Todd Hansen is a fourth generation farmer in Gildford, Montana. He’s been growing pulses since the 90s with a current rotation that includes winter wheat, spring wheat, durum, barley, yellow peas, chickpeas, lentils, canola, and mustard. Over the past several years, he has transitioned from a traditional 50-50 winter wheat/fallow system to a more diversified 75-25 winter wheat, lentil, and oilseed rotation. Hansen is a member of the Montana Pulse Crop Committee and has served on the boards of the Montana Grain Growers Association, the Montana Grain Fund, the National Association of Rural Communities, and the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station. In this episode, he shares some lessons he has learned growing pulses over the years, his challenges with chickpeas and how he’s made lentils work in his rotation despite pressure from weeds, pests and disease.

“ I feel like it is not my farm. It is either my great-grandfather's or my great-grandkids', and I am just here to be a caretaker for a little while and hope to God that I pass it on in at least as good a shape, if not better shape, than how I found it when it was passed to me. I just feel like a placeholder.” - Todd Hansen

This Week on Growing Pulse Crops:

• Meet Todd Hansen, a fourth generation pulse crop farmer in Gildford, Montana
• Explore what led Hansen to become an avid pulse grower on his family’s operation and how he has worked them into his rotations
• Discover how Hansen sees the future market of pulses and what producers can do to capture it

Growing Pulse Crops is produced by Dr. Audrey Kalil and hosted by Tim Hammerich of the Future of Agriculture Podcast.

Julianne Kellogg is the crop innovation program manager within the R&D function at Ardent Mills. A lot of people might know Ardent Mills for their flour milling, but as you’ll hear today, there is a lot of innovation happening in pulses as well, especially with chickpeas. In addition to pulses, Julianne’s group works with alternative grains like buckwheat, quinoa, flax, food barley, oats. Julianne discusses what is happening in pulse innovation for food manufacturers and consumers, and why companies like Ardent Mills are so excited for the potential in pulses.

“ Those food scientists out there are, are wizards. You know, they, they do seem to almost have a crystal ball because really unique things keep coming out with lentils and chickpeas and all the other pl- pulses, and continued, uh, um, like improvement on what's already out there. So I think about just the pastas, and when I buy chickpea pasta or lentil pastas today, I, I'm always shocked by how good they are, and I find that really exciting and encouraging, where maybe before, you know, we were all dabbling in pulses and adding pulses in, and now we're not dabbling. We're, we're perfecting, which is really great..” - Julianne Kellogg

This Week on Growing Pulse Crops:

• Meet Julianne Kellogg, crop innovation program manager within the R&D function at Ardent Mills
• Explore what is happening in pulse innovation for food manufacturers and consumers
• Discover why companies like Ardent Mills are so excited for the potential in pulses

Growing Pulse Crops is produced by Dr. Audrey Kalil and hosted by Tim Hammerich of the Future of Agriculture Podcast.

Kevin Haas is a 3rd generation farmer based on his family farm near Jamestown, North Dakota. He’s been planting pulses since the early 1990’s, and currently grows peas, lentils, edible beans, corn, soybeans, wheat, barley and oats. Haas has been a strong advocate for the pulse industry for many years, having served in leadership roles for the Northern Pulse Growers Association, the North Dakota Dry Pea and Lentil Council, and USA Pulses. In 2004, he broke ground to start the construction of a processing plant specifically for pulse crops in Jamestown, ND. In this episode, Haas shares his experiences both growing pulse crops as a farmer and handling them as a processor and marketer with Legume Matrix.

