Pulse sector welcomes new funding

Federal funding announced last week will help Pulse Canada reach its goal to have 25 percent of production in new markets or uses by 2025, the organization says.

Federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced nearly $4.2 million for Pulse Canada and about $128,000 for the Canadian Special Crops Association.

About $2.3 million will be used for the 25 by 2025 strategy.

Julianne Curran, vice-president of market innovation at Pulse Canada, said the strategy is customized for peas, beans and lentils based on the volumes grown.

For peas, the plan is to leverage the growth in pea protein fractionation and processing.

“There’s a lot more volume of those ingredients that can be used in not only plant-based products but things like bakery and even processed meats,” she said.

The target is 1.1 million tonnes of new processing and Curran said Pulse Canada is well on its way to meeting that.

The strategy also includes promoting the sustainability of Canadian peas to food manufacturers and ingredient users and providing technical support.

Increasing domestic consumption of beans by 75,000 tonnes is the target for that crop.

“That’s ambitious but it’s not out of the question that we could meet that because there is so much opportunity here with consumers looking for whole, nutritious, healthy, plant-based options,” Curran said.

There is also a plan to increase fractionation and milling of fababeans, although production is still small in Canada.

The lentil strategy focuses on increasing use in the food service sector, particularly in the United States, but also in Europe, Curran said.

“Another key piece is, are the formats of lentils that are available to food service sector, are they appropriate or can we enhance the offering so that they’re easier to use in food service applications.”

The lentil target is 625,000 tonnes of new demand.

“I think the one crop that we do have a lot more work and effort to put into is on lentils, because it’s not as well known as the other pulses like beans and chickpeas when it comes to whole consumption and there’s not a lot of processing activity when it comes to ingredients,” said Curran.

Increasing the demand for all pulse flours is also key.

The Ag Transport Coalition will get $1.5 million for its work over the next two years. Pulse Canada applied for the money on behalf of its six other partners.

“The money goes to pay for the data that ATC uses in terms of its monitoring and third party oversight that the value chain sees as necessary to monitor real time performance,” said Jeff English, vice-president of communications.

Another $430,000 is earmarked to help resolve market access issues.

The CSCA will use $127,944 for international opportunities.

The investment comes through the federal AgriMarketing program for industry-led promotional work.

“This announcement is win-win,” said Bibeau. “On the one hand we are expanding markets for Canadian-made protein products, and on the other hand we are encouraging farmers to plant more pulses which are a sustainable solution to soil and crop management.”