The pea has suddenly gotten pulled into the alt-protein craze fueled by the likes of Beyond Meat Inc. and the Impossible Burger.
There is, it would seem, nothing but bleak news in U.S. farm country. Soybean prices are down. Corn is also still way below its highs, as is wheat. Then there’s the trade war with China, which has cost farmers access to one of their biggest markets, and the nonstop spring rains, which inundated fields.
But with demand flat for the crops he’s been planting for years — alfalfa, for use in livestock feed, and wheat — Fast has turned to peas as a possible growth market. At his farm in northeastern Montana, the top U.S. pea growing state, he increased his plantings of the legume by about 20% to total 1,800 acres this season. Next year, he might sow 2,000 acres.
So now whether they like the vegan burgers or not, North American farmers are boosting plantings. Growers in Canada and the U.S. are expected to seed about 20% more field peas this year, government data show. That’s happening even as U.S. farmers cut acres of principal crops including corn, soy and wheat by about 3%.
Jordan Carlson, 35, farms 3,500 acres with his father near Gothenburg, Neb. He didn’t plant any peas for the first time in 10 years because of the deluge, and he’s predicting there could be some local shortages.
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