Western Canada’s farmers are likely to produce their largest pea and lentil crops in history this year, according to the president of AGT Food & Ingredients.

In a recent presentation to grain industry experts in Saskatoon, Murad Al-Katib predicted that plantings of dry peas and lentils in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba will exceed 10 million acres this year.

That would easily be the largest seeded acreage ever for the two crops in Western Canada.

“Lentils and peas will cross the 10 million acres in Western Canada this year,” Al-Katib told delegates attending the Prairie Grain Development Committee meetings in late February.

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“That will be the first time we’ve ever touched 10 million acres for those two crops … and by the way, I think we can market it all as well.”

Statistics Canada says peas and lentils accounted for a record 7.6 million acres in Western Canada last year.

If Al-Katib’s projections hold true, the 10 million acres would represent a year-over-year increase of more than 30 percent.

Acreage for the two crops has been trending upward over the past 15 years.

Last year, peas and lentils produced some of the healthiest farmgate returns of any crops, he added.

As well, global demand shows no sign of slowing.

In 2015, the price for top quality western Canadian red lentils peaked at around 58 cents per pound, said Al-Katib, whose company had global sales revenues of more than $1.7 billion last year.

That’s a far cry from the 10 to 15 cents that prairie growers were routinely earning for red lentils in the early 2000s.

“(Fifteen years ago,) the world used to say that if Canada grew a million tonnes of red lentils, we could never market them,” Al-Katib said.

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“Well, I’m proud to say that from August to December of 2015, we exported more than a million tonnes of red lentils, so the industry has changed.”

Al-Katib said global demand for pulse crops and pulse-based ingredients continues to rise, not only in traditional markets such as India but also in new and expanding markets such as China, Europe and North America.

China recently became the largest buyer of Canadian field peas, surpassing India.

“Canada’s largest pea market in 2014 was not India but China … more than one million tonnes of starch for production of vermicelli noodles, Chinese dumplings and moon cakes,” Al-Katib said.

Canadian pulse exports have increased significantly over the past decade, thanks to aggressive marketing and the development of new varieties that offer improved yield potential, enhanced agronomic performance and better market appeal.

These factors have convinced prairie growers to take another look at pulses, he added.

The benefits of rotation, which includes cereals, pulse crops and canola, are also being recognized.

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“Today, we produce and export 65 percent of the world’s lentils, so Canada is at the centre of the world trade when it comes to that particular commodity,” said Al-Katib.

“The sustainable cereal-oilseed-pulse rotation is one that has actually shown great economic benefit to (Saskatchewan) and to western Canadian agriculture.”

brian.cross@producer.com