Celebrating Pulses:Â Major Supplier of Nutrition to People and the Soil

作為地球兩端嘅農民, 我哋嘅生活方式係兩極對立嘅. 因為它與飲食習慣有關, 我哋中嘅一個係嚟自加拿大嘅食肉動物，另一個係嚟自印度嘅素食者.

雖然我哋確實有我哋嘅差異, we are quick to remind ourselves of how much we also have in common, 慶祝二月 10, 2022 承認 世界豆類日 作為一種流行作物嘅種植者，呢種作物為飢餓嘅世界提供蛋白質，並幫助我哋喺屋企中實踐可持續農業.

As the demand for this important nutrient continues to grow, India and Canada are the world’s two leading producers of pulses.

Pulses come in many shapes and sizes, but all of them are seeds from the pods of legume plants. They include dry beans, dry peas, lentils, chickpeas, 和更多. Farmers have grown pulses for more than 10,000 years and it’s easy to see why: They’re a great source of protein for humans and a crop that also enriches the nutrient profile in soil.

今日, there is a growing number of privileged consumers that are choosing to limit their meat consumption. In most developed countries, vegetarians make up less than 10 percent of the population. 係 美國, about one in 20 people is a vegetarian, and in 加拿大 the rate of vegetarianism is only a little higher.

在 印度., 其中 25 percent of the population identifies as pure vegetarian, a population greater than the US and Canada combined, consumption of pulses is also very high.

For many Indians, their main source of protein is pulses, which make up the second-largest part of their overall diets, following food produced from cereals such as rice, 小麥, and corn. Due to the high demand, the Indian government has restricted the export of pulses from India since 2018 and this is expected to continue for years as demand continues to exceed production.

While India is the largest importer of pulses, 加拿大 supplies more pulses to the world than any other country. The top destination for Canadian pulses, 講真, is India, followed by China, the United Arab Emirates, and Turkey.

So as farmers, both of us depend on pulses for a living. They’re an essential part of what we do.

Yet we produce other crops as well, and that leads us to another important commonality: We both grow pulses in rotation. They’re an essential part of how we sustain our soil and help the environment.

Rotating crops is an ancient practice that enriches the soil and improves yield. And it turns out that pulses are excellent in rotation with rice and wheat.

Every plant pulls nutrients from the soil. Yet pulses also put them back. Pulse plants are naturally rich in nitrogen, an essential nutrient for all plants. They store nitrogen in their root nodules, and after harvesting the crop, the plant material left on top of the ground and the roots underneath improve the soil for the crops that will follow.

Most farmers in Canada and India use two-crop rotations or possibly, three-crop rotations. Whatever the system, pulses can perform the essential task of making an entire farm healthier by improving the quality of the dirt, also known as soil health, across many years.

Pulses provide other benefits as well. In rotation, they help farmers disrupt the cycles of weeds, pests, and disease that always threaten food production. After harvest, their leaves and stems can add organic matter to the soil. And as hardy crops, they require less water and fertilizer.

Some pulse farmers struggle to find high-quality seeds—a bigger problem in the developing world than in the developed world, to be sure, but it’s also true that farmers everywhere are always on the lookout for the best seeds they can find.

GM technology has transformed the farming of many crops, including the soybean, which is a fellow legume though not a pulse. (Soybeans have a much higher fat content, whereas pulses have virtually none.) Up to now, 然而, the gene revolution has not affected pulses.

Both of us would welcome pulses enhanced by GM technology, including the advent of traits that help these outstanding crops repel weeds, survive drought and could contribute to the elimination of malnutrition in the world.

That’s another thing farmers have in common on World Pulses Day and beyond: No matter where we live, what we eat, or how we grow, we always want to do our best and know from first-hand experience that technology can help us do better.

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提名 接受緊嘅候選人 2022 全球農民網絡圓槕會議同交流培訓計劃. 預定喺法兰克福舉行, 德國六月 12-18, 2022, 下一次圓槕會議將在親自開會之前包括一個虛擬組件. 瞭解有關該活動嘅更多信息 呢度.