Pulse sector fights anti-green trend

A Canadian food industry executive is telling pulse companies to stick with their sustainability messaging despite attempts by powerful people to undermine the movement.

Murad Al-Katib, president of AGT Food and Ingredients, said U.S. president Donald Trump has been very vocal about his disdain for the green movement.

“All of the sudden the words environment, social governance and sustainability are becoming taboo words,” he told delegates attending the Global Pulse Confederation’s Pulses 25 conference.

He told the pulse company leaders gathered in Singapore not to be fooled by Trump’s anti-green messaging because sustainability is still valued by consumers around the world.

“Banks and finance (people) and pension funds are going to continue to demand sustainability and so will the consumer of the future,” said Al-Katib.

He said anybody getting “cold feet” and considering abandoning their sustainability marketing strategies need to remember that pulses have a fundamental advantage over other crops in the way they fix nitrogen and improve soil health.

“We should capitalize it, we should celebrate it, and we should shout it from the rooftops,” Al-Katib said to a round of applause.

Sylvain Charlebois, senior director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, said there is no doubt that Trump is “downplaying the environment file,” but he agrees with Al-Katib that it might be hard to accomplish.

“Climate change is arguably the most significant threat that the agri-food sector is facing and that’s not going to change,” he said.

But what is likely evolving is investor sentiment about the importance of sustainability initiatives, which has been front and centre in the food industry for years.

“When you oversell something by using an argument that is not as sexy anymore, that is the danger,” said Charlebois.

He believes that is the feedback food industry executives have been receiving from investors and the reason that Al-Katib is trying to rally the troops.

Charlebois said he has never been a “huge fan” of pushing pulses as an environmental solution.

He believes there are other attributes that resonate better with consumers, such as the nutritional benefits of pulses.

Food inflation is also top of mind with consumers, and pulses can play an important role in that fight because vegetable protein prices tend to be far more stable than animal protein.

“Look at beef prices,” he said.

“Striploins are up 34 percent since January in Canada.”

Charlebois noted that Canada’s beef cow inventory has dropped to 3.38 million head, the lowest level since 1989.

Many cattle farmers are exiting the industry while prices are favourable.

Meanwhile, Canadian per capita beef consumption fell by 7.1 per cent in 2023 and another 2.1 per cent last year.

Al-Katib indicated that the pulse industry is not sitting on its laurels when it comes to promoting other attributes of the crops.

He said there is a pulse “innovation revolution” occurring in developed markets such as the United States.

For instance, Kraft Heinz recently announced the launch of Jell-O chocolate pudding made with oat milk and fababean protein.

Another company has launched an oatmeal made with pea protein discs that look identical to oat flakes. The ingredient raises the protein level of the oatmeal to 18 grams per serving.

Tags: pulses, food inflation, animal protein, consumption, climate change