"For lentil growers, 2016 was a heady time. Or, at least, as heady as it can get in the world of lentils. Normally, the humble, stodgy legume doesn't garner much attention, let alone celebration, at least not in Canada. But the high-fibre staple food of the hippie roommate was in the midst of a marketing push. The United Nations dubbed it the International Year of Pulses."
"Canada was well settled as the world's top lentil producer. From its infancy in the 1970s and '80s, the lentil industry has grown dramatically year after year. In 1973, production was virtually nil. By 2016, it was hard to overstate just how much of the global market was in the hands of the Saskatchewan farmer. More than 3 million tonnes of lentils were grown in Canada that year, accounting for nearly half of the total global output."
The United Nations declared 2016 the International Year of Pulses to promote nutritional and environmental benefits of edible seeds like lentils, chickpeas and beans. In Canada, lentil production surged, especially in Saskatchewan, with more land seeded and record exports; India purchased over one billion dollars' worth of pulses in 2016. The lentil industry grew from near zero in 1973 to more than three million tonnes by 2016, supplying nearly half of global output. Canadian producers became the dominant global supplier, creating dependence of major importing countries on Saskatchewan harvests, while domestic Canadian consumption remained relatively low.
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