Environment

Pulses and the Environment

The pulse industry is uniquely positioned to help the agriculture sector deliver environmental benefits to Canadians. Crops that fix nitrogen can help reduce CO2 emissions from agriculture and be a cornerstone of the bio-fuel economy by playing an important role as part of a sustainable crop rotation for bio-fuel crops including cereals and oilseeds. Moreover, crops that require less fertilizer help to lower input costs for farmers. Pulse Canada is working toward a strategy that will position Canada's pulse industry in a leadership role in environmental stewardship for Canada's agriculture sector.

Q: How am I helping the environment by eating foods that include pulse crops?

A: Pulses crops use less nonrenewable energy inputs, reducing carbon dioxide emissions.	Pulse crops, in particular peas, lentils and chickpeas, are among the small group of crops that draw their own nitrogen fertilizer directly from the atmosphere. Nitrogen is the most heavily used nutrient for plant growth. Canada's annual nitrogen fertilizer consumption ranges between 1.5 and 2.0 million tonnes, and the main input to that production is natural gas, a fossil fuel. When you're eating products made from pulse ingredients, you're making an environmentally friendly food choice because less fossil fuel is used to grow the plants, and less carbon dioxide (CO2) is emitted as a result.
A: Pulse crops reduce overall greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.	While we sometimes equate greenhouse gases with CO2 alone, it's important to remember the other major ones. Methane and nitrous oxide are more powerful greenhouse gases than CO2, and make up the bulk of food production's contribution to climate change. Research done to date for pulse crops in Western Canada indicates that pulses reduce nitrous oxide emissions overall, have little to no effect on methane, and increase the planet's ability to capture carbon dioxide from the air and store it in the soil.
A: Pulse crops are good for soil health and sustainable agriculture.	While most of us don't spend much time thinking much about soil, it's been linked to the rise and fall of civilizations. Franklin D. Roosevelt said in 1937, "the nation that destroys its soil destroys itself," and Neil Sampson said that "we stand, in most places on earth, only six inches from desolation, for that is the thickness of the topsoil layer upon which the entire life of the planet depends." Like other crops grown under good management practices, pulses are recognized as contributing to overall soil health, including soil's tilth, water-holding capacity, microbiological activity, aeration, and the amount of organic matter present. But pulses make a bigger contribution than most crops to overall soil fertility, and add diversity to the mix of crops farmers grow, which breaks plant disease cycles, reduces weed problems, and limits the overall need for crop inputs. Pulses also have a positive effect on water quality, because nitrogen-fixing crops create only as much nitrogen as they need, greatly reducing potential nitrogen seepage into groundwater or contamination of surface water.
A: Pulse crops are a big part of the solution to how our planet can sustainably feed 9 billion people by 2050* * United Nations population forecast, 2007.	Human beings need a balanced diet to stay healthy, including protein for growth and carbohydrates for energy. As population and wealth increases in developing countries, there is increasing demand for protein. With double or triple the protein content of other field crops, pulses are one of the few ways that the world can meet the protein needs of those extra human beings while leaving a minimum environmental footprint. Pulses are one of the most sustainable, low energy-input, low water-input, and low greenhouse gas emission sources of protein in the world.