No one can suggest Canadian farmers are being complacent in terms of producing crops.
In fact, the farm sector in Canada has been very proactive in setting targets to increase the amount of crop grown on an acre of land.
The latest example of the forward thinking came from the Pulse Canada Board of Directors recently. They want the industry to accelerate production to help generate significant new demand for pulses and pulse ingredients by 2025. Board members set the ‘25 by 2025’ target as part of the association’s recent planning process and will now embark on an effort to unite the industry around the bold new goal.
In this case the Association first looks to broaden demand for pulse crops with a goal to create new demand in new use categories for 25 per cent of its productive capacity.
The idea is to make inroads into areas such as snack foods, and breakfast cereals. They reason pulse fit such areas based on crop aspects such as high protein, fibre, and slowly digestible starch.
The industry made the announcement on January 18, 2017, the second annual Global Pulse Day. The day is one whereby the global pulse industry works to increase public awareness of the impact that pulses can have on the health of people and the health of the planet.
Certainly here in Canada there is room to build consumer awareness both at the processor level, and the family table since pulses are not as widely used here as in many parts of the world.
The need to diversify markets is in response to increasing production.
According to a recent release the Canadian pulse industry continued to expand production in 2016 to meet strong demand with a 28 per cent increase in lentil production and a 51 per cent increase in pea production over last year.
Such production numbers do vary of course based on expected commodity prices. There are finite crop acres and while farmers do utilize basic rotations based on best practices, acres do also shift within that rotation based on price expectations.
By growing markets for pulses the industry stands to create greater demand to buoy prices and carve a more significant piece of the annual production pie.
Of course the pulse initiative is not unique.
In 2014 the Canola Council of Canada (CCC) today a 10-year plan to capitalize on the world’s growing appetite for healthier oils and protein.
Called Keep it Coming 2025, the plan focused on generating more profit for the farmer from every acre grown, while building canola’s value in key markets. The 2025 target is an increase to an average 52 bushels per acre, for 26 million metric tonnes of production to meet global market demand for canola.
Such planning by farmer-led industry groups is essential to continue to ensure farm profitability and to feed a growing world population.
Calvin Daniels is Editor with Yorkton This Week.
