Celebrating International Year of Pulses 2016 Summer 2016

Pulse Crop News

www.pulse.ab.ca

In this issue...Pea

GreenPea Soybean

Mungbean

APG Launches Plot to Field Research Program

PeaGreenPea Soybean

Mungbean

Crop Protection Products This Season

PeaGreenPea Soybean

Mungbean

IYP Recognized in Alberta Legislature

PM40

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CREATIVE MAC ARTIST

PROOF #

ART DIR CLIENT

ACCT MGR PROD MGRCOPYWRITER SPELLCHECK

Client: BASFFile Name: Priaxor2016_PCN_v1Project Name: Priaxor 2016 Pulse AdsDocket Number: 110202017AD#: kenna_IFC_PCN_110202017_Priaxor

Publication: Pulse Crop NewsPage Position: FP - INSIDE FRONT COVERLive Area: 7.25 x 9.5”Trim size: 8.25 x 10.75”Bleed: 8.5 x 11”

CMYK

PMS

PMS

PMS

. Jeannette V1. .

. . 04/19/16. .

S T U D I O

Taking your pulses to their full potential is more than science. It’s advanced fungicide science.

Only a more advanced fungicide gives you more advanced results. By combining the unique mobility of Xemium® with the proven benefits1 of AgCelence®, Priaxor® fungicide delivers more consistent and continuous control of key pea and lentil diseases including ascochyta and anthracnose. Plus, research shows it leads to increased growth efficiency and better management of minor stress – all working to help increase your crop’s yield potential.2 Learn more at agsolutions.ca/priaxor or call AgSolutions® Customer Care at 1-877-371-BASF (2273).

1 AgCelence benefits refer to products containing the active ingredient pyraclostrobin. 2 All comparisons are to untreated, unless otherwise stated.

Always read and follow label directions. AgSolutions is a registered trade-mark of BASF Corporation; AgCelence, PRIAXOR, and XEMIUM are registered trade-marks of BASF SE; all used with permission by BASF Canada Inc. PRIAXOR fungicide should be used in a preventative disease control program. © 2016 BASF Canada Inc.

Layout and Printing by:Prolific Graphics, Red Deer, ABwww.rd.prolific.ca

Editor: Rachel Peterson

POSTMASTER: Publications Mail Agreement #40041861Return Undeliverable Canadian addresses to:

Alberta Pulse Growers5007B - 49 Avenue, Leduc, AB T9E 6M6Telephone: (780) 986-9398 / 1-877-550-9398Facsimile: (780) 980-2570e-mail: office@pulse.ab.ca web: www.pulse.ab.ca

Member Privacy… Member information is collected and used in accordance with the Personal Information Protection Act and is the property of the Al-berta Pulse Growers and will not be shared, sold or viewed by any individual, group or organization outside of the APG Commission unless directly relat-ed to member communication which is legislated as a reasonable business activity of the Commission. Please direct your comments or concerns to (780) 986-9398 or email office@pulse.ab.ca.

Pulse Crop News is the official journal of and published by Alberta Pulse Growers. This is a producer organization funded by sales of pulse crops (beans, peas, lentils, fababeans, soybeans, and chickpeas) grown in the prov-ince of Alberta. Current circulation of this quarterly publication is 6,500+ cop-ies and is distributed to producers, government, and industry involved in the special crops field. The views expressed in articles and advertisements are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the views of Alberta Pulse Growers. Contents of this publication can only be reproduced with the permission of APG.

Corporate InformationChair’s Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Executive Director’s Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

NewsInternational Year of Pulses Brings Efforts into the Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

APG Works to Help Producers Sell More Pulses by Focusing on Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Alberta Pulse Growers Zone Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Director Profile: Caroline Sekulic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

APG Directors and Advisors Learn the Painstaking Steps Involved in Bean Breeding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

APG Pulse Research Supporting A Growing Industry Through Genetic Improvement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Possibilities of Risk and Reward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

APG Director Sees More Opportunity for Alberta Pulse Exports on Trip to Pulses Conclave in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Alberta Pulse Growers 2016 Summer Events Schedule . . . . . . . 29

Kids Ate Up the Opportunity to Learn More About Pulses . . . . 30

Alberta Innovator Award Nominations Now Being Accepted . . 31

Sharing the Farmer Message with Elected Representatives in Ottawa is an Important Opportunity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Farm Sustainability Extension Working Group Hires Extension Coordinator to Boost On-Farm Sustainability Awareness . . . . . 34

Food and NutritionConsumers Embrace Pulses During International Year Of Pulses With Inspiration From Trend-Setting Chefs . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Nutrition Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Feature Pulse Recipe: Pina Colada White Bean Smoothie . . . . . 38

AdvertisersBASF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Bayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Monsanto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

W .A . Grain & Pulse Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

IYP Recognized in Alberta Legislature

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Contents

14

Crop Protection Products This Season

APG Launches Plot to Field Research Program

8

Highlights

12

CHAIR’S

Allison Ammeter,APG Chair

As this issue is going to press, it is apparent that Alberta farmers have planted more pulse acres than ever before .

Just 30 years ago, market watchers worried that if Al-berta grew more than 100,000 acres of peas, we’d flood the

market (which at the time was primarily a local feed mar-ket) . There was a question of whether peas at $3 .75 could compete with $6 .00 canola . Five years ago we were grow-ing one million acres of puls-es . This year, we are on track to grow 2 .3 million acres!

There does not appear to be a global ceiling in place, partly because almost every country in the world con-sumes pulses . I’d also like to attribute some of this success to the fact the International Year of Pulses 2016 (IYP2016)has raised the profile of the nutritional, environmental, and health benefits of pulses so that consumers are eating more, and growers are confi-dent growing more!

Having said that, we at Al-berta Pulse Growers would like to ensure that your pulse growing experience is a posi-

tive one . I’d like to point you to a few valuable resources to help you out .

You’re holding it . This Pulse Crop News is chock full of great information . Read it and ask questions of our staff if you need any extra details .

PULSEPOD .CA – Alberta’s online database, full of solid agronomic advice on every question you can think to ask about successfully grow-ing peas, beans, lentils faba beans and chickpeas .

APG’s terrific staff – specifical-ly our Policy & Programs Spe-cialist Nevin Rosaasen . He’s as close as an email nrosaas-en@pulse .ab .ca or a phone call 1-877-550-9398 ext 5 .

Twitter – There is a large farming community on Twit-ter, and all of them are will-ing to share their knowledge

and expertise . Sign up, follow @APGextension, or me at @aammeter, and expand your network of pulse farmers .

Want to know more about pulse research? Mar-kets? Food value? Recipes? IYP2016? – Check out www .pulse .ab .ca or www .pulse-canada .com or www .pulses .org or www .iyp2016 .ca

Beyond all that, boots on the ground are always the best . There is an old, well-known saying that the best thing you can put on your crops is your shadow. Walk your fields, and attend the crop walks and field days nearest you. Con-sult the APG online calendar or the list of Summer Events to date on page 29 in this edi-tion . I wish you the best of experiences growing pulses in 2016!

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Welcome to the summer edition of Pulse Crop News, which shines the spotlight on pulse research . This year has been an exceptional one for research investment from the Alberta Pulse Growers Commission . Total value of current projects is more than $31 .8 million, and APG’s con-tribution is in excess of $6 .9 million . We will also look at new research funding oppor-tunities during this meeting .

The 2015-16 fiscal year has seen APG invest the greatest amount of producer funds into key projects since our inception . We can thank the meticulous group of re-searchers in our industry for their interest in having us as a research partner and focus-ing upon pulse research top-ics . Whether it is addressing primary industry agronomic solutions and marketing is-sues or value-added pulse ingredient innovation oppor-tunities to seek greater pulse demand, the work continues to be relevant and addresses our industry strategic objec-tives .

Across Canada in 2012-13, the Pulse Science Cluster 2 .0 accessed $15 million of fed-eral government funds for a five-year period, and today we begin to prepare for the next phase of government re-search program funding set-ting priorities and addressing research needs once more . We look forward to prepar-ing for the next stages of this

support with our pulse grow-er groups across Canada . Additionally, we are express-ing an interest in discussions with other crop commissions on common research oppor-tunities where we can work together across the cropping sector to address specific re-search needs for our growers .

Collaboration is a common theme in our research dis-cussions and will be import-ant moving forward, but collaboration also plays a role for APG in how we as an industry approach our new governments nationally and provincially . This past year’s elections have seen changes to not only Alberta’s govern-ment, but Canada’s as well . These changes have put for-ward a considerable number of new decision makers who may not necessarily know or understand agriculture, but the one thing that intrinsically links MPs and MLAs to agri-culture is food .

In March the pulse industry, under Pulse Canada, orga-nized a “Pulse Day on the Hill” event where members of Pulse Canada and staff strategically held a number of meetings with decision makers from the elected representatives and senior public service . Our messag-es: statements on health of the environment, health of the economy, and health of Canadians were delivered via the concept of FOOD SYSTEM TRANSFORMATION . In my

opinion, excellent meetings were had by the group, and as an industry we are looked upon very favourably for our record and positions .

Alberta’s crop sector commis-sions - Wheat, Barley, Canola and Pulse - also completed a “Team Alberta Outreach” event in early April focusing our messages on the four key areas of transportation, market access, research and sustainability . The Team Al-berta group was also joined by Grain Growers of Canada leadership in our efforts to provide an Alberta farmer voice to the discussion . One director from each organi-zation including Grain Grow-ers of Canada, and four staff members from the Alberta grower groups shared the Al-berta viewpoint on these four issues . To learn more about these two opportunities and our other recent outreach ef-forts, visit page 32 .

