Chickpeas saw the largest projected production decline, dropping 41.5 per cent from the 2021-22 marketing year to 621,000 tonnes this year, Australia’s smallest domestic chickpea crop since 2019-20. Projected chickpea area also declined, falling by 31.7 per cent from the year before to 423,000 hectares, the smallest area since 2019-20.

Lupin bean production in 2022-23 is forecast to decline by 26.9 per cent to 700,000 tonnes, also the lowest total in three years. The estimated seeded area for lupins was cut by 19.5 per cent to 395,000 hectares, the smallest area since 2013-14.

Faba bean production is expected to be lower for the second straight year, 20.4 per cent from last year to be exact, at 463,000 tonnes. However, the seeded area is only estimated to be 6.2 per cent less than in 2021-22.

Meanwhile, lentils are set to become the highest producing winter pulse crop in Australia for 2022-23 at 924,000 tonnes, a 7.6 per cent increase from the previous year and a record amount for winter. There is also a projected 9.7 per cent increase in seeded area from 2021-22 at 576,000 hectares, the largest seeded area ever in the country.

The winter field pea harvest is projected to be 3.1 per cent larger than last year’s at 269,000 tonnes, while 205,000 hectares were planted for a 6.8 per cent increase.

Australia’s total winter crop production for 2022-23 is forecast to be the fourth-highest on record at 55.5 million tonnes with above average yield potentials for all states.

— Adam Peleshaty reports for MarketsFarm from Stonewall, Man.

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About four per cent of the human population can’t make the most of them because of two compounds they contain, vicine and convicine. These anti-nutrients prevent those people from efficiently absorbing the beans and may cause mild illness.

One Canadian seed company better known for its hemp genetics is tackling this challenge. Verve Seed Solutions highlighted its work at a recent field day at the Parkland Crop Diversification Centre in Roblin.

Jeff Kostuik, Verve’s general manager, said the 1142-16 variety has garnered attention in trials over the past few years.

“What the market is looking for is a low vicine, low convicine, zero tannin variety more suitable for human consumption in a plant-based protein,” he said. “Faba beans are very high in protein and this variety in particular.”

The variety is a white-flowered low vicine/convicine (LVC) strain that Saskatchewan Pulse Growers has grown in test plots for three years. Data shows a yield 103 percent greater when compared to Snowbird, although time to maturity was two days longer.

Although 1142 is an earlier maturing variety, it can actually come in late. It has indeterminate growth so it doesn’t stop producing at a fixed point.

“As long as you’re getting rains in the fall and good weather, it will keep flowering,” Kostuik said. “If you don’t have a killing frost by Sept. 15, you may start desiccating or swathing.”

Another feature is seed size, which is 358 grams per 1,000 kernels, a full 76 per cent smaller than Snowbird. The smaller seed makes a difference at seeding and harvest time.

“The breeding objective has been a lot smaller seed,” Kostuik said. “If you remember back about 15-20 years ago, the seed was the size of your thumb and if you’re seeding with an air seeder or any drill mechanism, it could be very difficult to get that product down through the hose without plugging it.”

Protein levels come in at 27 per cent. This in combination with the LVC ratings and zero tannin give it good market potential for both human and animal consumption. Cattle are not as sensitive as hogs so they can tolerate the tannin varieties.

“With hogs, you could only put about 10 or 15 per cent of faba bean in the ration because hogs did not like that tannin,”” Kostuik said. “Having non-tannin, you can put whatever you want in the ration and have that high protein value.”

With other monogastrics — such as humans — the LVC varieties offer tremendous market potential in today’s world.

“We’re working with a company called Ingredion out of Vanscoy, Saskatchewan, and what they’re looking at is plant-based protein,” Kostuik said. “The tannin itself has a flavour component that some people liked but, for a plant-based protein, they want a neutral flavour that they can add to your Impossible Burger or whatever else they can put it.”

To get that neutral flavour, breeders developed tannin-free strains and managed to remove the vicine and covicine as well. Although most people can digest faba bean products, a select number are sensitive to these compounds and the problems can be serious. Some are unable to produce a certain enzyme so eating products based on faba beans can cause favism. This leads to a breakdown in red blood cells and is worse in infants and children.

“The vicine/convicine is almost like a lactose intolerance that some people have,” Kostuik said. “Some people, some certain per cent of the population will get sick, not violently sick, but they will get ill from eating faba beans.”

