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safe, world-class food and ingredients. Our government's work to increase market access for prime agricultural products is key to furthering our efforts in diversifying our economy, crea ng jobs and keeping our family farms sustainable." A Government of Alberta news release also noted that Carlier met with the Indian Union Minister for Food Processing to discuss trade opportuni es and issues including fumiga on and tariffs on pulses. The delega on also met with senior business execu ves, chamber of commerce members, retailers and importers who provided insight into business expansion opportuni es available for Alberta producers of pulses and canola. Last year, Alberta's agriculture trade with India was worth approximately $82 million. India is the largest export market for Canadian pulses. "Par cipa ng in the conclave strengthens our rela onship with key trade partners and enhances exposure of our world-class exports," said APG Chair D'Arcy Hilgartner, who a ended the conclave in 2016. "We appreciate the opportunity to be included as part of this important delega on to India." The first official day of this year's Pulse Conclave began with a business to business session involving the delegates from Alberta and Saskatchewan, which was organized by Alberta's New Delhi trade office. "All of us from Alberta and Saskatchewan were seated at our own small table, then people from all over the world would come sit with us for a short conversa on," Volk recalled. "Most of them wanted to buy my peas right off the farm. They s ll want Canadian len ls and peas for their quality even with the government restric ons. I received a lot of ques ons about this year's inten ons for seeding. I also tried to get them to provide some idea about when we could expect the tariffs to be li ed, and generally the opinion was later this fall at the earliest." There were a number of presenta ons at the conclave regarding the increased pulse produc on in India, but one speaker addressed some of the challenges a er this was achieved, Volk said. "Storage and distribu on are both under-developed in India at the current me," he explained. Volk noted that while travelling in the countryside, he saw first-hand that there wasn't much available for on- farm storage. Most of the crops were s ll green in February, but there was some hand harves ng going on. "I think that it is only a ma er of me before India is back in the market for the larger bulk shipments," Volk said. "These opportuni es are going to be dependent on maintaining a high level of quality at a compe ve price." At the Naya bazaar, (le to right) Grant Winton of Alberta Agriculture's Interna onal Rela ons and Marke ng Sec on, Alberta Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier, E enne van Straaten of Alberta Agriculture, Rahul Sharma of Alberta Economic Development and Trade based in Delhi, Jocelyn Shuman of South Peace Grain, and APG Zone 1 Director Rodney Volk. Volk also seized the opportunity to experience how Indian people buy pulses. A group including Volk, van Straaten, and Jocelyn Shuman of South Peace Grain visited the DLF Promenade Mall and Nazarene bazaar prior to the conclave. "There were a couple of food stores in this mall," Volk explained. "These are a new idea in India and s ll not a common place for people to buy food. Both had pulses on display, loose in bulk bins, and prepackaged." In the a ernoon, the group met up with Carlier and his staff for a tour of the Naya Bazaar Pulses and Spice Markets by rickshaw. "A soon as we started to enter the vicinity of the bazaar, the scent of all the different spices permeated the air," Volk said. "The whole group unloaded from the rickshaws and walked down a narrow street where all of the merchants were selling pulses displayed in barrels and bags for inspec on. A er walking the street, we once again loaded up on the rickshaws and headed over to Kareem's, one of the oldest restaurants in Delhi, where we enjoyed a meal including dal made with pulses." Although chickpeas are the preferred pulse for dal, len ls and peas can be subs tuted as a cheaper alterna ve. There is also a certain level of blending that takes place in order to stretch out the available supply of chickpeas. S U M M E R 2 0 1 8 | 2 5 P U L S E C R O P N E W S

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