Nichole Neubauer shows off some of the red lentils harvested this year by her farm. -- NEWS PHOTO MO CRANKER
With summer winding down and fall on the horizon, it is now time for farmers in the area to start harvesting some of their crops.
For the Neubauers, Friday was the first of three days harvesting red lentils.
The News stopped by the Neubauer’s lentil field to learn more about legumes and everything that goes into a successful harvest.
The lentils were planted this spring and are a fairly low maintenance crop, says Neubauer.
“We start out the lentils by putting a coating on them,” she said. “It protects them from soil-born diseases that can cause rot. Another treatment goes on the seed to enhance the plant’s ability to fix nitrogen.
“Legumes actually fix nitrogen from the atmosphere and they convert it and store it in their roots. We amplify this ability to store nitrogen.
“Since lentils don’t actually need the nitrogen they store, it is released back into the soil after harvest and is available to next year’s plant.”
Neubauer says the small but mighty lentils need to be in a field with good weed control so there is little to no competition in the early stages of growth. Once they are growing, farmers check in on the crop mostly for fungus developments.
“You won’t find lentils in other parts of Alberta with more precipitation,” said Neubauer. “Disease becomes quite a big issue in those humid, moist environments.”
The Neubauers, a fifth-generation farm, hope to be just about done with the lentil harvest by Sunday.
“Lentils can be tricky because they’re a little harder to thrash than something like wheat,” said Neubauer. “These lentils we have this year are also tricky because they fell over. Since they fell over we need to drive slowly.
“Driving slowly helps us avoid clogging up the combine.”
Neubauer expects about 9,000 bushels of lentils from the 280 acres being harvested.
The family will then work with a broker to sell the crop around the world.
“The biggest importing country for lentils is India,” she said. “If we’re around that 9,000 bushel number we’ll be happy.”
Neubauer says the demand for plant proteins is on the rise and lentils are leading the charge.
“These are a high-protein, low-carbohydrate, plant-based alternative,” she said. “As people in Canada try them and get more familiar with them, they’re becoming quite popular.
“These taste great when prepared properly, they’re healthy and they’re great for our soil.”
Neubauer says farmers in the area and around the world will continue to play an important role in society as the population continues to rise.
“When you look toward 2050 and the projection of 9 billion people, farmers will feed all of those people,” she said. “Sustainability is at the heart of every decision we make as we move forward in the world.”
