Business | Summer 2010
Make money in pulses.
By Joy Gregory
Manage risks and know your customers.
Long-time pulse grower Leo Meyer says the key to selling peas for increased cash flow and profit is a risk management approach that includes stability programs, insurance and a commitment to developing good working relationships with the processors and feed mills that buy his crop.
Farming near Woking in Alberta’s Peace region, he must also factor delivery costs and logistics into his marketing strategy. A 12-year veteran of field pea production, he simply adds those elements into his prices, then works extra hard to nurture strong relationships with distant buyers in central and southern Alberta. Back at his farm, Meyer keeps a close watch on price changes, and then forward sells as much as he can, with delivery to follow. “Last year we were pretty much sold by harvest. Not delivered, but sold.”
“With no pulse prices set on the world market, everything a farmer can do to build relationships with buyers is really important,” says Sheri Strydhorst at the Alberta Pulse Growers Commission. While few growers have developed the business relationships Meyer has, there are lessons to be learned from his example. “There is a real opportunity here to build buyer loyalty,” she adds.
Meyer agrees. He knows his approach takes time and effort. But he wouldn’t have it any other way. “This has nothing to do with luck. We’re not dealing with a commodity here. When we produce these peas, we have in mind our customers and what they could be using them for down the road.”
And the satisfaction of a job well done is just the beginning. “I like reaching over a desk to shake the outstretched hand of a customer and hearing, ‘Thank you, Leo.’”
