more about pulses in 2016. And seeing a lot more of them, too — as western Canadian pulse acreage is set to soar this year. “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. […] Read more

Here’s where to get help if you’re leaping into growing pulses

Here’s where to get help if you’re leaping into growing pulses

Reading Time: < 1 minute Thinking of growing pulses this year? Alberta Agriculture and Forestry has a number of fact sheets and other information at agriculture.alberta.ca. Some of the documents were done several years ago, and the information is not comprehensive. But the last document in the list — Varieties of Pulse Crops in Alberta — was published a year […] Read more


Dried legumes and cereals on a white background

UN international year to showcase pulses

Chair of Alberta Pulse Growers says event will boost competition and prompt more research and breeding

Reading Time: 2 minutes The United Nations International Year of Pulses is underway, and that’s good news for the province’s pulse producers, says the chair of Alberta Pulse Growers. “As IYP draws attention to big global issues like nutrition, food security, and environmental sustainability, this crop — which is a Canadian success story — is only going to get […] Read more