The Northern Crops Institute (NCI) will be holding a virtual course on pulse crop utilization June 8-17, 2021. This course provides participants with current information surrounding the pulse industry in our four-state region. From production to breeding to health benefits and processing, there will be discussions led by university and industry experts.
Participants will have the chance to view pre-recorded seminars, watch virtual demonstrations of pulse processing, and take in a virtual tour of a pulse processing facility, as well as engage with presenters during 4 live Q&A sessions on June 8th, June 10th, June 15th, and June 17th, each at 7:00 pm (CST).
Get more information at: https://www.northern-crops.com/training-courses.
The Pulse Crop Health Initiative has announced the opening of its current funding cycle, seeking submissions for research proposals for fiscal year 2021 funding. PCHI is a special project, funded through the Farm Bill, with approximately $4.3 million available in grants for FY 21. Most projects funded are at the level of $60,000 to $100,000 (per institution on a project).
The goal of PCHI is to rely on research conducted through the various funded projects on pulse crops (dry peas, lentils, chickpeas, and dry beans) to “provide solutions to the critical health and sustainability challenges facing the citizens of the United States and the global community. “
Research should be focused on any/all of the following research areas:
The deadline for submitting the application packet is May 14. Plans of work will be reviewed by an independent scientific panel and rankings will be discussed with the Steering Committee before final decisions are made.
For additional contact Michael A. Grusak, Center Director, USDA-ARS Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center at 701-239-1371 or mike.grusak@usda.gov.
A new research project out of Michigan State University’s Food Legume Quality Genetics Research Lab is studying the quality of beans and pulses for use as a flour ingredient.
The survey is directed to food industry professionals who use any type of pulse flour in their products. According to researchers, the objectives are to:
Responses are confidential and will not be linked to your name or company in reports. Follow this link to take the survey.
North Dakota’s Living Ag in the Classroom event didn’t go as planned due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, with the quick thinking of the committee, commodity groups created videos to share with elementary school-aged students throughout the state. Watch the Northarvest Bean Growers Association video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p-deaAVH-4.
The 2021 virtual Global Plant Forward (GPF) conference was attended by Adam Veile and Kaci Vohland from Communique on behalf of Northarvest Bean Growers Association. They also presented at the GPF event on March 30 – April 1, 2021.
The Global Plant-Forward Culinary Summit is a joint initiative of the CIA and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Department of Nutrition. The summit focuses on cooking and culinary strategy discussions, which are all based on the evidence-based framework of optimal innovation embodied in the 24 Principles of Healthy, Sustainable Menus of the CIA-Harvard Chan School Menus of Change Initiative. Innovative chefs and masters of traditional cuisines from around the world and across the United States are featured, as well as sector experts from full-service restaurants to contract foodservice. Featured chefs included those whose work is highlighted in the Plant-Forward Global 50, a joint initiative of the CIA and the EAT Foundation, summarized by The Washington Post with its headline, “The World’s 50 Best Places to Eat Your Vegetables.” It includes a strong focus on blended burgers and the Pulses of Change initiative which elevates legumes as a plant protein.
Through the online platform, we were able to attend all general sessions. As a sponsor, Northarvest provided a virtual booth in the Plant-Forward Innovation Hub. Attendees were able to visit our booth 2-3 times each day of the conference. We had a different presentation each day to entice attendees to visit our booth each day. Presentation topics included: Meet a Bean Grower, Beans for Every Lifestyle, and Bean Cost and Sustainability. For Meet a Bean Grower we played a recorded interview between Kaci and Leann Schafer. The other two presentations were done live by Kaci and Adam. We were able to provide attendees with resources including Northarvest and Bean Institute websites.
We were also able to sponsor a pop-up session titled “From Spreads to Stews: Elevating the Everyday Bean” that starred Chef Johnny Graham demonstrating two bean-inspired recipes. We set up a cooking day in advance of the conference to record Chef Johnny preparing the dishes.
As a sponsor for GPF, we were able to provide several pieces of content for attendees as well as receive email addresses for over 900 attendees and sponsors. Our content included a sponsored snack recipe of black bean protein snack bites and three educational material links for the GPF website that attendees can continue to access all year. The links we chose were: https://beaninstitute.com/foodservice/, https://beaninstitute.com/beyond-bean-basics/, and https://beaninstitute.com/recipes/.
Other publicity for beans during the conference included mention of white beans being the next big vegetable, the inclusion of aquafaba rather than whipped cream in a plant-forward cocktails session, and the author of the Cool Beans cookbook being highlighted in a Meet the Author session.
Final reports from the conference showed over 80 attendees visited our booth, over 70 attended our sponsored pop-up session with Chef Johnny Graham, and nearly 20 attendees clicked our “call to action” button to visit BeanInstitute.com.
GPF 2022 will take place April 5-7 at the CIA at Copia in Napa, CA.
