What's driving Australia's pulse revolution?

Published 2024년 9월 8일

Tridge summary

Australia's lentil and chickpea production has seen a significant increase over the past five years, with lentil production expected to reach a record 1.69 million tonnes and chickpea production forecasted at 1.33 million tonnes. This growth is due to advancements in breeding, agronomy, and marketing, as well as the crops' ability to fix nitrogen and fit well into crop rotations. The booming pulse industry is expanding across various regions, including the Victorian Mallee and the Upper Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, and is especially welcomed in areas with lower rainfall. The high returns and expanding market have made these crops a popular cash crop, attracting growers and leading to a matured and growing Australian pulse sector.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

The increases in lentil production over the past five years have been staggering. Australia's grains industry is being supercharged by a growth in production of high value pulse crops. National production of both chickpeas and lentils are expected to clock in well in excess of a million tonnes, with Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) estimates for a record equalling lentil crop of 1.69m tonnes. Australia's lentil production was just 242,000 tonnes only a decade ago in the 2014-15 season. Meanwhile, this year's chickpea crop of 1.33m tonnes is set to be bigger than the last two seasons combined. Legumes have long been prized for their ability to fix nitrogen and fit in well within crop rotations, and have sporadically performed particularly well on a gross margin basis. However, now there has been a sustained period of strong returns and solid margins meaning areas continue to expand at a rate of knots. There has been a huge chickpea ...

Source: Queenslandcountrylife