These days, the traditional wheat fields that make up the \u201cbreadbasket of Canada\u201d \u2013 the Canadian Prairies \u2013 are more likely to be sharing space with another crop: pulses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIncreasingly, it\u2019s not a breadbasket. I\u2019d call it a bean pot. It\u2019s more about a wider range,\u201d agribusiness industry expert Rory McAlpine conveyed during an event at Future Food-Tech Alternative Proteins in New York City recently, hosted by Invest in Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wheat is still a large crop, especially in western Canada, but pulses are growing in size and significance. Now accounting for millions of acres of cropland in Canada, pulses are a big contributor to Canada\u2019s agricultural revenues. Mr. McAlpine, who has worked in senior agricultural roles in both the private and public sector in Canada, knows firsthand the very positive economic benefits created by this diversity into pulse crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pulses \u2013 the dry, edible seeds that include beans, peas, and lentils from the legume family \u2013 are a foundational crop for the rapidly expanding plant protein industry. And Canada is the world\u2019s largest exporter of pulses. Pulses are leading the way toward future food that is healthy, delicious and sustainably produced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the Future Food-Tech Alternative Proteins Summit, held June 27\u201328 this year in the heart of Manhattan, Mr. McAlpine joined Invest in Canada CEO Laurel Broten to dig deeper into the alternative protein advantages that are making Canada a preferred location for future-looking agri-food investors globally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked by Ms. Broten to explain how Canada has been able to lead the world in pulse exports, Mr. McAlpine described sustainability as one of the reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAdding pulse crops has created a real sustainability benefit,\u201d Mr. McAlpine said, pointing to the climate resilience of pulses. He also addressed how pulse crops improve carbon sequestration: \u201cWhen you talk specifically about climate change, there\u2019s some really great new data actually measuring on a life-cycle analysis basis, what is the carbon sequestration of specific pulse crops in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPulse Canada has done this work and it\u2019s pretty cool. They can calculate a carbon-negative number associated with key pulse crops in Canada and equate that to so many million cars taken off the road. And that\u2019s based on real hard data \u2013 actual production data on specific farms in various commodities in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harvesting the right crops is vital for industry prosperity and environmental sustainability, but there is an even more important component opening up value-added agriculture opportunities. \u201cIn many ways we talk about this as all about \u2018What are the critical ingredients for the future?\u2019\u201d said Mr. McAlpine. \u201cWell, the single biggest ingredient, actually, is people. The workforce, the talent pool built off that history of agrifood and science and innovation is extremely important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In response to Ms. Broten inquiring about labour force challenges, Mr. McAlpine acknowledged that labour shortages are global, but Canada has a dual advantage: strong population growth along with high-quality education to fill all the different types of positions the industry needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s important in this space to remember: it\u2019s not just about high-skilled,\u201d Mr. McAlpine said. \u201cIt\u2019s about semi-skilled, low-skilled too. If you\u2019re going to have a value chain approach and need the labour at all stages, you need all three.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to an educational system that the OECD ranks the best in the world in terms of tertiary education, Canada is also seeing the highest population growth among G7 countries. \u201cIn one year, one million new Canadians,\u201d Mr. McAlpine said. \u201cThe rate of immigration is, frankly, extraordinary\u2026. The attractiveness of Canada to the global talent pool is unquestioned.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
These days, the traditional wheat fields that make up the \u201cbreadbasket of Canada\u201d \u2013 the Canadian Prairies \u2013 are more likely to be sharing space with another crop: pulses. \u201cIncreasingly, it\u2019s not a breadbasket. I\u2019d call it a bean pot. It\u2019s more about a wider range,\u201d agribusiness industry expert Rory McAlpine conveyed during an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2574,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2573","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freshair.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freshair.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freshair.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freshair.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freshair.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2573"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/freshair.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2575,"href":"https:\/\/freshair.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2573\/revisions\/2575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freshair.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freshair.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}