Finally, to continue to pro-mote International Year of Pulses (IYP), APG staff and board members were pres-ent alongside three of Alber-ta’s pulse food processors at the Alberta Legislature on April 21 to hear Members of the Legislative Assembly pay tribute to our industry and the celebrations around IYP . We were pleased for the op-portunity to extend messages on health, food security, food innovation, sustainability and environmental impacts and market access and stability .

It is important to continue to spread the positive messages about our industry, as well as to embrace and be proud of our accomplishments cele-brating this special year with the world .

We look forward to seeing you this summer and hope that you have a safe and suc-cessful growing season .

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S

Leanne Fischbuch,Executive Director

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The International Year of Puls-es (IYP) is an opportunity to increase Canadian consumer demand for and awareness of pulses . Along with a pro-motional campaign targeting today’s decision-makers and influencers with the message that pulses are healthy, nu-tritious and sustainable, the Canadian pulse industry is targeting the consumers of

the future .

In January 2016, IYP partner Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC) Canada, launched an educational program fo-cused on pulses for primary and secondary schools . AITC Canada is a non-profit orga-nization supported by pro-vincial chapters dedicated to enhancing the knowledge,

understanding and appreci-ation for agriculture among Canadian youth .

The AITC Canada pulse edu-cation program consists of six lesson plans linking pulses to science, health and nutrition, social studies and home eco-nomics . So far, these lesson plans have been implement-ed in nearly 300 Canadian schools, reaching 18,000 stu-dents and 1,200 educators .

“Because they are affordable, good for the environment and have so many health ben-efits, pulses lend themselves well to a variety of grades and subjects,” said Johanne Ross, AITC Canada’s Executive Director . “It’s been amazing watching the students as they learn the farm to fork story of pulses and it’s really reward-ing to see students eating and enjoying a food that many of them haven’t tried before .”

Pulses were also in the nation-al spotlight during Canadian Agriculture Literacy Week (CALW), which took place from February 28 to March 5 in classrooms across Canada . During CALW, schools in sev-eral provinces received vis-its from local pulse growers and IYP was highlighted on AITC-Canada’s social media channels .

In addition to using the lesson plans created by the national AITC organization, provincial

AITC organizations and their partners are finding unique ways to engage schools in their provinces in the celebra-tion of IYP . To date activities have spanned the country, reaching as far as Newfound-land and Labrador, where six schools have received pre-sentations on pulses . In Nova Scotia, a chili tasting session was held for over 400 stu-dents and library patrons at the Halifax Central Library .

Further west, two professors from Brock University in On-tario gave a lecture to local high school students on the relationship between climate change and agriculture that highlighted pulses and the positive contribution they make to the environment . The lecture was live-streamed in classrooms across the country and viewed by over 900 students .

In Manitoba, students re-ceived visits from local pulse growers as well as from Kid Bean, Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers’ six foot tall kidney bean mascot . Kid Bean will travel the province throughout 2016 educating people of all ages on the ben-efits of pulses to our health and the environment .

Meanwhile in Saskatchewan, 200 fourth grade students also had the opportunity to learn about pulses at the Regina Ag Adventure, held

brings efforts into the classroomINTERNATIONAL YEAR OF PULSES

Pulse Canada

Allison Ammeter tells students at Beau Meadow School in Beaumont about the importance of pulses.

APG Chair Allison Ammeter and Communications Coordinator Rachel Peterson serve breakfast to

schoolchildren for Ag Education Week.

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in March at Regina’s Science Centre .

Alberta’s schools have also been buzzing about puls-es . Throughout the spring of 2016, pulse seeds were distributed to 165 schools through the Little Green Thumbs Program . Funded by Ag for Life, the program helps students of all ages

learn about food production through indoor gardens .

In March, the “Made in Al-berta Breakfast” took place at Beau Meadow elementa-ry school in Beaumont . The event was an opportunity to connect more than 500 stu-dents with Alberta producers to learn more about modern farming, animal care and lo-

cal crops . Alberta Pulse Grow-ers Chair Allison Ammeter entertained the students with a skit highlighting the impor-tance of pulses to several different groups of people including scientists, doctors, farmers, teachers, parents, and children .

“The opportunity to reach an entire school of children, their

teachers, and indirectly their parents, with our positive pulse message was amazing,” said Ammeter .

The momentum behind many IYP initiatives like AITC Cana-da’s program continues to in-crease Canadian consumers’ awareness of pulses and their benefits.

brings efforts into the classroom

LESSON PLAN 1

1: Introduction to Pulses and the International Year of Pulses Aims: To introduce the idea of pulses (grain legumes) as edible parts of a plant.

Objectives: • Students will identify and recognise the different parts of plants that are edible.

• Students will collaboratively create a class display, characterising plant crops through nutritional value.

• Students will consider the importance of the UN promotion of pulses.

Resources:1. (a) Diagram of the edible parts of plants (b) Plant part labels and examples for each (all from the teacher pack).

2. (a) Set A & B: Blank flash-cards, (b) Details of nutritional facts of a variety of foods derived from plants (all from the teacher pack).

Suggestions for further development:The class display can be continued as an ongoing project with pupils adding more detail as the series of lessons continues. Pupils could find or make extra resources at home for any of the edible plants they have discussed in class, or any others that they may be interested in, to stick to the display.

All pulses are edible parts of a plant.

P. 4

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A Member’s Statement rec-ognizing 2016 as Interna-tional Year of Pulses (IYP) was presented in the Alber-ta Legislature in April in an effort to share the message about this nutritious and sus-tainable Alberta-grown food with an even wider audience .

“APG is thrilled that IYP was given this special attention in the Alberta Legislature,” said Sylvan Lake area farmer Al-lison Ammeter, Chair of APG and the IYP Canada Commit-tee . “IYP draws attention to important global issues like nutrition, food security and environmental sustainability . Attention generated by IYP activities like this will ensure the Alberta industry will con-tinue to grow and keep Al-berta pulses competitive at the farm level . It also empha-sizes the important role that beans, peas, lentils and chick-peas play in contributing to healthy people and a healthy planet .”

Strathcona-Sherwood Park MLA Estefania Cortes-Vargas spoke about the United Na-tions-designated year hon-ouring beans, peas, lentils and chickpeas during the after-noon session on April 21 .

“This is significant for our province and for our coun-try because Canada is the world’s largest producer and exporter of dry peas and len-tils, shipping to more than 150 countries around the

world,” Cortes-Vargas said in the Member’s Statement . “Alberta pulse producers are helping feed millions of peo-ple around the globe… We should also congratulate the Alberta Pulse Growers Com-mission for their efforts to shine the light on pulses .”

Prior to the Member’s State-ment, local companies that produce foods made with pulses offered samples to the MLAs and others in the lower Legislature rotunda . The sam-ples included No Nuts Pea Butter from Mountain Mead-ows, gluten-free baked goods from Kinnikinnick Foods, and soup from Souptacular Soup Company .

“IYP is an opportunity to cap-ture the attention of consum-ers and the food industry, to demonstrate how incorpo-rating more pulses into their diets and food products can improve nutrition and also support the environment,” Ammeter said . “It will lever-age the international focus on pulses to build more demand for the pulses that Alberta growers are producing .”

Oneil Carlier, Minister of Ag-riculture and Forestry, intro-duced the APG staff, directors and pulse processors in the Legislature Gallery . He said that he also sees a bright fu-ture for Alberta pulses .

“Alberta’s pulse industry has significant potential for help-

recognized in the Alberta LegislatureINTERNATIONAL YEAR OF PULSES 2016

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ing agriculture to further di-versify while it also plays a vital role in addressing global food security and malnutri-tion issues,” he said .

As people eat more pulses, Alberta farmers will sell more pulses, Ammeter explained . This will contribute to APG’s mission and new five-year strategic plan to increase pulse consumption by 100 grams per capita per week . A focused action for APG is to influence the development of pulse products to increase pulse consumption in domes-

tic and key international mar-kets, as well as to develop a vibrant value-added process-ing industry in Alberta .

Another target of the APG strategic plan is to increase the arable land planted to pulse crops in Alberta from eight per cent to 15 per cent over five years. This past growing season, Alberta farmers grew pulses on 1 .8 million acres . Early estimates for 2016 show that Alberta growers seeded 2 .3 million acres of pulses .

recognized in the Alberta LegislatureINTERNATIONAL YEAR OF PULSES 2016

Representatives of Mountain Meadow, Souptacular, Kinnikinnick and Alberta Pulse Growers join Agriculture and Forestry Minister Oneil Carlier and other government representatives for a photo prior to the Member’s Statement on International Year of Pulses.

MLAs and government staff enjoyed sampling No Nuts Pea Butter with apples in the original flavour, and new cinnamon and chocolate.

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Member’s Statement on International Year of Pulses

on April 21, 2016 from Hansard

Estefania Cortes-Vargas (MLA Strathcona-Sherwood Park): Mr. Speaker, in November the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization launched the International Year of Pulses 2016. This is significant for our province and for our country because Canada is the world’s largest producer and exporter of dry peas and lentils, shipping to more than 150 countries around the world . Alberta pulse producers are helping feed millions of people around the globe . It is estimated that over 800 million people suffer from acute or chronic undernourishment . Experts say that the rising tide of health problems is linked to poor diet . The International Year of Pulses aims to demonstrate the integral role these nutrient dense foods have in addressing global food security and malnutrition issues . By observing the International Year of Pulses, we are sharing the good news about pulses with more consumers, and as more consumers eat more pulses, Alberta farmers can reap the reward of increased market access .

