GRANITE FALLS, Minn., Aug. 17, 2023 – The third installment of “Minnesota’s Alt-Meat Revolution” looks into how the largest operating processor of pea protein in North America sources their peas and how peas might fit into Minnesota’s agricultural landscape. The episode — called “Give Peas a Chance?” — will be available on Friday, August 25 at www.pioneer.org/altmeat.
PURIS has been processing pea protein out of their plant in Dawson since October of 2021 for companies in the alt-meat industry, including Beyond Meat. The facility has the ability to process 20,000 metric tons of pea protein per year.
With PURIS so close, Dawson organic farmer Luke Peterson thought that this would be a great opportunity for local farmers to bring pea crops to their rotations. “When PURIS moved into town originally, my first thought was great, I'm gonna have a processing facility to bring peas to, three miles from town,” said Peterson, “I think a lot of farmers thought the same.”
Reily Bata farms with his dad at Bata Farms in Langdon, North Dakota and they began farming the PURIS pea in 2020. “Peas honestly work pretty good on our soil conditions on our farm,” explained Bata. The Batas were looking to increase the crop diversity on their farm to naturally mitigate disease and pest threats.
But as the 2023 growing season progresses in Dawson and around Minnesota, there isn’t much evidence of peas being grown in the region. And there’s a reason for that. Dawson insurance agent Patrick Miller explains why it’s so hard for farmers to break away from traditional crops like corn and soybeans: “There’s huge markets everywhere for corn and soybeans. … There’s two spots in every town [where] I can deliver my corn and soybeans.” Another major driving factor is crop insurance. Lac qui Parle County, where Dawson is based, doesn’t have a policy on yellow field peas. “If you don't have guaranteed coverage through crop insurance, you're never gonna get an operating loan,” explained Miller.
This episode examines the role that crop insurance plays in how farmers think about and develop their rotations and the complexities of trying to introduce new crops. It also explores ways that farmers are thinking creatively to introduce different crops into their rotations, improving the health of soil, water and the local communities in which they operate.
“Minnesota’s Alt-Meat Revolution” is a year-long video and print journalism collaboration project, looking into the roots and impact of the plant-protein phenomenon that’s exploding across the globe. The project is a partnership between Pioneer PBS, West Central Tribune and WORLD, with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Each video story will be accompanied by a newspaper article by reporter Tom Cherveny of the West Central Tribune. The videos and articles are available at www.pioneer.org/altmeat and www.wctrib.com/news/local/altmeat.
“Minnesota’s Alt-Meat Revolution,” together with WHRO’s “Against the Current,” a multiplatform series that will tell the story of rural residents’ lives as they live with, and adapt to, the effects of climate change in Virginia’s Eastern Shore, will be broadcast nationally and streamed under WORLD’s “Local, USA” umbrella as “My Home is Here: Stories of Rural America.”
