Often it seems the investment in research and development is out of step with what the marketplace is suggesting.
But the two are not particularly related if one steps back and takes a look at things as a larger picture.
Take for example a particular farm crop, in this case the basket of pulse crops Canadian Prairie farmers grow.
Looking at the one-year picture of pulse production and we see that the cares dedicated to pulses in 2018 are anticipated to decline over 2017, which was already trending lower. In fact, the reduction in acres is expected to be a rather significant one.
Total area for lentils and peas, the primary pulses grown here, had actually grown in recent years having climbed to a little more than 10 million acres in 2016, up some four million from just three years earlier. The growth was one of the shining examples of diversifying the cropping rotation of the region, and focusing on a significantly different market from cereal grains, and oilseeds.
The total area declined to about 8.5 million acres 鈥� 4.4 million for lentils and 4.1 million for peas 鈥� in 2017, although that was still the second largest ever.
Market signals are suggesting the claw back in acres will continue this year, because neither prices nor demand are expected to improve to push farmers back to more typical acreages of the crops.
But markets are cyclical, which means cropped acres ebb and flow too.
Those cycles are not something which research can typically focus much attention on, as work carried out today in terms of developing new varieties ultimately lead to new cropping options a number of years down the road.
That is the same scenario when talking about food service market research and development projects that will benefit farmers and processors in the pulse sector.
Speaking recently at a meeting with Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence MacAulay announced an investment of over $575,000 to Pulse Canada for food service market research and development projects
Under the Growing Forward 2, AgriMarketing Program, Pulse Canada will receive $178,500 to explore new markets for pulses and pulse ingredients in China, Eastern Asia, the United States and Canada. An additional investment of $221,680 under the same program will go towards a project that focuses on promoting pulses to the Canadian foodservice industry.
An investment of $175,721 was also provided to Pulse Canada through the Growing Forward 2, AgriInnovation Program, towards pulse innovation in the Chinese market. The project is expected to help the industry expand the use of pulses in a wide range of Chinese foods and investigate the health benefits of eating pulse snacks.
Not surprisingly Lee Moats, Chair, Pulse Canada Board of Directors was happy with the announcement.
鈥淐ollaboration between the Government of Canada and Pulse Canada will help the pulse industry address our challenges and capture the opportunities that pulses offer to farmers and consumers worldwide,鈥� he stated in a prepared release.
The money of course is designed to build toward the future.
Canadian pulse exports are already neared $3.4 billion in 2017, noted the release. It is hoped by supporting the continued growth of the sector it can be a part of the Government of Canada鈥檚 trade target of growing agriculture and food exports to $75 billion by 2025.
The short term outlook for pulses may not be bright enough to spur an acreage increase, but dedicating research dollars can help build the sector in the years ahead.
Calvin Daniels is Editor with Yorkton This Week