“ I think we need to recognize that the consumer is a very important part of the equation. If the consumer is saying, "Hey, I want this, I'm willing to buy this," we need to pay attention to what they're telling us. And I think we need to educate ourselves in the standpoint of whoever your processor is, your elevator, or whoever you're working with, talk to them. See what markets you are finding success going into and then try to adapt what they're able to be successful at to fit your program in a sense, if it can. You know, I mean that middle ground where you can maintain those things that are really important and still at the end of the day, be able to supply that market with an acceptable product, but still on your own farm, being able to pay your bills and being profitable.” - Kevin Haas

This Week on Growing Pulse Crops:

• Meet Kevin Haas, a processor and marketer with Legume Matrix and 3rd generation farmer in North Dakota
• Discover the journey taken in creating Legume Matrix processing and the scope of product they manage
• Understand the pulse industry impact from policy changes within government programs
• Explore what Haas sees for the future of the pulse crop industry for producers

Growing Pulse Crops is produced by Dr. Audrey Kalil and hosted by Tim Hammerich of the Future of Agriculture Podcast.

Codee Lee is a technical specialist for CHS. Half of his job is research of their proprietary products like fertility products, biologicals, crop protection and adjuvants. The other half of his job is communicating about that research with customers and growers in general. Lee shares the purpose of adjuvants and the advantage they provide producers especially when facing adverse environmental factors. Dr. Audrey Kalil joins this episode as co-host. A plant pathologist by training and background, Kalil is currently an Agronomist and Outreach Coordinator at Horizon Resources and producer of this podcast.

“ I've been doing small plot research for 15 years already, and how these products perform and how much benefit these adjuvants will give you is very, very dependent on our environment. The more adversity in the environment, the more benefit you get out of these adjuvants. I'm not going to sit here and say that they're a silver bullet, but for us, specifically up here in adverse environments, they can be really a handy tool in the toolbox to help kind of plateau that performance across our different spraying conditions.” - Codee Lee

This Week on Growing Pulse Crops:

• Meet Codee Lee, a technical specialist for CHS
• Discover the purpose, method and impact in adding adjuvants to in-puts
• Explore how factors including crop variety, risk of crop injury, environmental factors and type of herbicide available can help determine what best steps a producer can take to optimize their weed management

Growing Pulse Crops is produced by Dr. Audrey Kalil and hosted by Tim Hammerich of the Future of Agriculture Podcast.

Kurt Braunwart is the managing owner of Progene Plant Research, a genetic research-based company bringing new innovations and old uses to current varieties in the market. The company is known for their spring and winter pea program, as well as their work in oats and triticale. Braunwart discusses his career in this industry, how he started and built Progene, how he identifies oddball traits that can have mainstream applications, some of the differences and similarities between spring and winter peas, and his hopes for the future as he transitions the company over to new ownership. He began his career as a fieldman for Rogers Seed Company in 1974 in Twin Falls, Idaho. In 1980, he moved to Colfax, Washington, as Plant Manager and later to Othello, Washington, as Operations Manager. In 1995, he purchased and carried forward a dry pea breeding program from Rogers Seed Company. This business became ProGene Plant Research in 1996.

“ What we were finding through the whole team was that we've got ways to improve the roots of those peas, to contribute back to soil health. And that yes, we can do that with spring peas, but we can do it way better with winter peas because their ratio of roots to top growth is more roots than in spring peas.” - Kurt Braunwart

This Week on Growing Pulse Crops:

• Meet Kurt Braunwart, the managing owner of Progene Plant Research
• Discover the creation and mission of Progene
• Explore the differences and similarities between spring and winter peas
• Learn where he sees the future of crop development

Growing Pulse Crops is produced by Dr. Audrey Kalil and hosted by Tim Hammerich of the Future of Agriculture Podcast.

Dr. Lars Kamphuis is an associate professor at Curtin University and the deputy director of the Center for Crop Disease Management where he focuses on crop diseases that impact Australian farmers. The center collaborates extensively with state departments and universities around the country to research diseases relevant to growers throughout Australia. Kamphuis was born and raised in The Netherlands and studied plant breeding and crop protection at Wageningen University. He then had the opportunity to do research in Australia and says he just never left. In this episode, he shares about his experiences with lupins and why the crop is fitting in well in some Australian rotations. He also discusses his work with Sclerotiania stem rot, fungicide resistance and the ascochyta issues Australian farmers have had to deal with.

