Pulse production in the United States is growing at a furious pace.
Growers harvested 711,000 tonnes of peas, lentils and chickpeas in 2004, nearly double what was grown one year earlier.
Much of the expansion can be attributed to improved yields but there was also a 45 percent increase in seeded acreage of the three pulses covered under the U.S. farm bill.
Green peas accounted for most of the growth, sprouting up to 412,791 tonnes from 183,376 tonnes in 2003.
Perhaps a more worrisome development for Canadian pulse farmers is the 67 percent increase in U.S. production of lentils, a crop that has been a leading income generator for many producers north of the border.
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Canadian pulse officials contend the growth in U.S. pulse acreage has been artificially inflated by loan deficiency payments, but that logic doesn’t hold true for lentils, a crop that triggered only one payment back in the first week of the 2002 farm bill.
“The growers are reacting to market demand,” said Eric Bartch, executive director of the North Dakota Dry Pea and Lentil Association.
With prices reaching 20 cents US per pound this spring, American growers were able to pencil out good profits. They are also becoming more aware of the rotational benefits of pulses.
“I really, truly believe the loan program hasn’t had a whole lot of weight in what their planting decisions have been,” said Bartch.
Saskatchewan Pulse Growers chair Shawn Buhr begs to differ. Having lentils covered under the farm bill removes the risk of a market crash, which encourages American growers to plant the crop regardless of whether it has triggered a payment in the past.
“The farm bill is having an impact; it’s just not having a cash impact,” he said.
Buhr is nervous future growth in U.S. lentil production could threaten Canadian exports, although at 185,249 tonnes it is still small compared to Canada’s crop, which was an estimated 938,000 tonnes this fall.
One trend that will likely contribute to the continued growth of the U.S. lentil industry is the shift in production from the Pacific Northwest to the Northern Plains.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, seeded acreage of the crop remained static in Idaho and Washington in 2004, while it rose by 82 percent and 160 percent respectively in North Dakota and Montana where pulses traditionally deliver higher yields.
Buhr predicts most of the expansion will happen in small and medium-sized lentils, not in the large green class favoured by many Canadian growers.
That’s because the loan rate of $11.72 US per hundredweight for No. 3 grade crop applies to all classes of lentils so growers will be inclined to seed the higher-yielding small and medium-sized varieties.
In 2002, the majority of North Dakota’s crop was seeded to Richlea, a medium-sized lentil, but Bartch doesn’t put too much faith in Buhr’s line of thinking. He said farmers will plant whatever the market dictates, including large green lentils.
