By Angela Lovell
Nobody has to sell Shane and Sheri Strydhorst on the value of pulses to their farm. They have been growing the edible seeds as part of their rotation for more than 15 years, and in two of the last six years, faba beans have been their most profitable crop, even outshining canola.
But there are many other benefits that pulses provide to this 1,500-acre, third-generation grain farm in Neerlandia, Alberta (an hour-and-a-half northwest of Edmonton), such as helping to manage risk, lower input costs and reduce the carbon footprint.
The Styrdhorsts have always had a huge interest in crop science and research. Sheri, who studied pulses for her PhD program, has extensive experience with small plot research in pulses and cereals and was executive director of the Alberta Pulse Growers for three years. Combined with Shane’s chemistry and agricultural science degrees, their backgrounds provided the impetus to start growing pulses on the farm around the same time they decided to get out of beef production. Their goal: to expand and diversify their grain crop rotation, and improve the efficiency and productivity of the farm.
“We focus on getting the big things right on the farm, like using the newer varieties of seed, soil testing, rotating crop chemistries to reduce resistance issues, and never using unproven products,” Shane Strydhorst says. “We do some variable rate fertilization on some variable fields that go from sandy soils to peat soils. We direct seed all our crops and apply all of our fertilizer at seeding with the drill. We are not doing any anhydrous applications.”
Four-year rotation spreads out weather risk
A typical four-year crop rotation for the farm is now faba beans, spring wheat, canola and barley.
“Having a diversity of crops helps us spread out our weather risk, and in a wet year, faba beans are a pulse crop of choice; they work extremely well under wetter conditions,” Strydhorst says. “For marketing, barley or wheat might be undervalued one year but canola or faba beans might be a relatively higher price because they are influenced by different markets.”
Canada exports faba beans mainly to countries in the Mediterranean and Middle East including Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Turkey. Canadian farmers grow both tannin and low tannin varieties that are in demand in worldwide food markets. Canning, sauces and falafel are common uses for both types of faba bean for human consumption, and low-tannin varieties are used in animal feed for a variety of livestock including hogs, beef and dairy cattle, lamb and poultry. Faba bean fractions are also being explored as niche markets continue to grow for non-genetically modified, high-protein and gluten-free foods rich in micronutrients.
Faba beans are a prolific fixer of nitrogen, which makes them a great fit in the rotation.
“About 20 to 25 per cent of our rotation every year is faba bean, which means 20 to 25 per cent of the farm doesn’t need any nitrogen fertilizer, so it reduces our fertilizer costs across the farm, and also the carbon footprint associated with the fertilizer,” Strydhorst says.
Plus, the nitrogen that pulses fix is available for the following year’s crop. “We grow a wheat crop the year after a faba bean crop, and use less nitrogen fertilizer than we normally would without any yield penalty,” Strydhorst says. “I am also getting higher protein than a wheat crop that followed a canola crop the year before. Plus, we farm in an area where clubroot is a significant risk in canola, so faba bean helps stretch our rotation to reduce disease pressure in the canola crops.”
Strydhorst says the biggest challenge with growing faba beans occurs at seeding time. “Faba beans are quite large, so you need to be patient and travel slowly with the seed drill to do a good job and to avoid plugging,” he says. “Faba beans need to be planted early because they are a long season crop, but that can be a benefit at harvest most years, since it helps to spread out the workload. Barley is harvested first, and faba beans are usually harvested last.”
While faba beans work well for his farm because he generally tends to get adequate moisture – at least 10 to 15 inches over the growing season – Strydhorst acknowledges they wouldn’t be a good fit for drier areas. But the good news about pulse crops is there is always one type or another that suit any growing area.
“In drier areas, there is a good opportunity to grow peas, lentils and dry beans,” he says. “And in areas where there are higher heat units, soybean is an option too.”
Getting involved in the industry
Alberta grows just under two million acres of pulses (and soybean) each year, compared to Saskatchewan’s 7.5 million acres of pulses in 2024 (mainly lentils and field peas), and Manitoba’s 1.3 acres (mostly soybean). But when it comes to faba beans, Alberta farmers seed more than half of the 95,000 acres grown in Canada annually, and the future for the crop is promising as the development of new varieties suitable for both human consumption and animal feed open up expanded market opportunities.
Strydhorst would like to see more farmers reap the benefits of adding pulses to their rotation, and it’s one of the reasons he has become involved in the pulse industry at a higher level, as chair of Alberta Pulse Growers and vice chair of Pulse Canada.
“Involvement with the commissions is a great opportunity,” he says. “I have learned a lot [and] met a lot of great people. It gives a peek behind the curtains to know more about what’s going on and helps you to tie everything together in terms of how it affects things at the farm level.”
He believes it’s important for farmers to get involved at an industry level because it not only provides insight into some complex issues that affect farms but also helps direct research funding to where it will have the most benefit.
“I wouldn’t have known how intricate some issues are in terms of things like trade, market diversity and transportation,” Strydhorst says. “And it’s important to help direct research money to where it makes sense for growers, because if somebody else is making those decisions on our behalf, it might not be applicable to the farm.”
Mentoring local farmers
Strydhorst also acts as an informal mentor for a couple of local, young farmers who help him out during the busy seasons on his farm and are now just beginning to get into crop farming for themselves.
“They look to me for advice on things like crop varieties, crop rotation or spraying,” he says. “Then there are other farmers who are curious about some of the things we are doing on our farm. They will come over, call or text with questions because they know that when we are doing something it’s based on research and knowledge. If other farmers in the community can benefit from our work and knowledge, and enjoy success, it helps the whole farming community.”
Strydhorst also participates in more formal farmer panels and research plot tours organized by the Alberta Pulse Growers to help get information out to farmers.
“I am always curious myself. One of the other things that got me involved in pulse production in the first place was seeing small plots and wanting to try some of the things they were doing on my farm,” he says. “Our goal is always to increase efficiency and productivity and try to get more food off the same piece of land using fewer inputs.”
Diversity may help weather geopolitical storms
The impact of the current complex and uncertain tariff situation with the United States and China is hard to predict, but Strydhorst has heard some farmers are switching up their crop plans to try to mitigate the potential impact.
“I’ve heard some people are switching pea acres to cereals or lentils,” he says. “Others are switching some canola acres to peas or faba beans, because of how the tariffs are impacting canola markets. We are not changing our cropping plans for this year, partly because of the benefits that pulses provide to our crop rotation [and] partly because other crops [canola in particular] are similarly impacted by the tariffs.”
As farmers start the growing season in the midst of great uncertainty, exploring new and different crops such as pulses may offer a little insulation against the winds of market instability.
“I think that especially today, and going forward, it is going to be even more important for farmers to think about diversifying crops into things that have other markets,” Strydhorst concludes. “There is a lot of excitement with plant-based foods and it’s a steadily growing sector. Pulses have a great story when you consider their low carbon footprint because of their nitrogen fixation, and the health benefits of being a high-fibre, high-protein crop. We are focusing on getting this story out to consumers and policymakers so farmers can take full advantage of the opportunities that pulses provide.”