“ A lupin is kind of what we would call an orphan crop. It's not very well known around the globe, but it has a tremendous value. So it does really well in sandy and acidic soils, which is particularly a problem here in Western Australia. So for some of our Australian grain growers, where they have to give breaks to their cereal and canola crops, they need a viable pulse crop in these sandy acidic soils and lupins are a perfect fit.” - Dr. Lars Kamphuis

This Week on Growing Pulse Crops:

• Meet Dr. Lars Kamphuis, an associate professor at Curtin University and the deputy director of the Center for Crop Disease Management
• Explore the introduction and benefits to adding Lupins in pulse crop rotations in Australia
• Understand the challenges of Sclerotiania stem rot, fungicide resistance and ascochyta issues faced by Australian farmers
• Learn more about the ongoing ascochyta research from our episode in season two with Dr. Kampuis’s colleague, Dr. Jenny Davidson

Growing Pulse Crops is produced by Dr. Audrey Kalil and hosted by Tim Hammerich of the Future of Agriculture Podcast.

Todd Scholz is vice president of research and member services for USA Pulses, which until last year was known as the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council. This year Todd will retire after 26 years with the organization. He joins us today to talk about the industry’s work in getting more crop protection tools labeled for pulse crop growers. USA Pulses is a nonprofit organization that has been pushing for pulses in our food system since 1965. Their work supports over 5,000 growers, processors, and exporters across the US, working from field to fork to strengthen the industry and highlight the value of pulses worldwide. Todd’s job as vice president for research and member services is to take research needs from producers/industry and try to marry it with researchers and funding to answer the need to be able to raise the crop. Today, Todd discusses USA Pulse’s research priorities, their involvement with the IR-4 program and that program’s importance for pulse crop growers, global harmonization of maximum residue limits and some reflections from his 26 years in his role.

“ There's an organization called IR-4. It was created in the sixties, and its purpose was to provide the link for specialty crops to get access to pesticides. Generally, when a registrant or a pesticide company wants to label a pesticide, they look for easy returns. So that's corn, soybeans, maybe wheat and other major crops. And so the specialty crops get ignored. So the IR-4 was organized and formed and its history is so amazing. It started with one guy, a desk, and maybe a secretary. And now it's about a $15 million program.” - Todd Scholz

This Week on Growing Pulse Crops:

• Meet Todd Scholz, vice president of research and member services for USA Pulses
• Explore the industry’s work in getting more crop protection tools labeled for pulse crop growers.
• Discover the IR-4 Program and its importance for pulse crop growers

Growing Pulse Crops is produced by Dr. Audrey Kalil and hosted by Tim Hammerich of the Future of Agriculture Podcast.

Today’s episode goes behind the scenes of pulse crop disease diagnostics with Dr. Uta McKelvy, Dr. Raissa Moura and Erin Gunnink Troth. They explain how Montana State University’s Regional Pulse Crop Diagnostic Laboratory provides post-harvest seed testing for replanting and export phytosanitary needs (including an Ascochyta-plus fungal screen and regulated nematode tests). Dr. McKelvy contrasts this with the Schutter Lab’s in-season plant health diagnostics for crops and other plant-related services, outlining how samples are evaluated and how environmental conditions influence what diseases are seen.

"Think of the diagnostic labs: Schutter and the Regional Pulse Diagnostic Lab as just resources that are available to you that you should take advantage of. Why guessing and wondering if you could know, right? I want to point out from the Schutter side of view, we're not just sending you a report that says you have this - good luck. Every report includes information on the disease and the pathogen, and emphasizes management recommendations.” - Uta McKelvy, Ph.D.