Earlier today we had a group of producers and product developers who provided tasty samples in the lower rotunda . I hope you had time to sample and try the snacks that they brought to us and that you will help promote these Alberta-made products . The Alberta Pulse Growers Commission is marking this important year with exciting activities including food and product samplings . This commission represents over 5,000 growers of field peas, dry beans, lentils, chickpeas, faba beans, and soybeans in Alberta . The growers group has created an attractive series of activities to tell the stories of pulses . One of these activities is the pulse pledge . To take the pulse pledge one commits to eating pulses once a week for 10 weeks . Just so you know, eating pulses helps reduce your carbon footprint, and they are also great for your health . We should also congratulate the Alberta Pulse Growers Commission for their efforts to shine the light on pulses .

Thank you .

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

Caryll and Norm Carruthers from Mountain Meadows provided samples of their No Nuts Pea Butter made with

yellow peas at their Legal, AB facility.

Maureen and Davis Obrigewitch of Souptacular Soup Company provided a hot sample to taste.

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Vivian Johnson of Kinnikinnick Foods showed APG’s Allison Ammeter the variety of gluten-free baked goods made with pulses.

MLAs and Legislature staff were given samples of No Nuts Pea Butter to take home.

International Year of Pulses 2016 brings more attention to the nutrition and versatility of pulse products like those sold by several innovative Alberta companies .

“Pulses include field peas, dry beans, lentils, chickpeas, faba beans and soybeans – and many of those can be found in each Souptacular soup,” said Maureen Obrigewitch who started Souptacular with her husband, Al, in their St . Albert home more than a decade ago . “We work hard to get the message out regarding all the wonderful health benefits and the ease of cooking with puls-es, and International Year of Pulses (IYP2016) is an excel-lent opportunity to reach even more people .”

Each month, Souptacular uses more than 500 lbs of pulses sourced from Alberta and Sas-katchewan in delicious soups sold at Save-On Foods and other locations that are listed at www .souptacular .com .

Meanwhile, No Nuts Pea But-ter’s new chocolate flavour in single portion packs was named the Most Innovative product at the Alberta Food Processor Association’s 2015 Alberta Food Awards . Norm and Caryll Carruthers, own-ers of Mountain Meadows Food Processing in Legal, see IYP2016 as a good way to keep the spotlight on their products made with brown peas and sold at a number of locations detailed at http://www.pea-butter.ca/ .

“International Year of Pulses is a good opportunity to edu-cate people about the value of pulses,” Caryll Carruthers said . “The North American popula-tion doesn’t know the value of pulses . They don’t realize peas and lentils are such a good source of protein and they are economical too .”

Kinnikinnick Foods started specializing in gluten-free foods in Edmonton about 25 years ago, and has grown to have its products sold at retail stores across North America and online at www .kinnikinn-ick .com .

“Kinnikinnick began using pulse fractions 20 years ago and we pioneered the use of pulse products in gluten-free foods in the early 2000s,” said

company owner Jerry Bigam . “International Year of Pulses is raising the level of knowledge about the nutritional value of pulses as being one of the healthier products that enters the food chain . I think that’s the thing that’s important to know is that pulses are not empty calories – they are nu-tritious and grown in Alberta .”

Kinnikinnick provided a vari-ety of products for sampling at the April 21 event at the Alberta Legislature, including cookies, waffles, doughnuts and baking mixes, which all use pulse products and some featuring pulse fractions as the major ingredient . Bigam noted that these are among the best selling items in North America in the gluten free market .

thrilled about awareness generated by IYP

ALBERTA COMPANIES PRODUCING PULSE PRODUCTS

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WHAT ARE THE CROP PROTECTION PRODUCTS TO PAY ATTENTION TO THIS SEASON?For pulse crop production in Western Canada, these products include diquat (Reglone), glyphosate (Roundup), saflufenacil (Heat), glufosinate (MPower Good Harvest), flumioxazin (Valtera), carfentrazone (Aim, CleanStart), benzovindiflupyr (Solatenol, Elatus), chlorantraniliprole (Coragen, Voliam Xpress), and Chlorpyrifos (Lorsban and other trade names).

WHAT ARE THE RISKS OF USING THESEPRODUCTS?There is no need for caution if applied early in the season, but very late applications of fungicides, insecticides or desiccants, and harvest management tools may result in residue levels found in the seed. As a result, growers must ensure that they take appropriate risk mitigation steps to assure product residue remains below MRLs set by regulatory agencies.

WHAT DEVELOPMENTS HAVE THERE BEEN ON THESE ISSUES SINCE LAST YEAR?The Canadian pulse industry is working hard to eliminate market access risks. For the crop protection products referenced in this document, growers are advised to be aware of international regulations in order to make the best crop management decisions.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO MITIGATE RISK?Ensure product residues remain at trace levels or levels well below accepted maximums by following these simple steps:

1. Do not exceed the product’s labelled rate Regulations for individual pesticides are set to allow growers to properly

use the product without fear of violating domestic MRLs. However, these guidelines assume that the labelled rate is not exceeded. If you exceed the labelled rate, you risk surpassing recognized MRLs and this can have serious consequences in terms of both domestic pesticide laws, and international acceptance of the crop.

2. Time the application according to the label Labels are very specific in terms of crop staging. Follow label instructions

and apply crop protection products only at the recommended crop stage, so that you do not risk exceeding the maximum residue limits making your crop difficult to market.

3. Consult with your exporter/processor about which crop protection products are acceptable in international markets Exporters/processors have a good sense of which markets may be sensitive to specific products. They will likely ask you what was used in your crop and possibly for more information.

4. Consult the chart on the following page indicating market considerations and statuses for specific products or visit www.keepingitclean.ca.

Be Aware of Market Risks Involved with CROP PROTECTION PRODUCTS THIS SEASONPulse growers are advised to be aware of possible marketing restrictions that may arise from using certain crop protection products this season. More than 85% of Canada’s pulse production is exported to feed the world. Market access is important to the Canadian pulse industry, and growers play a key role in keeping the doors open. Guidelines for specific products are available on the next page of this document. Growers are encouraged to review all of the following information before proceeding with their pulse crop management plans.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR PULSE GROWERS

Crop Protection Products

Peas Lentils Chick-peas

Beans Faba Beans

Comments

A. Desiccant/Harvest Management Tools

Glyphosate (e.g. Roundup)

Consult with your exporter/processor before using the product for certain crops/destinations. MRLs are established in key markets, however MRLs are set at low levels (2 parts per million) for dry beans in the EU and JPN, as well as for chickpeas and faba beans at CODEX.

Diquat (e.g. Reglone)

Consult with your exporter/processor on pulse crops destined for the US. MRLs are established in key markets but MRLs have not been established in the US.

Saflufenacil (e.g. Heat)

Consult your exporter/processor before using the product on lentils destined for the EU. MRLs are established in key markets, but the EU MRL for lentils is set at a low level and is in the process of being increased. Saflufenacil is registered on red lentils but not on other lentil types. The product is currently unregistered for pre-harvest use on chickpeas, but a registration is in the final stages. Consult www.keepingitclean.ca to confirm that the registration is in place before applying the product on chickpeas.

Glufosinate(e.g. MPower Good Harvest)

Consult with your exporter/processor before using the product. MRLs are established in the EU and JPN, but not in the US or at CODEX.

Carfentrazone(e.g. Cleanstart, Aim) Consult with your exporter/processor before using the product.

MRLs are established in the EU, US and JPN, but not at CODEX.

Flumioxazin (e.g. Valtera) Consult with your exporter/processor before using the product.

MRLs are established in the EU, US and JPN, but not at CODEX.

B. Other Crop Protection Products

Chlorantraniliprole Insecticide (e.g. Coragen, Voliam Xpress)

If applied according to label rates early in the crop year at vegetative stage or during flowering, there is no need for caution. In cases of later-season application during pod development or seed fill to maturity (e.g. for late season grasshopper control), consult with your exporter/processor.

Chlorpyrifos Insecticide (e.g. Lorsban, other trade names)

If applied according to label rates early in the crop year at vegetative stage or during flowering, there is no need for caution. In cases of later-season application during pod development or seed fill to maturity (e.g. for late season grasshopper control), consult with your exporter/processor.

Benzovindiflupyr Fungicide (e.g. Elatus, Solatenol)

If applied according to label rates early in the crop year (e.g. single application at 0-20% flowering), there is no need for caution. In cases of later-season application, consult with your exporter/processor before using the product.

No marketing issues.

Know your market. There is at least one market where MRLs are not established. Consult with your exporter/processor.

No marketing issues associated with early application. If late application during pod development or seed fill to maturity (e.g. for late season grasshopper control), consult with your exporter/processor.

Not registered. Only use registered product.

MARKET CONSIDERATIONS FOR USE OF PULSE CROP PROTECTION PRODUCTS - May 2016 Update

The Alberta Pulse Growers’ board set in motion an ambi-tious new program last Janu-ary focused on moving small plot research towards appli-cability on an individual farm basis .

As food production becomes increasingly sophisticated, in-formation and the ability to be prescriptive to a land base, environmental conditions and specific weed/pest/soil biology becomes paramount . As a re-sult, much on-farm “research” is undertaken on an annual basis in effort to create a rec-ipe for each individual opera-tion . Unfortunately, there are right ways and wrong ways to undertake conclusive re-search on an individual scale .

APG has long recognized the need to build a strong linkage between small-plot research performed by scientists at the direction of the farming community and what actually happens once the tested hy-potheses are put into practice at a farm level . In November 2015, a business assess-ment study was undertaken to benchmark opportunities for partnership and the fu-ture of agronomic research for pulses in the province . The strength and growth of this industry specifically was clearly visible and pushed

APG to continue the forward momentum and support our growers with the develop-ment of this new program .

The exact name of this initia-tive has been hotly debated, with a lot of opinions and less than stellar options put forward . At the end of the day, Plot to Field Agronomy Research and Extension has stuck . While long, the name encapsulates the intent and focus of the program .

