Going Green

Going Green. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. Some time back my wife and I made the brave transition to trying sushi and knew I was going to have a rough time when the waitress dropped a small plate of cold, green pea-pod looking things on the table. My wife and I exchanged looks and of course that meant, you first, honey. So I grabbed one and popped it into my mouth not knowing I was supposed to shell the thing first. Silly me. But what I finally discovered was that I loved something called edamame or green soy beans. Well now a farmer in the Treasure Valley of Idaho has begun pushing green chickpeas or garbanzo beans. SCHOLZ: You know we kind of know that fresh garbanzo are good because the elk like to eat them and the deer so I think he kind of got the idea he could sell them similar to the way they're selling green soybeans or fresh soybeans and fresh peas and so he's been kind of pushing the effort and I think it has taken him several years to get some real interest. That is Todd Scholz, Director of Info & Research for USA Dry Peas, Lentils and Chickpeas says that farmer Doug Moser has really been beating the drum as of late for the early harvesting of the crop. SCHOLZ: From our perspective we know that chickpeas have opened up because in the United States maybe 5 to 7 years ago there was about 20-thousand acres and 10-thousand were raised in California and 10-thousand in the Pacific Northwest and now there's about 60-thousand acres or so and about 40-thousand to 50 are raised here so chickpeas have brought on quite an opportunity. Any green or fresh product Scholz believes will be just a niche market but as more and more consumers discover that the green garbanzo's are sweeter and more nutritious there will definitely be more of a demand but at present it is hard to judge what the market will be. SCHOLZ: It's similar to that edamame opportunity you know but I know that they do taste good because I've been in field and shelled them and they are good. Fresh chickpeas, I really can't give you any good ideas because it's pretty new and we don't have any real good figures but the chickpea itself, the dry chickpeas are selling for somewhere around 26 cents a pound right now. Peas, lentils and chickpeas are holding their own on the marketplace and acreage-wise as well but with an idea like this, it will be interesting to see if more and more producers use the green garbanzo as a rotational crop. More tomorrow on the dry pea, lentil and chickpea crops in the northwest. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.