Farmers will also like the crop’s nitrogen fixing capability. As a card-carrying member of family fabaceae, the faba bean has root nodules containing nitrogen fixing bacteria and they’re pretty good at it.

“I would be amiss to not mention that faba bean is the strongest nitrogen fixing annual plant that we have,” Kostuik said. “Everybody knows you have to use the proper rhizobia to inoculate with and with the fertilizer prices where they’re at, it’s a very, very good crop for the rotation.”

A legume crop that can feed itself has extra agronomic value beyond its own season. On top of that, with regulators eyeing nitrous oxide emissions from fertilizer, faba beans may present a workable way to feed residual nitrogen for the following year.

“Last year I had about a 40- to 50-pound reserve of nitrogen in the soil produced by the faba bean plant,” Kostuik said. “I had hemp grown on faba bean stubble, I had hemp grown on canola stubble and wheat stubble. Faba beans, by far, had the most lush growth.”

Kostuik also said this stand did well in this year’s rain. Like other strains of faba bean, 1142-16 is a cool season crop that likes moisture.

Additionally, it doesn’t seem badly affected by aphanomyces.

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Laura Schmidt, a production specialist and agronomist for Manitoba Pulse & Soybean Growers (MPSG), said while pulse crops are in various stages of development, many are maturing as expected while some are still vulnerable.

“For field peas, we’re anywhere from the flat pod stage to the full pod stages. Some of those earlier seeded fields are starting to mature. For the later seeded peas that are just entering those early podded stages, right now we are looking for pea aphids,” Schmidt said, adding that root rot is showing up in fields with saturated soils.

Dry beans are ranging between the R3 and R5 development stages and growing well despite the appearance of white mold, according to Schmidt.

“We do have moisture to fill pods, so things are looking good for dry bean development right now,” she said. “For fababeans, we’re also at full pod. We’re really taking advantage of the moisture this year with the fababeans. They are really enjoying that, other than the hot temperatures.”

Schmidt mentioned that fababeans have really performed well despite fewer acres due to late seeding. But dry pea conditions are inconsistent.

“(They’re just) very variable depending on your seeding date, depending on how well drained the field is in terms if you’re seeing root rots pop up. The frequency of peas in the rotation comes into play too,” she explained. “But all in all, things are looking pretty good for the pulses so far.”

Both ascochyta and mycosphaerella blight are threatening to damage dry peas, especially later seeded crops, while sclerotinia is also a threat to pulses despite a lower presence this year. Grasshoppers are also damaging pulse crops, according to Schmidt.

VIDEO: Spray-timing a fungicide for mycosphaerella blight in peas
VIDEO: Mitigating sclerotinia in oilseed crops

The possibility of higher temperatures in August can also have a damaging effect to dry peas and fababeans.

“We’re trying to avoid flowering in those really hot temperatures,” she said. “There were signs of flower blasting (a few weeks ago) where those flowers have turned brown and kind of shriveled, but it looks like they’ve rebounded from that.

“We do have good moisture for pod filling. Rains in August normally play a bigger role for pod filling in dry beans and soybeans.”

Schmidt added that the ideal growing conditions for pulse crops this August depend on the stage in their development.

“Normally we want dry weather, hot days for peas to mature. But at the same time, we do want that moisture to fill the pods. To say what would be ideal is hard to say,” she said.

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Only lentils saw an increase, rising slightly by 0.4 per cent from 2021-22 to now 4.32 million. Meanwhile, dry peas fell 11.8 per cent at 3.37 million aces, with edible beans down 32.1 per cent at 297,000.

Chickpeas pulled back 4.2 per cent at 177,800 acres and fababeans dropped 45.7 per cent at 72,300.

However, Mike Jubinville of MarketsFarm Pro stressed a notable element in the StatCan surveys: their timing meant the numbers provided by farmers are what they hoped to plant in 2022 and may not be what they actually seeded.

“We will not know further acreage-loss changes until December, but I believe that total number is roughly 1.5 million acres,” Jubinville said.

He spread that 1.5 million mostly between spring wheat and canola each, accounting for 500,000 acres, and expects dry peas to lose another 100,000. Pulses such as lentils and chickpeas were seeded in a timely fashion, so he’s not expecting any notable changes for those.

Other pulses, such as fababeans and edible beans, may have lost some planted acres due to the soggy soil conditions throughout the Red River Valley in Manitoba, he said.

That said, he pointed to another factor on which the markets will focus.

“The market sentiment will be all about yields, getting bigger or smaller than previous ideas,” he said.