Field scale research is not new . The Iowa Soybean Grow-ers are active in field-scale research and, recently, the Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers have initiated a sim-ilar program . APG’s intent for this initiative is to build and test a set of protocols that could then be used by individ-uals, agronomists and others to extrapolate the work that has been done in the smaller, more controlled environment of the small-plot, making it relevant to their particular operation .

While the concept of this pro-gram is simple, its success requires a large network of producers, agronomists and scientists all working towards a common goal . We are ex-ceptionally fortunate in this industry to have numerous individuals committed to and

passionate about supporting agriculture .

The Plot to Field program is a five-year investment. At an initial meeting to introduce the concept to an invited au-dience in March, a timeline was built to identify key ob-jectives and deliverables at each stage .

Year 1 – BUILDING TEAM (2016) Building protocol and initial project

Year 2 – Field testing(2017) protocol

Year 3 – Evaluation of(2018) protocol Development of additional projects

Year 4 - Data collection and(2019) evaluation

Year 5 – Statistical analysis(2020) and evaluation of program

Each stage of the process re-quires participation of com-mitted co-operators and, agronomists to oversee the protocol and scientific eval-uation and oversight . For this program to truly be suc-cessful and of benefit to the greater farming population, it is imperative that we take the time to field-proof and stan-dardize protocols . The oppor-tunity for learning at every

stage is overwhelming and we are fortunate to have a forward thinking organization that is committed to pursuing excellence .

The story of APG’s Plot to Field adventure is just be-ginning . We look forward to sharing the journey with our industry and to ultimately pass on a tool that is usable for the advancement of our food production efforts.

Alan Hall of Alberta Crop In-dustry Development Fund (ACIDF) was pleased to see the Plot to Field program get off the ground.

“It is a pleasure and a privi-lege to be involved,” he said . “This initiative will be a game changer in getting good prac-tical research done at the grower level, at significantly less costs than station type research, and greatly accel-erated grower uptake of re-search findings into the oper-ations of their own farm . We need both station and grower levels of research activity as they will feed off each other for the benefit of the grower.”

agronomy research and extension

APG LAUNCHES PLOT TO FIELD

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Celebrating International Year of Pulses

One of the pillars of the Al-berta Pulse Growers Com-mission (APG) is its commit-ment to funding meaningful research that continuously moves the pulse industry for-ward. Much time and effort is spent identifying gaps in knowledge and working with key industry organizations to help shape priorities, projects and programs that will help pulse producers ‘sell more pulses’ .

During the March 2015 stra-tegic planning sessions in which the APG board and ad-visors participated, research themes were reviewed and prioritized to set direction for the next five years. The four

pillars identified were Genet-ic Improvement, Agronomic Advancement, Processing and Utilization, and Human Health Initiatives . These themes have been a foun-dation for the commission’s research investments, and the strategic planning session confirmed that this is where the Alberta Pulse Growers see value in identifying gaps in knowledge and pursuing answers .

Of the levy dollars that APG collects, 70 per cent are al-located toward research projects . The strong network of scientists and funding partners has allowed for ex-tremely high quality research

that has helped to support the exponential growth that pulses have seen in the prov-ince over the last five years. Within the organizational structure of APG, two com-mittees oversee research in-vestments – one focusing on genetics and agronomy and the second on processing and health outcomes . Includ-ed on these committees are members of the APG board, advisors from across the five zones, industry representa-tives and scientists in related fields. All projects are vetted through outside reviewers in addition to the committee re-view . APG places a high value on developing strong working

relationships with scientists in various fields, collabora-tion is encouraged where ap-propriate and as an industry we have benefited greatly from the networking of indi-viduals located within Agri-culture and Agri-Food Cana-da, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, universities across Canada and partnership with private industry .

The following table provides a summary of all projects in which APG currently invests . For additional information on any of the projects, please see individual summaries at www.pulse.ab.ca/producers .

by focusing on researchAPG WORKS TO HELP PRODUCERS SELL MORE PULSES

Research Technician Gerald Kereliuk counts the number of unhydrated (hard), partially-hydrated and fully-hydrated seeds after soaking a red bean seed sample at the AAFC Lethbridge Research Centre as part of an APG-funded project.

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Genetic Improvement

Project Title Primary Investigator

Deployment of Tepary Bean Genetics to Improve Stress Tolerance in Common BeanDr . Kirsten BettUniversity Of Saskatchewan/CDC

Dry Bean Cultivars for Alberta with Improved Disease Resistance and Value-addedTraitsDr . Parthiba BalasubramanianAAFC-Lethbridge

Selection for Dry Bean Canning QualityDr . Parthiba BalasubramanianAAFC-Lethbridge

Early Maturing Lines with Improved Disease Resistance

Dr . Parthiba BalasubramanianDr . Syama ChattertonAAFC-Lethbridge

Improve Nutritional Values of Dry Bean to Promote its Utilization in Health FoodsDr . Jon LuAAFC-Lethbridge

Development of Field Pea Varieties with Improved Disease Resistance and HarvestabilityDr . Dejing BingAAFC-Lacombe

Breeding for Powdery Mildew ResistanceDr . Dejing BingAAFC-Lacombe

Evaluation of Field Pea and Faba Bean Germplasm for Alberta GrowersRobyne BownessAF-Lacombe

Development of Disease and Drought Resistant Peas Through Genetic EnhancementDr . Linda HallUniversity of Alberta

Developing Red Lentil Cultivars for Alberta and Analyzing the Newest Red Lentil Cultivars for the Starch Profile to Attract New Lentil Markets

Dr . Manjula BandaraAF-Brooks

Identifying Promising Genotypes and Optimizing Seeding Density, Nitrogen Fixation and Irrigation for Cost-Effective Soybean Production in Alberta

Dr . Manjula BandaraAF-Brooks

Agronomic Advancements

Project Title Primary Investigator

Plot to Field APG

Crop Rotation to Minimize Inputs, Optimize Crop Production and Maximize ProfitsDr . Kabal GillSARDA

Impact of Cropping Practices on Soil Health, Crop Productivity and Profitability in the Brown Soil ZoneDr . Eric BremerWestern Ag Innovations

Performance and Cost of Field Scouting for Weeds and Diseases Using Imagery Obtained with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Dr . Chris NesserAF-Brooks

Recovery of Pulse Crops from Hail in Alberta Using Foliar Fungicides and Nutrient BlendsKen ColesFarming Smarter

Refining Dry Bean Fertility Practices Doon PaulyAF-Lethbridge

Evaluation of the Effect of Nitrogen Rates, Seeding Rates and Herbicide Application on Production of Clearfield Red Lentil in Alberta

Robyne BownessAF-Lacombe

Total value of current projects is more than $31 .8 million, and APG’s contribution is in excess of $6 .9 million .

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Celebrating International Year of Pulses

Total value of current projects is more than $31 .8 million, and APG’s contribution is in excess of $6 .9 million .

Agronomic Advancements

Project Title Primary Investigator

Development of an Immune-PCR for the Detection of Pea Root Rot Causal Agent Aphanomyces EutichesDr . Claudia SheedyAAFC-Lethbridge

Advanced Agronomic Practices in Wheat, Barley and Peas to Maximize Yield and HarvestabilityDr . Sheri StrydhorstAF- Barrhead

Prevalence, Pathogenicity and Risk Assessment of Fusarium Species Causing Root Rot of Field PeasDr . Syama ChattertonAAFC-Lethbridge

Development of Semio-Chemical Based Monitoring of the Pea Leaf WeevilDr . Maya EvendenUniversity of Alberta

Management of Pea Leaf Weevil in Support of Faba Bean and Field Pea ProductionDr . Hector CarcamoAAFC-Lethbridge

Identification and Significance of Plant-Parasitic Nematodes of Pulse Crops and SoybeanDr . Mario TenutaUniversity of Manitoba

Investigating Agronomic Practices to Remove Barriers to Faba Bean Production in AlbertaRobyne BownessAF-Lacombe

Improving Lygus Management for Canola Cultivars and Faba BeanDr . Hector CarcamoAAFC-Lethbridge

Processing and Utilization of Pulses & Pulse Fractions

Project Title Primary Investigator

Examination of Various Pea Flours for their Use in Food Products with Improved Nutrition and Taste Attributes

Dr . Jay HanAF- Leduc Food Processing & Development Centre

Value Added Applications of Pulse Protein and Fibre Dr . Lingyun Chen

Application Development for the Starch/Protein Concentrate Produced by the Air Current Assisted Parti-cle Separation Technology (ACAPS)

Dr . Thava VasanthanUniversity of Alberta

Development of a Pulse Protein Based Pet Food Kibble Through Lab and Pilot Scale StudiesDr . Thava VasanthanDr . Ruurd ZijlstraUniversity of Alberta

Value Added Processing of Pulse Grains Using a Novel Technology Called Air Current Assisted Particle Separation Technology (ACAPS)

Dr . Feral TemelliUniversity of Alberta

Human Health Outcomes

Project Title Primary Investigator

Evaluation of Pulse Fibre Supplement in Obesity and the Metabolic Syndrome, Generating Evidence in Support of Health Claims

Dr . Raylene ReimerUniversity of Calgary

Substantiating a Health Claim for Pulses (Bean And Pea) and Cholesterol LoweringDr . Rhonda BellUniversity of Alberta

Modifying Microbial Properties of Pea Seed Coat and its Role in Improved Intestinal Integrity and Re-duced Insulin Resistance

Dr . Ben WillingUniversity of Alberta

Evidence to Substantiate Functional Health Claims for Pulse Flours and Fractions in Food Matrices Dr . Peter Jones University of Manitoba

Reduction of Blood Glucose with Beans: Defining the Minimum DoseDr . Dan RamdathAAFC Guelph

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Stay tuned for more information in the Fall issue of PCN and at

www.pulse.ab.ca

Zone 1December 5

Zone 2November 23

Strathmore(with Alberta Barley)

Zone 3November 15

Westlock(with Alberta Barley and

Alberta Wheat Commission)

Zone 4November 17

Fairview(with Alberta Barley and

Alberta Wheat Commission)

Zone 5November 21

Vermilion(with Alberta Barley)

Alberta Pulse GrowersZone Meetings

Save the date for an informative meeting happening soon in your zone!

