Europe: Significantly boost pulse production

Pulse production in the European Union is expected to grow at a steady clip over the next decade, reducing the need for imports, according to two industry officials.

Cor Hage, trader with AGT Foods Europe, said EU pulse production is expected to expand to 6.3 million tonnes by 2030, up from about 4.5 million tonnes in 2020.

The main growth will be in chickpeas, lentils and fababeans, he told delegates attending a recent Global Pulse Confederation webinar.

In the short-term, he is forecasting an increase in pulse imports due to a disappointing 2021 harvest.

But in the long-term he believes imports will fall as the EU becomes more self-reliant in the production of pulses.

“We are at the starting point of considerable change in our agriculture industry,” said Hage.

The main policy driver of that change is the Farm to Fork Strategy, which is at the heart of the European Green Deal. The strategy is aimed at making the EU’s agriculture sector more sustainable.

Consumers are becoming conscious of the heavy carbon footprint of importing food from other regions of the world.

“There is an increased interest for EU grown pulses that will continue,” he said.

Greg Bartley, director of crop protection and crop quality at Pulse Canada, said the EU’s shifting policy direction presents both opportunities and challenges for Canadian farmers and exporters.

The association believes Canadian pulses are a good fit with most sustainability initiatives.

“We’d be willing to put Canadian pulse production up against anywhere in the world,” he said.

Bartley thinks Canadian pulses will still be recognized as viable sustainable alternatives to EU pulses despite the transportation differences due to some of the practices employed by Canadian farmers, such as no-till farming.

What worries Pulse Canada are some of the high-level targets set out in the EU’s new strategy, in particular the goal to reduce pesticide use by 50 percent by 2030.

“If they’re going to take tools away from their farmers, the ability to protect their crops, that poses a significant challenge to expanding pulse production in the EU,” he said.

It would also have trickle-down effects for Canadian farmers if the EU establishes stricter maximum residue limits on imported product.

A good case in point is glyphosate, which is approved in the EU until Dec. 15, 2022. Hage believes it will not be renewed by regulators and the chemical will effectively be banned.

“It’s in the cards. It will go that way without a single doubt,” he said.

That will be followed by the EU implementing stricter maximum residue limits on imported products.

“That may take a few years more,” said Hage.

Bartley isn’t convinced that a ban is a slam dunk. He said early indications suggest that European regulators will come in line with other jurisdictions and deem the chemical safe for use but the situation warrants watching.

“We do take what the EU is doing very seriously and we hope that the EU is a market that we can continue to service in the long-run,” he said.

The EU imported 100,000 tonnes of Canadian lentils and 90,000 tonnes of Canadian dry beans in 2020, making it one of the top customers for both commodities.

Hage said pulse production in the EU is expected to grow, while dairy and meat production will contract as the EU moves to what it considers more sustainable forms of protein production.

EU consumers are expected to increase pulse consumption by 106 grams per person per week while decreasing meat intake by 192 grams by 2030.

Alex Cherki, chief executive officer of CIACAM, a French pulse processing firm, said France is implementing a $144 million Protein Plant 2030 strategy aimed at reducing pulse imports by increasing domestic production.

French green lentils are typically the country’s biggest pulse crop. Farmers overproduced the crop in 2019, harvesting 45,000 tonnes.

That has weighed down acres the past two years. In 2021, France experienced poor growing conditions and harvested a mere 20,000 tonnes of “very bad quality” lentils.

Chickpeas are the other main pulse crop produced in the country, with 23,000 tonnes of production in 2021. It produces seven- to nine-millimetre chickpeas but in the next couple years will be switching to 10 to 12 mm. product.

There isn’t much of an export market for French green lentils but the country’s chickpeas are desirable and are sent to markets like Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy.

France imports about 75,000 tonnes of pulses per year, mostly comprising lentils and beans from markets like Canada. The target is to decrease that volume to 50,000 tonnes by 2030.