From Mountrail County to around the world
By Edna Sailor
From Plaza to Cuba, India, Columbia and China, pulse crops look good.
Mark and Kris Kok, owners and operators of Great Northern Ag near Plaza, are seeing some encouraging signs in their pulse crop business.
Pulses are legume crops that are harvested solely for the dry seed. Dried beans, chickpeas, lentils and peas are the most commonly known and consumed types of pulses.
"There is a significant increase of interest in the pulse crops this year due mostly to the comparatively attractive price and the lower input cost of production compared to more traditional crops," Kok said.
But green peas seem to be lagging behind.
"The market is strong for lentils and yellow peas, strong for chickpeas and slow for green peas," Kok said.
Kok explained that green peas have had a burdensome supply due in part to the large crop both in the United States and Canada the last two years. Prices have been weak due in part to the absence of India to the market.
"India is our largest customer of green peas. Couple the absence of India with the strong US dollar and demand for US greens has been very weak
