Image courtesy of the Plant & Crop Science BlogAs an academic, I believe that it's important to take a step back from time to time to reflect on my past experiences and to try and look at how they interconnect. It's an exercise that we should all try, and this year, the International Year of the Pulse, is what has triggered my look back. My experience with pulse crops (which include peas, edible beans, lentils, and chickpeas - items I'm sure you're used to enjoying on your dinner plates), has taken me around the world and has reminded me about the importance of collaboration, the realities of realized and missed opportunities and my place in what is actually a long history of investigation. Here's what I learned in my travels:
South America
During a trip to see Machu Picchu, our family spent a few days in the Sacred Valley. Nearby, and almost 3,800 metres above sea level are the fields of Moray, a circular set of terraces set deep into a mountain ridge. Inca experts have many theories about this location, now an archeological site, but most of them suggest that this was a kind of laboratory to test how different crops would perform at different temperatures, which can be as much as 15C between the top and bottom. There is no verified explanation to the site, but the ideas that the Incas were doing their own crop testing and selection in a dedicated site in the midst of the Andes is remarkable. It's also humbling to think that the research we do today is a continuation of a long-standing search for food security.
Europe
I had the opportunity to collaborate with many European research groups during my time as a pulse breeder in Alberta. When I attended a grain legume meeting in Poland I met a number of researchers who were working on lupins. We arranged to import a number of those lines from various European sources for testing in the province. Although lupins have many interesting traits (including up to 40 per cent seed protein) they have never found a place in western Canada - proof that some "good ideas" may just never find success in a new environment.
Asia
During my time as a scientist and Deputy-Director General of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research I often visited the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, based in Hyderabad, India. The centre has worked for five decades to adapt pulses for the poorest smallholder producers across the developing world. Their commitment to partnerships and focus on improving the lives of the world's poorest billion people has been single-minded with many successes. In addition, because of their excellent germplasm and plant breeding activities many of their lines have been valuable contributors to western Canadian breeding programs.
Africa
Since working in Cameroon in the early 1980s I have been amazed by the cropping systems across Africa. Whether in the rain forest or savannah, farmers have created elegant systems where several crops are grown in the same plot of land. It is not unexpected to have cereals pulses (peanut, cowpea), roots and tubers and specialty crops all growing in the same field. I wonder about the role of intercropping in western Canada and I believe that there will be a time when intercropping becomes a useful production system in the prairies.
Australia
It was my privilege to visit the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation lab in the mid-1990s, where there was great excitement because a gene had been identified in beans that was known to stop weevils (i.e. crop destroying beetles) by creating an alpha-amylase inhibitor. However, the next 10 years did not develop as planned, as animal feeding trials showed problems with digesting the new pea ration. This trial shows that, no matter what great idea is possible through technology, there must always be openness to unexpected (and unintended) consequences.
North America
The success of the pulse industry in western Canada has been remarkable and I credit that to two elements: first, genetic adaptation is the key to introducing a new crop into our production systems. Second, in the last three decades we have developed excellent material adapted for our conditions, as well as the tools to make a good fit for pulse crops within our prairie crop production.
My experience with pulse crops has provided a number of insights about the research process - and what works and what doesn't. Pulse crops play an incredibly important role for producers and consumers across the globe and I am optimistic that pulse crops will continue to be an integral component of global farming and food systems. The International Year of Pulses will provide an opportunity to send that message around the world, and has provided me with a chance to revisit the lessons that I've learned through my research travels.
To learn more about the importance of pulses to the provincial economy and well-being consider attending the ALES Year of the Pulses Public Lecture, presented by Gordon Bacon, CEO, Pulses Canada.
Stan Blade - Dean, Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences
Stan Blade is the dean of the Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences; he is the former CEO of Alberta Innovates Bio-Solutions and served as director of Alberta's Crop Diversification Division. He is a veteran of Albertan agricultural research and has international experience that spans research and applied science across the globe
This post has been adapted from an article that appeared in the March 2016 issue of GrainsWest magazine.GrainsWest magazine.