Alberta Pulse Growers says it has what it takes to rival Saskatchewan’s pulse processing sector.
A “dramatic shift” in pea and lentil shipments from the East Coast of Canada to west coast ports has given Alberta a competitive advantage over its neighbour, according to a report commissioned by the grower group.
In 1997, more containers of peas and lentils moved through Montreal than Vancouver. Three years later it was a different story. West coast ports handled 19,293 containers of pulses in 2000, which was 2 1/2 times more than the 7,623 that moved through Montreal.
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Big pulse consuming countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as growing markets in China and South America, are causing the shift because they are better served from Vancouver.
“Because more product is moving out of the West Coast all the time, the advantages in transportation are greater in Alberta,” said Janette McDonald, executive director of Alberta Pulse Growers.
Bulk freight rates to Vancouver from Calgary were $23.99 per tonne at the time the report was written last summer, compared to $35.68 out of Saskatoon. Intermodal rates for a 48-foot container were $1,070 per unit from a Calgary origin versus $1,620 from Saskatoon.
Those differences will grow as freight rates rise over time, said the report’s authors.
Another Alberta advantage is its well-developed feedlot industry. Close to 70 percent of the country’s cattle are fed in the province, making it the highest-priced market for feed grains and screenings in the West.
Screenings are a byproduct and a “vital part” of the revenue generated from pulse cleaning operations, the report said.
If Alberta decides to capitalize on its advantages and starts expanding its processing sector, it still has a long way to go to catch Saskatchewan, which is home to an estimated 136 special crops processors.
Most pulse crops processed for export in Alberta are handled by local seed cleaning plants acting as toll processors for larger grain companies.
According to the report, only 15 of these types of plants operate in the province. Grain companies like AgPro and Louis Dreyfus also handle pulses, but they mainly ship it out in bulk to be cleaned at export position.
“There is no doubt that we skipped that ’80s and ’90s phenomenon that happened in Saskatchewan where you’ve got these small family-owned seed cleaning plants turned into pulse processors,” said McDonald.
She has no answer for why that happened except that Saskatchewan has about six times as much acreage devoted to pulses.
But McDonald feels Alberta is now poised to expand and said the growth will be in larger facilities, those capable of spotting 25, 50 or 100 rail cars and taking advantage of freight incentives.
She said there are four or five groups of farmers interested in renovating retired elevators or building new plants at certain strategic locations.
However, their enthusiasm has been tempered by last year’s drought.
“The urgency might be off just because we didn’t have a crop,” said McDonald.