Resources:

Schutter Diagnostic Lab: https://www.montana.edu/extension/diagnostics/

Regional Pulse Crop Diagnostic Lab: https://plantsciences.montana.edu/pulsecropdiagnosticlab/

Annual Report: https://www.montana.edu/extension/diagnostics/annual-report.html

MSU Ag and Urban Alerts: https://www.montana.edu/extension/ipm/alerts/

Extension Plant Pathology website: https://www.montana.edu/extension/plantpath/resources/

This Week on Growing Pulse Crops:

00:00 Why Guess When You Can Know

01:46 Meet the Pulse Lab Team

02:38 How the Pulse Lab Started

06:39 Funding and Lab Support

07:42 Seed Tests and Export Nematodes

12:15 Sampling and Disease Trends

16:40 What to Do With Results

17:55 Schutter Lab Overview

22:36 How Plant Diagnosis Works

29:09 Trends and What They See

33:45 Final Takeaways and Resources

38:13 Wrap Up and Next Episode Teaser

Growing Pulse Crops is produced by Dr. Audrey Kalil and hosted by Tim Hammerich of the Future of Agriculture Podcast.

Shannah Peterson has been a part of the procurement team at Anchor Ingredients for the past six years. She also works with their sustainability and regenerative programs. On today’s episode, Peterson discusses the demand drivers for pulses for pet food markets, how trends like sustainability and regenerative farming practices impact pet food buying decisions, some important opportunities to be aware of for pulse producers, and what she’s watching from the pet food market in 2026. She shares great insight as someone who is a part of purchasing and sales decisions of pulses almost daily.

“ There's been this humanization of pet food where people really care the quality of pet food that their dogs and animals are consuming the same as humans. So one thing we've seen is as this trend in regenerative agriculture has hit the food space, it's also hit the pet food space. Where a lot of these brands are like we want to be able to source this product sustainably. We want to source it from regenerative farms. So we actually run a regenerative program where we offer regenerative farmers a premium for these pulses being grown regeneratively on their farm. And that's actually through our traceability platforms being carried all the way to our customers.” - Shannah Peterson

This Week on Growing Pulse Crops:

• Meet Shannah Peterson, a member of the procurement team at Anchor Ingredients
• Explore the use of pulses in the pet food industry and the recent impact of consumer concerns
• Discover regenerative and carbon programs used by Anchor Ingredients to create premiums for producers

Growing Pulse Crops is produced by Dr. Audrey Kalil and hosted by Tim Hammerich of the Future of Agriculture Podcast.

Dr. Chelsea Didinger is the founder of the online platform "A Legume A Day.” Didinger uses her PhD in nutrition to share her passion for the benefits of beans and legumes. She highlights not just their health advantages but also their role in sustainable agriculture through her online platform and presence. In this episode today, she discusses the global trends in pulse consumption, the nutritional benefits that make them a perfect food, and practical ways to incorporate more pulses into everyday meals.

“ I want people to know that it doesn't have to be hard. Again, you could sometimes make those swaps, like have a pulse based pasta or sometimes add chickpea flour to your baking, or pick the dishes that you really like and just add pulses to that, or crisp up some chickpeas, crisp up some lentils, and just sprinkle those on. It doesn't have to be hard. There are canned products. You can cook from dry. Whatever fits into your schedule and works realistically, you don't want to set this goal that's unattainable. So I think that's a good place to start.” - Dr. Chelsea Didinger

This Week on Growing Pulse Crops:

1. Meet Dr. Chelsea Didinger, the founder of "A Legume A Day” who uses her PhD in nutrition to share her passion for the benefits of beans and legumes
2. Explore why Didinger feels pulses are the “perfect food” and the many different uses she proposes that consumers might not initially consider to incorporate pulses into their diets
3. Discover bonus benefits to pulses including protein, fiber, complex carbohydrates, and additional phytonutrients and phytochemicals

Growing Pulse Crops is produced by Dr. Audrey Kalil and hosted by Tim Hammerich of the Future of Agriculture Podcast.