— Glen Hallick reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.

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Manitoba is the last Prairie province to get the pest, but the province’s bug experts and pulse specialists know it’s lurking. Not only that, according to Laura Schmidt, production specialist with the Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers (MPSG), but it’s spreading.

“Last year, in the fall time, sweeping fababean fields as well as just checking pea regrowth, we were able to find quite a few adult pea leaf weevils heading into the winter — more than we were expecting,” she said.

“They’ve really expanded their range in Manitoba. We were finding them as far east as Holland and Gladstone, where previously we’d really only found them in Dauphin and Swan River.”

Why it matters: The history of pea leaf weevil in Manitoba is only a few years old, but long-term weather averages suggest that the province might provide fertile ground for the pest to become established.

The MPSG is calling producers to volunteer their pea and fababean fields for monitoring. Agronomists from the organization have teamed up with those from Manitoba Agriculture and several private firms to administer the survey.

Schmidt noted that the data will then inform their knowledge on the scope and range of Manitoba’s pea leaf weevil problems, as well as give better information for producers trying to decide if a seed treatment needs to be added into their future plans.

Surveys are fairly quick, she noted, since signs are mostly noted along the field edge.

About 15 to 20 fields are currently being monitored.

Recent problem

The weevil first encroached on Manitoba in 2019.

First sightings of pea leaf weevil were found in the northwest when a late-season scouting agronomist spotted weevil adults, according to provincial entomologist John Gavloski.

Reports sparked the first official surveys of pea leaf weevil. Over the next years, pit fall traps found additional evidence of the insect in the northwest.

“We probably, for a while, had it without even realizing we had it,” Gavloski said.

The sightings toppled Manitoba’s status as the last remaining Prairie province where pea leaf weevil had not yet spread. The pest had previously cropped up in Alberta, starting in 2000. By 2007, entomologists in Saskatchewan had also confirmed the presence of the weevil.

Manitoba may, however, also be the friendliest habitat for the pest.

Gavloski pointed to a model developed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, which outlined the survivability of pea leaf weevil based on a region’s historical weather. That model, he noted, suggested that the weevils fared better in areas with more historical precipitation and soil moisture.

“The expectation is that they should survive quite well here,” Gavloski said. “Probably, we’ll see populations go up and down based on both weather and, potentially, natural enemies.”

Associated with that, he noted, the province’s recent spate of dry years likely helped suppress weevil levels for the last few seasons.

Control challenges

One issue, Gavloski noted, is the inherent trickiness of pea leaf weevil control.

Although leaf notching is a sure sign of the weevil, economic damage to a crop happens earlier in the insect’s life cycle, below ground and out of reach of foliar application. Pea leaf weevil larvae feed on root nodules, therefore depriving plants of nitrogen.

Even looking at proactive control for future seasons, Gavloski said, seed treatment options on the market are imperfect.

“They do help somewhat, but they’re not completely effective,” he said.

Foliar control of adults, meanwhile, hits issues because of multiple waves of migration into the field and variations in spring emergence, Schmidt said.

Adult weevil sightings will bookend the growing season, according to Gavloski. The insects overwinter as adults, emerging to reinfest a field come spring.

Weather, again, will be a “driving factor” in how well the levels of fall adults will translate into a pea leaf weevil problem the following year, Gavloski said.

“If we get a series of dry years, like we’ve had, that could help keep the populations subeconomic and a bit lower. If they get a bit of more favourable years, that could help build populations up,” he said.

That has played out in pea leaf weevil outlooks across the Prairies, he noted. Risk maps published by AAFC showed little leaf notching through most of Saskatchewan, eastern Alberta and the Grande Prairie, Alta. region, although patches of higher risk appear in central and southern Alberta.

Research on the economic thresholds of pea leaf weevil is ongoing, Gavloski said, although he noted that notching levels by adult weevils may provide context on whether it’s time to plan for seed treatment.

Scouting protocols based on leaf notching suggest economic levels have been reached when 30 per cent of seedlings have damage on the terminal leaf.

He stressed, however, that a proactive seed treatment has been found much more effective than foliar control of adults, and “applying broad-spectrum insecticides also kills beneficial insects like ground beetles that are natural enemies of pea leaf weevil.”

Producers will also want to take their nitrogen levels into account, he added. Plants in high-nitrogen soils likely won’t need intervention, since the plant can rely on soil nutrient rather than nitrogen fixation from its root nodules.

