At least one million Saskatchewan acres will be seeded to lentils in 1999, a first for the province.
This should come as no surprise in a country now established as the leading exporter of green lentils, said Ray McVicar, crop development specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture.
“Of greater significance is the province’s diversification into red lentils, a crop that represents one-half of the world trade in lentil,” McVicar said.
“Last year, 150,000 Saskatchewan acres were seeded to red lentil, and probably 200,000 acres will be seeded in 1999. This is one-fifth of the lentil production in this province.
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“This form of crop diversification is excellent. Because we’re such a large exporter of green lentil we run the risk of overproducing the market by growing too much. Diversification into red lentil production reduces that risk.”
Other advantages of growing red lentils are the established world markets for the crop, and the fact that a high percentage of red lentils are processed and split in Saskatchewan.
Agronomically, red lentils are much like green lentils, said McVicar. More information on lentil agronomics is available in the agriculture department’s FarmFact Lentil in Saskatchewan, which was revised in December.
It may be found at all Saskatchewan Rural Service Centres and in Saskatchewan Agriculture’s website www.agr.gov.sk.ca/saf/ under Production, then Special Crops.
McVicar said red lentils have not been grown much on the Prairies because of the lack of suitable varieties. The two main varieties are CDC Redwing, developed by the Crop Development Centre, University of Saskatchewan, and Crimson, an unregistered red lentil developed in the United States. Both grow well in Saskatchewan and new varieties will soon be available.
