Todd Scholz is vice president of research and member services for USA Pulses, which until last year was known as the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council. This year Todd will retire after 26 years with the organization. He joins us today to talk about the industry’s work in getting more crop protection tools labeled for pulse crop growers. USA Pulses is a nonprofit organization that has been pushing for pulses in our food system since 1965. Their work supports over 5,000 growers, processors, and exporters across the US, working from field to fork to strengthen the industry and highlight the value of pulses worldwide. Todd’s job as vice president for research and member services is to take research needs from producers/industry and try to marry it with researchers and funding to answer the need to be able to raise the crop. Today, Todd discusses USA Pulse’s research priorities, their involvement with the IR-4 program and that program’s importance for pulse crop growers, global harmonization of maximum residue limits and some reflections from his 26 years in his role.

“ There's an organization called IR-4. It was created in the sixties, and its purpose was to provide the link for specialty crops to get access to pesticides. Generally, when a registrant or a pesticide company wants to label a pesticide, they look for easy returns. So that's corn, soybeans, maybe wheat and other major crops. And so the specialty crops get ignored. So the IR-4 was organized and formed and its history is so amazing. It started with one guy, a desk, and maybe a secretary. And now it's about a $15 million program.” - Todd Scholz

This Week on Growing Pulse Crops:

• Meet Todd Scholz, vice president of research and member services for USA Pulses
• Explore the industry’s work in getting more crop protection tools labeled for pulse crop growers.
• Discover the IR-4 Program and its importance for pulse crop growers

Growing Pulse Crops is produced by Dr. Audrey Kalil and hosted by Tim Hammerich of the Future of Agriculture Podcast.

Today’s episode goes behind the scenes of pulse crop disease diagnostics with Dr. Uta McKelvy, Dr. Raissa Moura and Erin Gunnink Troth. They explain how Montana State University’s Regional Pulse Crop Diagnostic Laboratory provides post-harvest seed testing for replanting and export phytosanitary needs (including an Ascochyta-plus fungal screen and regulated nematode tests). Dr. McKelvy contrasts this with the Schutter Lab’s in-season plant health diagnostics for crops and other plant-related services, outlining how samples are evaluated and how environmental conditions influence what diseases are seen.

"Think of the diagnostic labs: Schutter and the Regional Pulse Diagnostic Lab as just resources that are available to you that you should take advantage of. Why guessing and wondering if you could know, right? I want to point out from the Schutter side of view, we're not just sending you a report that says you have this - good luck. Every report includes information on the disease and the pathogen, and emphasizes management recommendations.” - Uta McKelvy, Ph.D.

Resources:

Schutter Diagnostic Lab: https://www.montana.edu/extension/diagnostics/

Regional Pulse Crop Diagnostic Lab: https://plantsciences.montana.edu/pulsecropdiagnosticlab/

Annual Report: https://www.montana.edu/extension/diagnostics/annual-report.html

MSU Ag and Urban Alerts: https://www.montana.edu/extension/ipm/alerts/

Extension Plant Pathology website: https://www.montana.edu/extension/plantpath/resources/

This Week on Growing Pulse Crops:

00:00 Why Guess When You Can Know

01:46 Meet the Pulse Lab Team

02:38 How the Pulse Lab Started

06:39 Funding and Lab Support

07:42 Seed Tests and Export Nematodes

12:15 Sampling and Disease Trends

16:40 What to Do With Results

17:55 Schutter Lab Overview

22:36 How Plant Diagnosis Works

29:09 Trends and What They See

33:45 Final Takeaways and Resources

38:13 Wrap Up and Next Episode Teaser

Growing Pulse Crops is produced by Dr. Audrey Kalil and hosted by Tim Hammerich of the Future of Agriculture Podcast.

Shannah Peterson has been a part of the procurement team at Anchor Ingredients for the past six years. She also works with their sustainability and regenerative programs. On today’s episode, Peterson discusses the demand drivers for pulses for pet food markets, how trends like sustainability and regenerative farming practices impact pet food buying decisions, some important opportunities to be aware of for pulse producers, and what she’s watching from the pet food market in 2026. She shares great insight as someone who is a part of purchasing and sales decisions of pulses almost daily.

“ There's been this humanization of pet food where people really care the quality of pet food that their dogs and animals are consuming the same as humans. So one thing we've seen is as this trend in regenerative agriculture has hit the food space, it's also hit the pet food space. Where a lot of these brands are like we want to be able to source this product sustainably. We want to source it from regenerative farms. So we actually run a regenerative program where we offer regenerative farmers a premium for these pulses being grown regeneratively on their farm. And that's actually through our traceability platforms being carried all the way to our customers.” - Shannah Peterson

This Week on Growing Pulse Crops:

• Meet Shannah Peterson, a member of the procurement team at Anchor Ingredients
• Explore the use of pulses in the pet food industry and the recent impact of consumer concerns
• Discover regenerative and carbon programs used by Anchor Ingredients to create premiums for producers

Growing Pulse Crops is produced by Dr. Audrey Kalil and hosted by Tim Hammerich of the Future of Agriculture Podcast.