Scouting takes place in late May or early June, although Gavloski noted that this year, with delayed seeding, scouting will push well into June.

No panic

Despite the expanded range, Schmidt said the province’s pea leaf weevil issues are far from critical. Spring scouting so far has shown little feeding from emerged adults.

“It’s unlikely that we need that insecticide seed treatment, but it’s something that we really want to keep an eye on,” she said.

Like Gavloski, she noted Manitoba’s potentially well-suited habitat for the pest.

“With this year starting off with a bit more precipitation, that’s generally more beneficial for these weevils’ development and population growth,” she said.

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With that in mind, she doesn’t expect any significant price changes for pulses.

“Part of the reason is we’re starting to glide into the holiday period. We’ll probably see some movement on lentils in the New Year,” she said.

Lentil prices in Western Canada have largely remained steady over the last week, according to Prairie Ag Hotwire. The only notable move has been a one-cent increase for crimson lentils.

Beans as well saw increases of a half-cent to a penny. Chickpeas were unchanged, as were peas, except for feed peas in Saskatchewan which lost $2 per bushel.

In StatsCan’s report Friday, the production of lentils in Canada this year was cut nearly 11 per cent from the federal agency’s September report, to almost 1.61 million tonnes. The estimate for dry pea production was reduced more than 10.5 per cent, at about 2.26 million tonnes.

However, StatsCan’s estimate for chickpea production in 2021-22 increased 19 per cent at 76,200 tonnes, while that for fababeans jumped almost 77.5 per cent, at 72,900 tonnes.

Despite the adjustments the federal agency made, because of the severe drought coupled with intense heat across the Prairies this summer, production overall in 2021-22 is significantly lower compared to the previous year.

Boersch said already-tight supplies will become tighter, leaving less for exports. However, she stressed the global shortage of shipping containers has made exporting pulses “brutal.”

“Mind you, our competitors in Australia have the same problem, but that still doesn’t help you reach the end customers. There’s nothing positive about it,” she said, noting she expects the shortage of containers to be resolved by summer.

Table: Pulse crop production estimates in thousands of metric tonnes from Statistics Canada’s Dec. 3 production of principal field crops report, with September’s estimates and 2020-21 data for comparison.

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“They’re further behind this year because they were later going in,” said Dale McManus, a broker with Johnston Grains at Welwyn, Sask.

Saskatchewan grows over half of Canada’s fababeans, and most are grown around the Yorkton area, where wet weather delayed spring planting. Of the 99,000 acres of fababeans seeded across Canada, Saskatchewan grows about 56,000.

Fababean prices have remained between $7 and $8 per bushel, and prices are staying largely steady due to the lack of harvest pressure.

According to the most recent crop report from the government of Saskatchewan, most crops across the province received a hard frost earlier in the week, which could damage late-maturing crops, though the extent of damage to the fababean crop is not yet known.

— Marlo Glass reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.

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“Keeping in mind this is the seeding intentions report based on a survey of growers from the beginning of March. It’s as current as the day it was collected,” said Carl Potts, executive director of Saskatchewan Pulse Growers.

In the agency’s principal field crop acreage report, released last Wednesday, estimated acres for dry white beans, dry coloured beans, chickpeas and lentils were down.

Fababeans were said to be up, from 78,400 acres Canada-wide in 2018 to 121,500 acres this year. Most of that increase will be seen on the Prairies, with Saskatchewan expected to plant 64,100 acres, a jump of nearly 87 per cent from last year.

Potts said the demand for fababeans has been strong as well as prices.

Canada’s lentil acres were projected to drop by almost 10 per cent this year, at about 3.4 million, with Saskatchewan again accounting for about 90 per cent of Canada’s acres. Statistics Canada estimated that province’s farmers will plant about eight per cent fewer lentils in 2019.

With changes in relative prices, Potts said there will likely be more red lentil acres in Saskatchewan this year and less acres of green lentils.

Chickpea acres were estimated to fall 24.5 per cent in 2019, to about 334,300. Saskatchewan has been positioned to be the Canadian center for chickpeas again at 274,300 acres, but down 25.6 per cent from 2018’s acres.

Despite that decline, Potts said the province still has very strong acres.

The federal agency estimated farmer will produce just over a quarter million acres of dry coloured beans this year. That would be a 5.2 per cent drop from 2018. Despite a decline of 25 per cent, Manitoba farmers are expected to plant the most beans at 78,800 acres.

Dry white beans were estimated to drop 16.8 per cent this year, to 73,900 acres. Ontario farmers were projected to plant 49,700 acres, nearly 10 per cent less than in 2018.

