Ep. 327: Is he the Wayne Gretzky of pulse crops?
Guest: Murad Al-Katib
“Sustainable three-crop rotation” does not roll off your tongue, nor is it an idea that can be easily comprehended.
Yet sustainable three-crop rotation is at the heart of a transformation in agriculture that started in Saskatchewan about 20 years ago.
What is sustainable three-crop rotation, you ask? They are cereal, canola and pulse crops. The first two, you’ve heard of. But pulse crops – what the heck are they? And why should we care?
The reasons to care are environmental, economic and security. First, environmentally: pulse crops, like lentils, affix nitrogen into the soil, which means the field does not have to lay fallow to rejuvenate. That, in turn, means a new crop can grow and while doing so, it captures carbon from the atmosphere and sequesters it. Both effects make pulses environmentally beneficial.
Economically, the value to the Canadian economy is in excess of three billion dollars a year and growing. That, in turn, leads to jobs and further economic growth. And the phenomenal success of AGT Terminals, headed by Murad Al-Katib, has increased the production of foods from pulses and increased food security in Canada.
Central to AGT’s success is science and technology. Al-Katib’s company employs more than 30 researchers who are not only growing an abundance of food, they are also producing and milling it in Canada – plant-based foods that produce protein rich foods that require less land and less water than traditional protein products.
Data, analytics, decision support, artificial intelligence, better cameras and drones are all a parts of the agriculture equation that are enhancing the ability of farmers to produce a bounty of food for a world of more than 9.5 billion people by 2050. The farms of today and tomorrow employ IT teams to help run efficient and sustainable businesses.
We invited Murad Al-Katid, the 2017 Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year, the man Professor Sylvain Charlebois calls the “Wayne Gretzky of pulses,” to join us for a Conversation That Matters - Food For Thought episode about the limitless possibilities in Canadian agriculture.
