TORONTO – Canada has had tremendous success selling pulse crops to 155 countries around the world but when it comes to its own backyard, marketing efforts have been uninspiring, officials say.
Pulse Canada intends to change that by spending millions of dollars devising a strategy to crack the lucrative North American market.
Although details have yet to be finalized, the group has received the go-ahead to start spending $3.3 million in federal government money on the new pulse innovation project, Pulse Canada chief executive officer Gord Bacon told 262 delegates attending the Canadian Special Crops Association’s 2005 annual convention.
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The funding, which will be doled out over the next three years, nearly doubles the association’s annual budget. It comes from the science and innovation pillar of the agricultural policy framework.
It will be spent on developing a plan to boost pulse sales in Canada and the United States, two nations that turn up their noses at peas, lentils, chickpeas and beans.
“Canada’s consumption is virtually non-existent relative to world averages,” said Bacon, adding that statistics south of the border are not much better.
He said Canada is facing stiff competition in traditional pulse markets from exporters such as China and Eastern Europe and needs to start cultivating a new market that will pay top dollar for superior quality product.
“If Canada’s strategy is to be competitive with the lowest cost products in the world, we’re going to lose,” he told CSCA delegates in Toronto.
The plan is to sell North Americans on the health benefits of pulses, generating a consumer demand to incorporate peas, lentils, chickpeas and beans into food they are familiar with.
Bacon envisions whole pulses being added to cereals and pulse flour being used as an ingredient in bread, crackers and pasta.
Companies are already doing this. Barilla, the world’s largest pasta manufacturer, is using lentil and chickpea flour in its Barilla Plus line of noodles, which is marketed as pasta that is rich in protein and fibre.
John Dean, manager of market and technical development with Agricore United, thinks Pulse Canada is on the right track with its plan. Health and wellness has become a key factor in food purchase decisions.
“It’s huge for the consumer and it’s huge for governments,” he told delegates.
North Americans are in need of a drastic dietary change. In the last 20 years obesity has doubled in adults and tripled in children.
“The statistics are scary,” Dean said.
That unsettling trend is driving Frito Lay to produce zero trans fat potato chips and General Mills to switch to using only whole grain ingredients in its more than 50 brands of cereals.
“The food manufacturers really are getting on the bandwagon,” Dean said.
Heinz has “repositioned the humble baked bean” in the United Kingdom as a high fibre health food. Riding on the success of its new Mean Beanz brand, the company has experienced a 17 percent per month boost in bean sales.
“Brits have gone batty for beans,” Dean said.
Latest diet craze
The latest craze replacing the Atkins low carbohydrate diet is low glycemic index food. The GI index measures the rate at which glucose is produced in the body after ingesting starchy food. Lentils and beans have a GI index that is near the bottom of the pack, which is a good thing.
Another positive development for the pulse industry is the new U.S. dietary guideline that advises people to eat three cups of legumes per week, which represents a 250 percent increase in consumption for men and a 120 percent boost for women.
“This is a huge opportunity for marketing legumes into the North American market,” said Dean.
Bacon said provincial grower groups have indicated they are ready to commit resources to the new strategy once it is developed.
Pulse Canada has hired two people to start working on the three-year project.