— Glen Hallick writes for MarketsFarm, a Glacier FarmMedia division specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

Correction, May 1, 2019: A previous version of this article incorrectly quoted Carl Potts as forecasting more green lentil acres and fewer red lentil acres in Saskatchewan.

Tables: Statistics Canada’s projected pulse area for 2019, in thousands of acres, as of March 31, 2019.

Fababeans

Lentils

Chickpeas

Dry coloured beans

Dry white beans

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“For the growers that managed to get fababeans off their field, I think they were probably quite happy with the markets in 2018,” said Leanne Fischbuch, president of Alberta Pulse Growers.

“There was definitely a rise in market opportunity for fababeans, and that was reflected in the prices.”

At the end of the 2018 harvest, benchmark fababean prices were $270.88 per tonne in central Alberta, $271.58 per tonne in central Saskatchewan, and $296.17 per tonne in southern Manitoba.

Poor weather conditions in key fababean-producing countries impacted global supply, to the point where Canadian producers reaped the benefits.

Experts predict last year’s market opportunity may be enough to increase fababean acreage numbers for the 2019 growing season.

Currently, benchmark fababean prices are $314.44 per tonne in central Alberta, $319.19 per tonne in central Saskatchewan and $311.21 per tonne in southern Manitoba, according to reports from Alberta Pulse.

“We might see a bit of a jump in acreage this year because of the price,” Fischbuch said.

“Growers might look to fababeans if they haven’t had them in their rotation for a while.”

Canadian producers planted 95,000 acres of fababeans in 2017 and 78,400 in 2018. Statistics Canada releases its first acreage estimate of the year on Wednesday (April 24).

— Marlo Glass writes for MarketsFarm, a Glacier FarmMedia division specializing in grain and commodity market analysis and reporting.

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“Over the last 45 days we’ve saw this market spike, we’ll call it a buck a bushel that we’ve seen that increase from where we would typically would expect this market,” said Jeff Vipond, director for peas, canary and lentils with Scoular.

Fababean prices in Western Canada have hit the $7-$10 per bushel range in the last month, according to Vipond. A story by CNS Canada in May quoted fababean prices at the $5.50-$6.50 range, stating they had been around there for the past year.

While fababean production faltered in Canada this year, with only an estimated 96,400 tonnes, down from 99,800 tonnes last year, according to Statistics Canada, the price increase isn’t due to the lower production. Production issues around the world have led buyers to Canada pushing the price higher.

Australia and the U.K. are the major global exporters of fababeans. Australia’s crop has been slashed in half due to the country’s ongoing drought and the U.K. is facing quality issues with its crop. The largest importer of fababeans is Egypt, who has now been forced to find other countries to buy from.

“We’ve seen demand surface from that market that they’re looking to fill in the gaps there, that they’re missing out on due to the Australian and the U.K. issues,” Vipond said. “So it is providing an opportunity for western Canadian growers to participate in a market that’s not always there for us and get some decent values.”

However, Egypt will only buy high-quality fababeans and due to the delayed harvest some of Canada’s fababeans are of lower quality. Vipond said fababeans harvested before the wet and cold weather set in are great quality, while those left sitting in the field are lower quality.

“Something that people need to be aware of is that the price premiums that are being paid are for the high quality product that is still available out there,” Vipond said. “And I would say that I view it, this is going to be a pretty short term opportunity for growers.”

Once harvests in other parts of the world start to come off, Vipond expects the interest for fababeans will drop off early in the New Year.

This situation isn’t surprising, though, as Canadian fababean exports are normally sporadic. According to Vipond, Canadian fababean exports have varied year-to-year from hardly any to 25,000 tonnes.

“It really does fluctuate depending on the quality of those competing regions because they’re not going to come to us first,” Vipond said.

Domestically, fababeans are mostly used for feed as a protein source. There have been pushes in the last few years to use of more fababeans for feed. Vipond said feed fababeans are currently around the same value as feed peas, at $6 per bushel.

With the recent price spike for high-quality fababeans, Vipond has had more producers expressing interest in growing the crop next year — but he is cautioning producers against growing fababeans.

“If Australia has an average crop next year and the U.K. does as well, then our opportunity to participate in many of these markets isn’t going to be there. And we’re going to have to rely on the domestic feed market to utilize fababeans as a protein source,” he said.

— Ashley Robinson writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Glacier FarmMedia company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

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