Limagrain may have a limited release of its new lentil varieties this fall for 2025 planting, but a larger portion of the commercial release will happen in fall 2025.  |  File photo

Pulse grower-funded lentils near release date

Limagrain and Saskatchewan Pulse Growers say their new red lentil varieties will offer ‘significant yield improvement’

LANGHAM, Sask. — Saskatchewan Pulse Growers’ new breeding partner is poised to release its first varieties. Limagrain has small red lentil varieties ready for commercialization, Benzon Lorenzana, the company’s head of cereals and pulse research for North America, said during the Ag in Motion show. They will offer “significant yield improvement” for Canada’s lentil growers, […] Read more


The writers argue that a pulse research agreement between Saskatchewan Pulse Growers and Limagrain that includes variety use agreements threatens the concept of farm-saved seed.  |  File photo

VUA deal undermines farmer control

The recent SaskPulse annual general meeting had a lively debate on the resolution opposing variety use agreements on varieties developed using check-off funds. VUAs are contracts that farmers must sign when they buy certain new varieties, forcing them to pay an annual fee to the seed company if they want to plant farm-saved seed in […] Read more

While all the crop commissions do commendable work, SPG was the first checkoff established in the province, and the organization has played a huge role in Saskatchewan becoming a world leader in pulse crops — lentils and field peas and to a lesser extent chickpeas. | File photo

Variety use agreements prompt spirited debate

At the Jan. 9 annual meeting of Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, a resolution on variety use agreements, sometimes referred to as trailing royalties, received a great deal of debate culminating in a very close vote. While all the crop commissions do commendable work, SPG was the first checkoff established in the province, and the organization has […] Read more


Saskatchewan Pulse Growers signed a research funding agreement with Limagrain in 2022 that includes variety use agreements. The deal came under fire at the group’s recent annual meeting. | File photo

Pulse growers want trailing royalty decision re-opened

Debate becomes heated as farmers question funding agreement with Limagrain that includes variety use agreements

SASKATOON — A resolution that would have undermined Saskatchewan Pulse Growers’ new breeding agreement with Limagrain was narrowly defeated at the organization’s annual general meeting. It called for pulse varieties funded by SaskPulse levy payers to have no variety use agreements (VUAs). The resolution submitted by the National Farmers Union received a 47 percent yes […] Read more

Close-up of a pea plant in bloom.

Pulse breeders get serious about tackling root rot problem

A joint Limagrain-Saskatchewan Pulse Growers program is in full swing as it searches for a solution to aphanomyces

In the latest episode of Saskatchewan Pulse Growers' Pulse of the Prairies podcast, Jason Reinheimer of Limagrain said the French company is combining the best-known sources of resistance from North America and Europe to combat the devastating root rot disease.