Caroline Sekulic lives in the Rycroft area . She was elect-ed to a three-year term as an APG Director in January rep-resenting Zone 4 . She previ-ously served as an advisor for the zone .

Pulse Crop News: Please tell us about your family and your farm .

Caroline Sekulic: Our chil-dren Max (16), Theo (13) and Olivia (14) all help on the farm . My husband, Nick, and I plant approximately 8,000 acres of crops along with calving out around 100 head of Angus cross cows on our ranch . We have one full-time employee, and a posse of great people who help when they can . This summer, our new shop will be completed and we will have agricultural interns from France and Ger-many . It will be an interesting season with lots of diversity!

PCN: What has been your ex-perience with growing pulse crops?

CS: We have been growing peas, most often yellow over green of late, for almost 20 years . We have also success-fully grown faba beans . Peas are a key crop in our rota-tion and have been our high-est margin crop for the past number of years .

PCN: What percentage of your crop was made up of pulses last year, and what did you grow?

CS: Twenty-seven per cent or 2,130 acres were seeded to yellow peas .

PCN: What are you growing this year?

CS: We’re growing 3,100 acres of yellow peas, 2,700 acres of canola and 2,200 acres of cereals including red spring wheat and oats .

PCN: What tips or tricks have you learned growing puls-es that you could share with new growers?

CS: Never swath peas . Flex draper headers make har-vesting peas easier, pea au-gers on draper headers are a necessity almost all the time . Rolling the ground after seed-ing peas is a good harvest management practice .

PCN: What sparked your in-terest in APG?

CS: As an advisor I was able to see the marketing, research and extension successes that were started and supported by APG .

PCN: Is there an issue that is particularly important to you?

CS: Maintaining and develop-ing new markets . In much of the world, protein and potable water are valuable commodi-ties . IYP 2016 is an amazing global marketing opportunity that addresses the sustain-ability, health, economic and environmental concerns of our time with no downside to producers or consumers .

New opportunities are excit-

ing, and profitable.

PCN: What was the biggest

issue facing your farm last

year?

CS: Lack of rain in the growing

season .

PCN: What has been the big-

gest benefit of your involve-

ment with APG?

CS: Getting to know the play-

ers in the pulse Industry be-

yond our farm .

PCN: Why would you recom-

mend that pulse producers

get involved with their zone?

CS: I want to be part of the de-

cision making in my industry .

Without farmer directed mar-

keting and research initiatives,

our ability to compete glob-ally will be reduced . Farmers are resourceful and creative entrepreneurs who can direct our industry better than any bureaucrat . We need a voice and this is it . If we don’t use it, we lose it .

Thank you, Caroline. We are looking forward to benefiting from your contributions to the Board.

caroline sekulicDIRECTOR PROFILE

Caroline Sekulic,APG Director for Zone 4

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Director Doug Sell gave two thumbs up to the bean breeding activities. “ I had no idea the amount of effort involved in selection and crossing of lines that results in a new variety,” he said. “The opportunity for hands-on learning is never wasted and this most certainly helps give perspective on one of the foundational elements in my farming operation.”

Step One - Finding a flower at the perfect stage.

Step Two - Carefully exposing the reproductive stamens and pistil.

APG directors and advisors had a hands-on opportunity to experience the intricate work involved in crossing two lines of dry beans.

Evidence of a successful F1 cross? Only time will tell.

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Celebrating International Year of Pulses

APG directors and advisors had a hands-on opportunity to experience the intricate work involved in crossing two lines of dry beans.

Todd Reid, AAFC Lethbridge, explains the ins and outs of legume plant anatomy to APG directors and advisors at a March meeting.

Robert Semeniuk, Zone 5, experienced the delicate work of a plant breeding technician, removing the pollen from one flower without detaching the flower itself, which is not for the faint of heart.Evidence of a successful F1 cross? Only time will tell.

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Successful growth of an in-dustry can be attributed to numerous factors . In agricul-ture, environmental suitabil-ity, market acceptance and demand, logistical feasibility in planting and harvesting, as well as delivery of product and familiarity can all play into producers’ decisions to grow or not to grow one crop or another . As an industry, we work to mitigate all of those risk factors by develop-ing research questions that address all aspects of the above elements to maximize

the opportunity for our grow-ers to enjoy successful produc-tion, which is most often mea-sured by economic return .

Genetic improvement is foun-dational to all agronomy, pro-cessing and human health research that the Alberta Pulse Growers’ strategic plan identifies as a priority. Plant breeding is a complex topic that balances the desire for increasing yields with dis-ease resistance, particular quality traits, removal of an-ti-nutritional characteristics,

drought/wet/hot/cold resis-tance, etc . It is truly an im-possible task to put all of the desired traits into one single variety . Nothing moves quick-ly in the world of plant breed-ing because development of a single new variety takes 10-13 generations from the initial two parent cross until a new variety is successfully commercialized and available to growers. Much effort goes into developing methods to shorten the generation times . Winter nurseries in alterna-tive locations, greenhouses

and genetic mapping are all tools used to increase the ef-ficiency of this process.

APG invests a considerable portion of its annual research budget into genetic develop-ment prior to commercializa-tion . The organization is for-tunate to have a number of passionate scientists engaged in the genetic improvement of peas, lentils, chickpeas, dry beans, soybeans and faba beans in Western Can-ada . APG provides funding through support of breeding

supporting a growing industry through genetic improvement

APG PULSE RESEARCH

peas & faba beans 57 .7%

lentils 10 .4%

soy beans 11 .7%

dry beans 20 .2%

Genetic Improvement of Pulses - APG Funds Invested

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Celebrating International Year of Pulses

programs, as well as directed to specific projects that ad-dress key issues .

Current APG funding com-mitments are directed to-wards 11 projects in genetic improvement with a total of $1,488,155 being directed towards all pulse crop types grown in Alberta (peas, len-tils, faba beans, dry beans and soybeans) with the ex-ception of chickpeas . The exponential growth in pulse acreage across the prairies has been largely supported by the strong genetic foun-dation and it continues to be an extremely high priority for APG . There are four entities actively working on pulse ge-netics in Western Canada and APG supports all of these at a pre-commercialization stage to optimize growth .

Research, in particular long-term research, is essential to grow pulse industry in the province, said Mark Olson, Unit Head – Pulse Crops for

Alberta Agriculture and For-estry .

“If you think to three large acreage crops of canola, len-til and field pea that basi-cally were not grown on the prairies some 50 years ago, one really can attest to the power of genetic adaptability and improvement,” he not-ed . “However, government and industry alike have to get their heads around genetic improvement doesn’t hap-pen in three or four years or even 10 or 12 years, but the investment in this area as in the pulse industry, pegged at $4 .2B in Canada in 2015, can attest that it is well worth it .”

An example of a long-term pulse research project is the five-year long Evaluation of Field Pea and Faba Bean Ger-mplasm for Alberta Growers project that Olson is involved in . Project proponents ap-plied for funding in December 2012 under Growing Forward II, Pulse Science Cluster, and

is jointly funded by APG, Al-berta Crop Industry Develop-ment Fund (ACIDF), and Agri-culture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) . The funding for this project ends March 31, 2018 .

There are at least 20 different experiments at each of the three locations in north-cen-tral Alberta . APG is looking at future funding for expanding this type of pre-competitive genetic research . We are par-ticularly interested in adding locations in southern Alberta to better support growing re-gions in the brown and dark brown soil zones .

The Alberta pulse industry’s goal for the project is to grow from five per cent of the annu-al cropped acres (one million) in 2012 to 15 per cent (three million) over the following decade . This will be accom-plished through the project’s key objective of identifying superior pulse varieties suit-able for Alberta, which will increase production per acre

at a similar cost resulting in a reduction in cost per unit of product . The three distinct components of this project are: Screening of new pulse genetics at three locations; Western Canada pulse co-op testing program (field pea and faba bean) at 19 volun-tary sites; and Regional Va-riety Testing at 19 locations .

“I’ve heard comments, this or that crop kind is too tropical for this part of the world and we have been questioned about why we are research-ing it,” Olson explained . “One only has to think of where many crops we grow today on the prairies originated, such as the fertile crescent of Middle East or in the case for dry bean, originating in Meso America . I truly believe it is a matter of finding genetics with some adaptation to the prairies and further improv-ing upon them .”

supporting a growing industry through genetic improvement

APG PULSE RESEARCH

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Pulse markets have reward-ed growers with historically high prices this past year . One danger in this type of environment is the notion (or hope) that these levels are “a new paradigm” and high pric-es will continue or even climb further. But as the financial industry fine print likes to say, “past performance does not guarantee future results .” In fact, the grain business has its own saying, “the best cure for high prices is high prices .” It’s not that I’m wishing for lower prices; it’s just normal market behaviour .

To keep a sense of perspec-tive, we like to use long-term

charts because it’s important to know where current pric-es are positioned relative to wide-ranging market condi-tions . There are fundamental reasons why prices moved to the current highs (at the time of writing), but it would take extraordinary circumstances to push prices to even high-er highs . Because most pulse prices are already near the historic tops, the upside po-tential (the reward) is limited, while the downside risk is considerable .

