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By Kara Davidson
Gazette Reporter 

First World Pulse Day event links producers, breeders, traders

 

February 7, 2019

Jessica Brierly

Jessica Brierly, an eat smart/nutrition educator, sits with a pulse display at the World Pulses Day Celebration event in Moscow on Feb. 4.

On Monday, the USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council and the American Pulse Association hosted a World Pulses Day event to celebrate World Pulses Day and connect pulse producers, breeders and traders at the Lodgepole Restaurant in Moscow.

Becky Garrison, the Director of Domestic Marketing at USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council, called it a kickoff event of a mix of folks-in-the-industry since "pulses are like the heart of the Palouse."

"Local products have gone to a world-wide market," said pulse producer Howard Jones. He added he found it remarkable that people come from all over the world to buy food here on the Palouse.

"It's a real testament to the scale of our local farmers to be able to make food of such superb quality that people come to get it," said Jones. "It is quality and quantity."

The United Nations on Jan. 15 issued a press release of its decision Dec. 20 to declare World Pulses Day. The new holiday, celebrating healthiness and sustainability of pulses and their great potential in feeding the world, will be Feb. 10 every year starting this year.

"Pulses are going to be even more important as we add a billion more people to the world," said Kurt Braunwart, the managing owner of ProGene Plant Research, based out of Othello. A former resident of Colfax, Braunwart has been around peas for 40 years and part of the pulse industry since 1981. Research and breeding for his company happens with worldwide partners in New Zealand as well as Moscow, Idaho.

Braunwart noted that pulses have been around for eons and were even found in Egyptian tombs. He felt there was a great value in people understanding pulses, noting their health benefits and sustainability worldwide.

"It's a journey. It's a fabulous story on the growth of pulse," said Phil Hinrichs, president, CEO and fourth generation member of the Hinrichs Trading Company.

HTC focuses on chickpeas as an example of a full integration from those who grow the product to the users. Hinrichs explained how they went from producing seeds, to contracting with growers, to bringing in the chickpeas, to cleaning and sizing and prepping them for food, selling to canning, packaging, grinding to flour, or hummas companies.

"Chickpeas are the fastest growing pulse market in the world," said Hinrichs.

While the company has operations in seven states and 100 employees, most of the business is is kept in Washington and Idaho. Hinrichs explained that this region was "where chickpeas are produced to the highest quality."

Hinrichs runs the company with his brother Max, and is looking forward to the fifth generation, his sons Phillip Jr. and Kyle, stepping in to take over the company.

To meet their agenda of making the world poverty free and sustainable by 2030, the UN has announced the new celebratory day to help build awareness of pulses, which have a huge potential in achieving that goal for a variety of reasons.

Pulses are considered a superfood. Depending on the exact product, they can have more iron, less sodium and less fat than meats and more protein, fiber and folate than many other plant-based foods. Some examples are a half cup of dry peas, which have about as much potassium as a banana; or a half cup of chickpea flour, which is gluten-free and has more than twice the protein of the same amount of rice flour.

As the 'Lentil Capital of the World,' the Palouse produces some of the highest quality lentils found in the U.S., though it doesn't have the acreage found for lentils in Montana or North Dakota.

In an area primarily dedicated to wheat, legumes such as lentils, dry peas and chickpeas are often used as a rotation crop and help with wheat and pest control as well as improve the soil conditions.

 

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