Miller Magazine Issue: 139 July 2021

75 INTERVIEW MILLER / july 2021 Pulse Canada? As you can appreciate, the demand for plant-based pro- teins is booming and as an organization, we’re committed to ensuring that Canadian pulses are considered the premier plant-based ingredient. That goal is central to the success of our market diversification strategy. I assumed the leadership role as our organization renewed its 25 By 2025 strategy so the directive from the Board has been clear from day one. With all that said, there are 2 priorities that I’d highlight as highly relevant right now. The pandemic has made it abun- dantly clear that every organization must have a digital busi- ness strategy; one that not only ensures it can effectively deliver results in a remote environment but also ensures that its service offerings are scalable and can reach a broad audience. As demand for plant-based protein booms, there are many new entrants to space and new products being introduced. And while that’s great for our industry, the real- ity is that the overall volumes utilized in each case are still relatively small so we have to be able to extend our reach to a very broad audience. Our investment in our digital mar- keting strategy will help us do more in today’s constrained environment and will position us well as the world finds a new normal. The other focus for our industry right now is sustainabili- ty. While we hired our first director of sustainability back in 2008 in anticipation of a new demand driver, the world is now truly awake to the important link between agriculture, food and climate change. Pulses are nitrogen-fixing legumes that can simultaneously enhance the nutrient density of a food product and reduce its environmental footprint. Our pri- orities are to ensure that we continue to build the body of science to support these claims and to ensure that every link in the food value chain embraces pulses as solution provid- ers when it comes to health and sustainability. There couldn’t be a more important time to leverage our strengths. A TURNING POINT FOR THE INDUSTRY Can you tell us Canada’s position in world pulses pro- duction and trade? Canada is the world's largest producer/exporter of peas