For peas, the picture is a little different for yellows versus greens . Yellow peas are by far at historic highs, which makes

it difficult to imagine what would push prices even high-er, aside from a Canadian crop failure . It’s true that two poor Indian rabi pulse crops in a row have created an un-usual market environment, but other forces are also at work pushing in the other di-rection . The price extremes have triggered an acreage re-sponse in Canada and other countries, increasing the risk of heavy supplies .

Green pea prices are still fair-ly strong but are closer to the middle of the long-term range . Largely this is because the extreme highs seen in 2013 did their job and en-

couraged more production in 2014 . Now that prices are lower, especially compared to yellows, acreage and produc-tion in 2016 will be limited, opening the door to possible gains . At the very least, the downside risk isn’t as great as it is for yellows .

Current lentil bids are also at or near all-time highs . For green lentils, current pric-es are far beyond anything experienced before, which clearly tips the balance away from possible reward and to-ward risk . The only possible bright spot for green lentils is that Canadian growers seem to be favouring growing red lentils, which could limit the expansion of green lentil acres . Farmers in the US how-ever, are definitely respond-ing with increased green lentil acreage, which could trigger a move lower .

Current red lentil bids are just off the record highs but are still near the top end of history, and that means more possible risk than potential reward . High prices have en-couraged a big jump in Ca-nadian acres and as long as weather conditions are “nor-mal”, that factor will tip the balance lower .

The charts show spot prices and, for most pulses, new-crop bids are already consid-erably lower than that . That

risk and rewardPOSSIBILITIES OF

Chuck Penner

24 Summer 2016

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Celebrating International Year of Pulses

means the market has done part of its job of respond-ing to the outlook for bigger 2016 crops. The difference between old-crop and new-crop prices already reflects a different risk/reward outlook for 2016/17. Even so, new-crop bids are still historically strong, leaving some down-side risk and less upside po-tential .

It’s not possible to predict all of the possible developments in 2016/17, both bearish or bullish . That said, risk man-agement strategies should reflect the higher odds of a downside risk and the small-er chance of upside potential . The best way to manage this risk is through forward con-tracting at prices that (at the time of writing) are still fa-vourable, especially with Act

of God contracts that elimi-nate production risk . Even if

some forward contracts have limitations and can’t com-

pletely eliminate risk, manag-ing risk is the goal .

POSSIBILITIES OF

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Representing the Alberta Pulse Growers at the Puls-es Conclave in India allowed APG Vice-Chair D’Arcy Hilgar-tner the rare opportunity to explore a country that de-pends on Canadian pulses to feed its growing population .

“Anytime you can go to a country that is one of your major importers of pulses from Canada and Alberta,

specifically yellow peas and red lentils, that’s a key thing to do,” Hilgartner said . “I like the fact that you’re following the chain from my field near Camrose to the shelves in Delhi or Jaipur in India . It was quite a whirlwind trip but very rewarding .”

Hilgartner was a member of a delegation from Alberta that included Alberta Agriculture

and Forestry representa-tives Mark Olson, Unit Head-Pulse Crops, and Etienne van Straaten, Trade Development Officer.

Prior to attending the con-clave in Jaipur from Feb . 17-19, the group met with the Canadian Trade Commis-sioner in Delhi and represen-tatives of the Alberta-Delhi trade office.

“That was great to get a sense of what India’s economy is like and what their government is like and what their needs are,” Hilgartner explained . “In regard to pulses, they are traditionally short about two million tonnes of pulses a year compared to what they produce . That is why it is such a huge market for us . In the last few years, we’ve supplied the vast majority of that from

on trip to pulses conclave in IndiaAPG DIRECTOR SEES MORE OPPORTUNITY FOR ALBERTA PULSE EXPORTS

A worker at Jindal Pulse Mills in Delhi hauled 100 lb sacks of uncleaned pigeon peas into the plant.

This was a small warehouse inside Jindal Pulse Mills in Delhi with bags of uncleaned pigeon peas and chickpeas.

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Celebrating International Year of Pulses

Canada (Alberta and Sas-katchewan) .”

Hilgartner added that rep-resentatives from a Calgary company that sells tempera-ture and moisture sensors also participated in some meetings with the Alberta delegation because the Indi-an government is interested in modernizing their storage facilities .

“For the most part, In-dia’s storage is piles on the ground,” Hilgartner ex-plained, adding that Indian farmers produce about 19 million tonnes of pulses . “They’re looking at putting up more bins and the like for longer term storage . G . Chan-drashekhar, an Economic Ad-visor from India who spoke at the Pulses Conclave, estimat-ed that through the Indian

system – from the minute the product hits the port to when it hits the consumer as well as the crops they produce that go into their system – they’re losing about 20 per cent . If they were able to fix that 20 per cent loss, it would basical-ly cover their shortfall .”

The group also toured a pulse mill to see how they pack-age their domestically-grown

pulses, mainly chickpeas and pigeon peas .

“When they buy our yellow peas, they’re often using it as a supplement,” Hilgartner said . “It used to be that when people in India ran out of chickpeas, they used yellow peas as a substitution . They have been importing our yel-low peas for so long now that some prefer the yellow peas

on trip to pulses conclave in IndiaAPG DIRECTOR SEES MORE OPPORTUNITY FOR ALBERTA PULSE EXPORTS

These women hauled 1 kg bags of cleaned pigeon peas away from a packaging machine.

These workers hauled smaller 500 g packages. As they are sealed, they are combined with others to fill larger bags.

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27

or they’ll use chickpeas in this recipe and yellow peas in that recipe . It’s not that they use yellow peas because they can’t get chickpeas or they’re too expensive . They use the red lentils as a replacement for the pigeon peas .”

The tour also included visit-ing a traditional middle class market and a bazaar that Hil-gartner said was very similar to a mall setting in Edmonton or Calgary .

“In typical Indian culture, they’re always looking for efficiencies,” Hilgartner re-marked . “If I had a dollar for every time I was asked by an Indian miller or the like, ‘how can I buy directly from your farm,’ I could have paid for my trip . They don’t understand

the fact that I’m far from the coast . That makes no sense to them .”

Hilgartner said that despite it being two years since the Canadian transportation is-sue came to a head, potential buyers still raised it as a con-cern for them .

“The damage that does to our reputation is huge and it is long-term damage,” he said, adding that the comments he heard prove that Pulse Cana-da’s work on the transporta-tion file remains important.

He added that there were many pulse traders among the 1,100 delegates who attended the Pulses Conclave, a biennial event hosted by the India Puls-es and Grains Association .

“They all want to know what’s going on in Canada because Canadian production num-bers and supply is so im-portant to them,” Hilgartner recalled . “When it comes to chickpeas, they’re very inter-ested in Australia . Once they hear those kinds of numbers, the traders disappear into the hallways to do deals .”

Hilgartner said that discus-sions at the Pulses Conclave and insights gleaned from his week in India showed him where there are further op-portunities for Canadian puls-es in India, where residents eat pulses every day .

“You have 350 million people in India that they consider middle class who have dis-posable money to spend on

pulses from different sourc-es, which is an opportunity for us to expand not just in pulses but in pulse products,” he said .

One Conclave session ex-plained a plan to increase India’s own pulse production, but Hilgartner said that the country’s increasing popula-tion means that there will al-ways be a need to import .

The Pulses Conclave 2016 in-cluded the launch of the Inter-national Year of Pulses cam-paign by CICILS Global Pulses Confederation . Presentations from the event can be viewed at http://www.ipga.co.in/in-dia-pulses-conclave-2 .

Bags of pulses are displayed by one of the vendors at the INA market, a large middle class market in Delhi.

This is a grocery store display from a retailer called Big Bazaar, a more affluent grocery store chain. The idea of the tour was to show different retail styles and marketing present in India today.

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summer events scheduleALBERTA PULSE GROWERS 2016

Date/Time Location Registration

July 5-7 (pick one day)

Field School Farming Smarter Lethbridge Field Site

dawne@farmingsmarter .com or www .farmingsmarter .com

July 14 Medicine Hat Tour Farming Smarter Medicine Hat Field Site

dawne@farmingsmarter .com orwww .farmingsmarter .com

July 199am start

Alberta Ag Barrhead pulse site Directions available upon registration

Kelly Kelly 780-674-8268 or Kelly .kelly@gov .ab .caorCindy Givens 780-674-8268 orcindy .givens@gov .ab .ca

July 209am start

Alberta Ag Namao pulse site Directions available upon registration

Kelly Kelly 780-674-8268 or Kelly .kelly@gov .ab .caorCindy Givens 780-674-8268 orcindy .givens@gov .ab .ca

July 20 Castor/Killam Field Day Battle River Research Plots at Castor Site (morning): - soil health; ‘soil health’ mix of species - barley, oats, wheat, flax, durum and silage RVTs Bus transportation and lunch will be provided Alberta Agriculture Killam Cereal Agronomy (afternoon): - Advanced agronomic practices in wheat and barley (Plant growth regulators, in-crop N, foliar fungicides, cultivar specific agronomic responses) - Barley, wheat, oat, triticale and durum RVTs

Battle River Research Groupevents@battleriverresearch .com or780-582-7308

July 219 am start

Alberta Ag Vegreville pulse siteDirections available upon registration

Kelly Kelly 780-674-8268 or Kelly .kelly@gov .ab .ca orCindy Givens 780-674-8268 orcindy .givens@gov .ab .ca

July 26 Barrhead cereal agronomy site (NW-10-59-3 W5) as part of Barrhead County TourPlant Growth Regulators; Oat N fertility; Oat, barley, wheat, flax, triticale regional variety trialsDirections and meeting time available upon registration

County of Barrhead Office780-674-3331

July 27 Lacombe Field DayDirections from Lacombe1 . Drive 1 mile south of the City of Lacombe on Hwy 2A2 . Turn east onto Range Rd 27-03 . Cross the tracks and travel less than ¼ mile .4 . Crop Research station is on the left . Meet at JH Helm building .

