E-Delivery

The largest pulse market con nues to show an unpredictable and challenging environment that impacted the Canadian marketplace throughout the summer and into the fall harvest season. The situa on with India persisted despite effort from various levels of government and industry, including the development of the Colombo Accord - a globally coordinated industry effort to produce guidelines on market access predictability suppor ng evidence-based decision- making. How has this stressed the grower community? Acres were reduced, pulse crop choices were swapped, and growers held their harvests providing an increased carry out un l they experienced a floor price that they could live with. For APG, this also meant an increased emphasis on working na onally with other grower organiza ons and Pulse Canada to elevate the 25 by 2025 strategy for market diversifica on. Work con nues to address tonnage targets and find new markets for pulses in retail and food service in specific markets, including food, feed and aquaculture development. The aim of the work is to find a fully collabora ve model to increase pulse inclusion and draw out more market opportuni es that have not yet been developed. In the interim, as approved at the 2018 Annual General Mee ng, effec ve August 1, APG's service fees (levy) were reduced by 25% to 0.75% of the cash cket. Outreach to the APG dealer network took place over the spring and summer to prepare for the change. Even with the outreach, growers need to be aware and observe cash ckets to make sure that dealers have implemented the change. The planned reduc on holds the organiza on to greater accountability to make sure that growers con nue to find value in growing pulses. The strategic goal of 15% of the arable land in Alberta having a pulse crop choice will go a long way in con nuing funding for the good work of the organiza on. In addi on, the push for further market development and value-added opportuni es will be cri cal to the success of the effort. To address value-added opportuni es, APG par cipated in providing feedback to the Economic Round Tables, which were developed to bring the observa ons to the federal Economic Advisory Council on Economic Growth. This feedback was also shared with provincial efforts to look at increasing the value-added capacity for Alberta. While strategic efforts on market development con nue, APG is looking forward to the results of the second year of the Plot to Field project. This year saw successes with the program that included expansion of the project with a cooperator, the Manning Applied Research Associa on, joining other cooperators across Alberta, and layering of addi onal research by scien sts on top of the planned and executed research effort directed by APG staff. Once again, to be successful, this project needs the dedica on of our independent agronomists, and the coopera ng producers who have agreed to work to the specifica ons of the research. The organiza on thanks everyone who is involved in the project and we look forward to bringing the confirmed protocols and scien fically sound results forward for the membership to inves gate. APG also reached out to growers by joining crop walks, presen ng informa on, and sharing the updated ac vi es of the organiza on with farmers as well as sharing the messages with consumers at Open Farm Days ac vi es in southern Alberta. We are ready to address your ques ons. Another opportunity that APG is looking forward to is regional mee ngs this November and December. If you have interest in joining the organiza on, there are opportuni es in all of the zones for grower involvement. Bring ques ons to the mee ng and learn what the organiza on is working on for you. Have a safe harvest and see you at the regional mee ngs! EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE WORK CONTINUES TO KEEP PULSES PROFITABLE FOR PRODUCERS Leanne Fischbuch, Execu ve Director P U L S E C R O P N E W S F A L L 2 0 1 8 | 5

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