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Risk management incentivizing growth in pulses

A pulse crop industry leader credits increased risk management options as a main driver to increasing production.

“We have had explosive growth in the pulse industry. To go from 400,000 acres basically 20 years ago to 2.7 million acres—that is a huge shift.”

Tim McGreevy with the U.S. Dry Pea and Lentil Association says yield and revenue protection for peas, lentils and chickpeas has given farmers more confidence to plant riskier specialty crops.  “The risk management programs offered by the USDA Risk Management Agency are really absolutely critical to the growth of our industry that we’ve seen in the past 20 years.”

McGreevy says expanded acres have spread across the northern tier of the U.S. and pulses now are being grown in places they haven’t been before like North Dakota and Montana.