Ag-Info Centre: 310-FARM (3276)

July 28 Disease Plot HopFarming Smarter Lethbridge Field Site

dawne@farmingsmarter .com or www .farmingsmarter .com

August 4 Forestburg Field DayMeet at Battle River Research Office (4804-43 Ave ., Forestburg)

Events@battleriverresearch .com or 780-582-7308

Please note that this schedule includes details that were available at the time Pulse Crop News went to press. For more information and up-to-date details, please visit the Calendar of Events at

www.pulse.ab.ca/producers

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Aggie Days ran from April 6-10 at Agrium Western Event Centre in Calgary . It attracted 41,160 guests during three days of school groups and two days on the weekend for families .

Amazing Agriculture was scheduled to attract school groups from May 3-5 to the Northlands Expo Centre in Edmonton . Sixty class-es with 1,459 kids were signed up to attend, however, the event was unable to proceed on the final day due to the space being needed to help house evacuees from the Fort McMurray fire.

Kids were invited to handle pulses and receive a pea pen at Aggie Days.

Kids enjoyed activities on the IYP travelling display at Aggie Days

APG Food and Nutrition Coordinator Debra McLennan used a skipping rope to

show kids how pulses give you energy.Kids made and sampled hummus at

the Northlands Food Lab station.

Communications Coordinator Rachel Peterson helped show

kids the benefits of pulses.

more about pulsesKIDS ATE UP THE OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN

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Do you want to receive notices of APG events and updates in real time?

Send an email to: rpeterson@pulse.ab.ca

with the subject:Yes, I want to receive

event notices from APG

Nominate someone you know for the 3rd annual

Industry Innovator Award

Entry Deadline: December 8, 2016For more information, visit

http://pulse.ab.ca/news/article/ 2016-pulse-industry-innovator-award

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Alberta Pulse Growers (APG) members had the opportuni-ty in March and again in April to travel to Parliament Hill in Ottawa to bring forward farmer viewpoints on many key topics .

The March trip focused upon Pulse Canada’s coordinated effort to deliver the message about Food System Transfor-mation to meet societal needs to Canada’s government rep-resentatives and key public service members in Ottawa . This concept was developed to bring together a policy that integrates the health of the environment, the health of the economy and the health of Canadians . Pulse Canada members, including those from APG, used pulses as the example to bring messages

about how sustainability, ex-cellent health attributes and pulses can enhance the econ-omy .

A second, but crucial, key message from the Pulse Can-ada visit was the request to renew the Fair Rail for Grain

Farmers Act which expires on August 1, 2016 . The pulse and special crops sector was impacted, like many other grains sectors in 2013-14, when rail transportation was so poor . This legislation al-lowed the opportunity for the industry to move product and keep markets open . It is still critical legislation to have in place in the event that trans-portation issues constrict movement . APG was repre-sented on this trip by Pulse Canada directors from APG including Ryan Kubinec (Zone 3), Robert Weisgerber (Zone 1), James Jackson (Zone 3), and Caroline Sekulic (Zone 4), along with APG board mem-bers Allison Ammeter (Zone 2), John Kowalchuk (Direc-tor at Large, Non-Bean), and

farmer perspectives in OttawaIMPORTANCE OF SHARING

Meeting with the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, (centre) are Shannon Sereda (ABC), Leanne Fischbuch (APG), Henry Vos (AWC), Andrea Lyon

(Deputy Minister AAFC), Michael Ammeter (ABC), and Gary Stanford (GGC).

Team Alberta waiting to enter Question Period at Parliament of Canada – Fraser Robertson (APG), Leanne Fischbuch (APG), Henry Vos (AWC), Michael Ammeter (ABC), Karla Bergstrom (ACPC), Shannon Sereda (ABC), Hannah Konschuh (AWC), Terry Young (ACPC) and Gary Stanford (GGC).

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Rodney Volk (Zone 1), as well as Executive Director Leanne Fischbuch .

The second trip to Ottawa partnered APG with the Al-berta Wheat Commission, Alberta Barley Commission, Alberta Canola Producers Commission and Grain Grow-ers of Canada Alberta repre-sentatives . APG Zone 4 Di-rector Fraser Robertson and Executive Director Leanne Fischbuch experienced four days of meetings on Parlia-ment Hill with other Alberta Team members . These meet-ings had farmers and staff members connect with Mem-

bers of Parlia-ment from all parties to share information on four key areas: market access, transportation, research and sustainability .

There were also opportunities to bring the grow-er perspective on these topics to key members of the public service . All MPs were pleased to have farm-ers share their experiences on the key issues within each of those areas . For many of

the meetings the message continued for renewal of the Fair Rail for Grain Farm-ers Act . Farmers reiterated that extended interswitching that was provided in the leg-islation was beneficial and without good transportation options there would be chal-lenges with market access . Ratification of the Trans Pa-cific Partnership (TPP) was another hot topic with all growers supporting and en-couraging ratification of the agreement .

Other topics of discussion included the need for con-tinued and stable research

funding and capacity, as well as the need to consider the significant innovations and leadership role farmers have taken in protecting the envi-ronment and sequestering soil carbon when it comes to climate change leadership .

“Farmers work toward sus-tainability to not only help us save money, but also to save carbon and better the envi-ronment in the long term,” Robertson said . “A lot of people don’t realize what is happening on the farm, so it is good for us to have the op-portunity to share our mes-sage with the government representatives .”

The opportunity for producers to share their views in Otta-wa is very im-portant . When farmers speak to Members of Parliament, they are able to share exact-ly how rules, regulations or issues impact them first-hand . This is important in-formation to bring forward and MPs listen to this personal testimony .

Through Pulse Canada, pulse growers have

excellent opportunities to have a regular presence in Ottawa with a Pulse Cana-da staff member located on the Hill and representatives of Pulse Canada travel when they are required to partici-pate in meetings in Ottawa . Other times, grain farmers rely upon groups such as Grain Growers of Canada to have their Ottawa staff be their voice . The Team Al-berta Outreach effort, in its second year, provides APG with another chance to bring concerns from Alberta pulse producers to the Canadian decision makers .

farmer perspectives in OttawaIMPORTANCE OF SHARING

Team Alberta Outreach on Parliament Hill: Hannah Konschuh, Fraser Robertson, Gary Stanford, Henry Vos, Michael Ammeter, Leanne Fischbuch, Karla Bergstrom, Shannon Sereda and Terry Young.

APG members Rodney Volk, Executive Director – Leanne Fischbuch, Allison Ammeter and John Kowalchuk visiting Parliament during Pulse Day on the Hill with the Pulse Canada team.

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The Farm Sustainability Ex-tension Working Group (FSEWG) recently announced that Jolene Noble of Manning has been hired as an Exten-

sion Coordinator to develop, coordinate, and implement an extension program to in-crease Alberta producers’ awareness of on-farm sus-tainability .

Organized by the FSEWG with funding support from Alber-ta Agriculture and Forestry’s Growing Forward 2 Program, this collaborative role is in place to address a grow-ing need for the crop sector to meet high sustainability standards to maintain and expand international market competitiveness .

“Sustainable agriculture is becoming increasingly im-portant in building market access opportunities and en-suring the long-term viability of our industry,” Noble said . “I look forward to contributing to these end-goals by work-ing with producers to bring awareness to social license is-

sues and highlighting on-farm best management practices .”

Noble brings extensive pro-fessional program coordina-tion experience from the beef industry where she success-fully managed programs for youth and advocacy . Addi-tionally, she has actively par-ticipated in programs such as the McDonald’s Sustainability Pilot Project, Verified Beef Production, and the Envi-ronmental Farm Plan from a producer perspective on her family’s mixed farm .

In this position, Noble will support the crop commis-sions in better understand-ing farmer readiness with respect to internationally rec-ognized sustainability stan-dards and best management practices . This information will be derived via phone sur-vey to be conducted by Ipsos Reid this summer, building

on the information compiled through the Alberta Crops Sustainability Certification Pilot Project that was collab-oratively delivered during the spring of 2015 . Noble will subsequently develop and deliver coordinated exten-sion programming to support the crop commissions’ mem-bership in positioning their operations to meet current and emerging sustainability market standards .

The FSEWG is comprised of Alberta Barley, Alberta Canola Producers Commis-sion, Alberta Pulse Growers Commission, and the Alberta Wheat Commission . Working on behalf of our producer membership, we are commit-ted to assessing and meeting areas of need for on-farm sustainability extension and education .

hires extension coordinator to boost on-farm sustainability awareness

FARM SUSTAINABILITY EXTENSION WORKING GROUP

Jolene Noble,FSEWG Extension Coordinator

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Liana Robberecht, WinSport Executive Chef

Energy cookie . Melanie Hennessey, WinSport Pastry Chef

Chefs are today’s rock stars and providing them with in-novative educational oppor-tunities allows them to be ambassadors of many tanta-lizing foods, including pulses .

The Alberta Pulse Growers Commission (APG) ramped up its efforts to encourage Albertans to grow, buy and eat more pulses in 2016 for International Year of Puls-es (IYP), a global initiative by the United Nations . This was especially evident in the area of chef outreach, said Debra McLennan, Food and Nutri-tion Coordinator for APG and

a Registered Dietitian .

“International Year of Pulses provides an ideal opportunity for the Alberta Pulse Growers to further engage with chefs, who can then share the many benefits of eating pulses with a wider audience,” McLen-nan explained . “My hope is that Alberta chefs will have a renewed interest in utilizing pulses on their menus and see that there are a variety of ways to add pulses to meet consumer needs .”

A major component of APG’s chef outreach during IYP is a

partnership with the Alber-ta Culinary Tourism Alliance (ACTA) to hold several din-ing events featuring beans, peas, lentils and chickpeas . APG provided sponsorship to ACTA to challenge chefs to use pulses in innovative ways at various ACTA culinary events taking place through-out 2016 .

“We can help grow the profile of pulses through the chefs because they’re influencers,” said ACTA Executive Direc-tor Tannis Baker, noting that ACTA challenged a chef at the April Juno Awards Ceremony

in Calgary to use pulses for the reception . “People are fol-lowing chefs, watching what they’re doing and wanting their recipes, so we are work-ing to create recipes, educate and really grow our own local industry in partnership with chefs . It’s a real win-win .”

A special event that APG and ACTA collaborated on was the Alberta Chef Pulse Develop-ment Day in June 2016 . Nine accomplished Alberta chefs from Calgary and Edmonton participated in a tour that included a crop walk to see pulses growing in the field

international year of pulses with inspiration from trend-setting chefs

CONSUMERS EMBRACE PULSES DURING

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and a tour of Alberta Agricul-ture and Forestry’s Food Pro-cessing Development Centre in Leduc . The chefs accept-ed the challenge to develop a pulse-based product that could possibly be scaled up at the centre for retail sale in the future .

Liana Robberecht, Executive Chef at WinSport in Calgary, created an “energy cookie” for pulse development day in partnership with pastry chef Melanie Hennessey . The cookie is made of chickpea flour, lentils, dried fruits, spic-es and cricket flour to boost the protein content even fur-ther .

“As WinSport caters to ath-letes, creating the energy cookie has been an exciting project in which we are able to offer a healthy yet deli-cious fuel for the many pro-fessional athletes who train here,” Robberecht said . “The pulse workshop is like a think tank—an exchange of ideas with some of the most talent-ed chefs around . Having the opportunity to share our reci-pes and ideas with each other will push the boundaries of our own comfort zone into an elevated pulse product . We

are thrilled to be part of this event .”

The partnership between APG and ACTA also includes a number of culinary events featuring pulses that are open to the public during In-ternational Year of Pulses . Visit albertaculinary .com for details .

For pulse producing nations like Canada, 2016 is a year full of events, activities and initiatives aimed at increas-ing consumer awareness and consumption of pulses . One of these initiatives involves inviting people around the globe to take the Pulse Pledge (pulsepledge .com) to include more pulses in their diets . Al-berta farmers grew pulses on 1 .8 million acres last year .

“IYP draws attention to im-portant global issues like nu-trition, food security and en-vironmental sustainability,” said Sylvan Lake-area farm-er Allison Ammeter, Chair of APG and the IYP Canada Committee . “This attention will ensure the Canadian in-dustry will continue to grow and keep Canadian pulses competitive at the farm level . It also emphasizes the im-

portant role that beans, peas, lentils and chickpeas play in contributing to healthy peo-ple and a healthy planet .”

Pulses are high in protein, iron and fibre, have a low gly-cemic index and ¾ cup (175 mL) counts as one Canada Food Guide serving as a meat alternative .

Many cultures around the world have known the nu-tritional value of pulses for thousands of years and in-corporated them into their diets . IYP is a good opportu-nity to remind people about this delicious and inexpensive source of protein .

“I’m really excited about In-ternational Year of the Puls-es, which I feel is an exciting opportunity to give pulses the long deserved spotlight this highly nutritious food deserves,” Robberecht said . “Pulses have long been over-shadowed by other proteins and vegetables, but now it’s becoming a first-choice for grocery shoppers and chefs alike . I have been a long-time admirer of all pulses, especial-ly lentils and chickpeas, which are often found in many of the dishes I create at WinSport .”

APG’s relationship with chefs blossomed in 2016, but the seed was planted many years ago . The commission regular-ly engages with student chefs through the Toque Demagny student cooking competition and dinner, which takes place each November at NAIT . Toque Demagny is one of Ed-monton’s premiere culinary events, featuring the talents of NAIT’s culinary arts stu-dents and a number of Alber-ta food products, including pulses . APG has sponsored this student cooking compe-tition for several years . The student teams use pulses in their creations and scholar-ships are awarded in a variety of categories .

Chef outreach is also ac-complished through APG’s membership in Taste Alber-ta, which works to tell the Alberta food story creatively so that Albertans understand that eating local supports local economies . Pulses are highlighted at events such as Christmas in November at Jasper Park Lodge and the Prairie on a Plate dining se-ries .

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 35

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NUTRITION

Everyone is talking about In-ternational Year of Pulses, es-pecially the health benefits of eating pulses . Pulses contrib-ute to bowel health/regularity and satiety, as well as reduce post-prandial glycemia and cholesterol levels . We talk a lot about these health ben-efits, but do we have the re-search to back up the claims? I’m happy to report that we do in some areas, but we need more research in other areas of pulse nutrition .

Dietary Pulses and Cardiovascular Disease

There is a growing body of ev-idence that shows eating 130 g (1/2 to 3/4 cup) of pulses daily can lead to a reduction in LDL cholesterol (“bad cho-lesterol”) and total cholester-ol levels . This decrease can lower the risk of heart attack and stroke . This amount is equivalent to one meat and alternative serving, according to Health Canada’s Healthy Eating with Canada’s Food Guide . The current evidence is showing that bean con-sumption appears to have a consistent beneficial effect on total and LDL cholesterol levels, but only a moderate effect on triglycerides and HDL cholesterol (“good cho-lesterol”) . Further research is needed to provide more strength to the information that we currently have and to find out what the component is in beans/pulses that pro-

vides this effect.

Pulses and Diabetes

Pulses are a well-known low glycemic index food . Re-search with pulses and their effect on people with diabe-tes has shown a reduced rise in blood sugar levels after a meal when 1 cup (250 mL) cooked/canned pulses are eaten in place of low fibre starchy foods . Much of this research has focused on len-tils and beans, but all of the pulses have shown this pos-itive effect on blood sugar levels after a meal . The pulse portion size of 1 cup (250 mL) was used as this provides the same amount of available carbohydrates as the other test foods in the studies, but this amount could be a barri-er to people including pulses in their diet to improve their diabetic control . Future areas to research include wheth-er this same positive is seen with a smaller portion size and with pulse ingredients like the flours and if process-ing has any effect on the gly-cemic response . It would also be interesting to find out if the same effects are seen in people who do not have dia-betes .

Pulses and Other Health Effects

There are only a few stud-ies looking at the effects of pulses on satiety and appe-tite and the potential pulses

could have for weight con-trol . Short-term studies have shown decreased hunger and increased satiety 2-4 hours after eating pulses when the amount of calories is con-trolled between the pulse containing meal and the regular control meal . There is some evidence from lon-ger-term studies that found pulses had a positive effect on weight loss when the ca-loric intake is also controlled . Again, more research is need-ed to determine the mecha-nisms in pulses that have this effect on appetite, satiety and potentially weight control .

Gut health is another interest-ing area of research for puls-es. Insoluble fibre improves colon health and pulses have high amounts of insoluble fibre as well as antioxidants that could play a role in pro-moting gut health . Since there aren’t very many stud-ies looking at the role that pulses can have in gut health, more research is required be-fore any health claims can be made .

Summary

Ultimately, to be able to make health claims about pulses, more research is needed in the areas of active components in pulses, if the effects are the same with all the pulses and pulse ingredients and if the effects are the same with dif-ferent intakes of pulses . What

we do know is that it only takes 1/2 cup of pulses to provide meaningful amounts of important nutrients like fi-bre, protein, folate, iron, mag-nesium, potassium

and zinc, and that is a mes-sage that we can continue to share with consumers and health professionals alike!

Looking for pulse recipe inspi-ration? Check out the Alberta Pulse website www .pulse .ab .ca or the International Year of Pulses recipe website www .pulses .org for great ways to use pulses everyday!

Have you got a question about pulse nutrition? I would love to hear from you! You can contact me at debramc@pulse .ab .ca or (780) 986-9398 ext . 6 .

Debra McLennan, RDAPG Food & Nutrition Coordinator

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Ingredients2 cups (500 mL) pineapple juice1 can (400 mL) light coconut milk½ cup (125 mL) mashed ripe banana1 ½ cups (375 mL) crushed ice½ cup (125 mL) vanilla Greek yogurt, fat free2 Tbsp (30 mL) honey1 Tbsp (15 mL) fresh lime juice1 cup (250 mL) cooked white beans, rinsed well

pina colada white bean smoothie

Directions1 . Place all ingredients into a blender and puree

until smooth .2 . Pour into glasses, garnish with a slice of lime

and serve immediately .

A delicious and nutritious summer refresher that can be made with Great Northern, navy, pinto or any other white bean . This is one of many gluten-free recipes featured in the new Cooking with Pulses: Beans, Peas, Lentils & Chickpeas recipe book available through Alberta Pulse Growers .

Note: The sweetness, acidity and texture can be adjusted by adding more or less of the honey, banana, lime juice and ice . Be sure to rinse the cooked beans under water to keep their flavour neutral . If the smoothie sits for a long period of time, it will separate . If this occurs, blend it quickly before serving .

Nutrition InformationPer 1 cup (250 mL) serving

Calories 179 kcalTotal Fat 6 gSaturated Fat 3 gCholesterol 1 mgCarbohydrates 28 gFibre 3 .8 gSugar 17 gProtein 6 gSodium 8 mgPotassium 424 mg

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