 Ryan Ettinger, a merchandiser from AGT Foods, and Ryan grew up on a farm in McIntosh, South Dakota and attended Dickinson State. And he's been with AGT Foods as the merchandiser and hit of grain procurement for 11 years. And he's also currently farming wheat, pea and soybean. Thank you very much. Thanks, Audrey, for putting this together. It's nice to be back in person versus doing it virtual. I always enjoy coming to meetings and in trade shows where you can visit with the growers and in person. So it's kind of long overdue on my end. I want to give you a little rundown of our company, kind of where it all started, trends of where the markets are heading. Also, just kind of give a rundown of some of the exciting products that are coming out of the the pulses here out of our MyNotNorth photo plan. So AGT is a company formed in Regina, Saskatchewan, Morad, El Petit. First plant was in Regina, the main plant there did split red lentils, does yellow peas, green peas, also whole lentils. We have railway in Saskatchewan where we do bulk lentils, peas, durum, canola. Our MyNotNorth Dakota facility, that's our fractionation plant. So that's the one that's making all the pea proteins, texturized, pulse proteins. I gave everybody here a box of pasta that we're making at our MyNotPlan made out of one ingredient, ELPs. We also have our Bell Group in Turkey. They make pasta over there out of durum, bulgur out of wheat. So we have our South Africa plants. They do some popcorn and in different quantities there and 40 plants worldwide, six key agricultural production areas. And in the US here we have the Williston plant and then the MyNotNorth Dakota plant. Different products, kind of the key products. The core of business is lentils and peas. So red, green, yellow, lentils, yellow, green peas, whole end split, chickpeas, we get into the coolies, the desi's, B90 variety. We have a bean plant, St. Joseph Manitoba where we do kidneys, pentose, blacks. We do the billed durum in Turkey and several different commodities in Canada. We do a lot of durum, canola, flax and a lot of different fault-loaded plants up there. We have just opened the Delisle Suspension plant, bean plant there where they grow about 110 car unit trees. Food ingredients primarily in MyNotNorth Dakota. Flowers, protein, starches derived from peas, lentils, chickpeas. And we also have a packaged food division called AGT Quick and that is in Canada. So in 2012-13 we invested in an ingredient platform and basically the whole vision was for food grade but after 2013 when we put the pea protein lines in the pet food market was taken off. So in 2013 June we completed our first line for pea protein. We completed the second line in May of 2014 and we saw the pet food market just continue to grow. It was growing at a rapid pace and that was the core of our business at that time. 2015 third line completed and then we saw a decline in the pet food pea protein in about 17-18. I think 2018 was about when it kind of went downhill. DCM was a big issue that came about. It's a large hard condition in pets. Basically what happened was FDA said a couple dogs could get enlarged charts and they got the DCM and they died and traced it back to grain-free pet foods. So we didn't find any science to back it but at the end of the day once it gets on social media the consumer just kind of halts buying that brand of pet food. The good thing is in that time frame we were very active in with food companies doing different trials. You can see the pasta here that just doesn't happen overnight. That takes four to five years to produce an ingredient or a food product like that and there's several more down the line which I'll get into here shortly. So the veggie pasta one ingredient which many of the consumers like if you want to know that there's no other additives in there it's gluten-free, non-GMO, all the peas that we we get here are North American growing and processed in mine. An overview of pulses of why they are so important, key part of nutrition. You can take a look at at the protein levels. There are high protein source, high dietary fiber, low fat and that's what a lot of the the markets are looking for. Like Scott said in India a lot of the vegans over there the population continues to grow. They're all vegan based diets so that's where all of these fit in and domestically we're seeing products like this and food companies coming in looking for more and more pulse ingredients to put into different food applications. For launches of pulse ingredients you can see how the pet food kind of is stabilized but since 2015 7500 of the launches you know of the human foods and you get into 2019 that's well over probably about 9500. So the pet food is kind of stabilized as far as new launches maybe declined in 2020-21 but as you look at at the food that's where the growth is and we feel will continue to be. So dynamics of where the market is 2050 global population expected to rise 30% to over 9 billion. You can take a look at the Asia Pacific like the growth there is going to be big. We're going to have to grow a lot more pulses, grains to feed the world it's just where we're headed with the increased population worldwide. So all the new markets you take a look at Europe, North America, China 2020 I know China they were in for a lot of the LPs which would lead to a lot of North American stocks and you take a look at how pulses fit in the rotation throughout this area Eastern Montana. It's a key part of our rotations out here and I think going forward the growth in the fall sector is going to only continue to grow. Start with the yellow peas here on the market outlook we'll get into production first. The pea production this year with the big drought throughout North America last year we had about 980,000 metric ton of peas and at the beginning of the year 2020 I didn't think that we're going to be able to move peas like 2020 harvest we're 350, 375 official on yellow peas. China came in they bought a lot from Canada when they're done buying from Canada they bought from the US and completed a lot of our stocks along with USDA tenders. So this year's production 550,000 metric ton at harvest this year USDA came in and just bought 50,000 metric ton of yellow split peas so that drove the market up to some pretty good levels to where we are now but the production is down straight across the board I think we're down 430,000 metric ton from the 970,000 acres and lowest production since 2012. Well it's kind of the same thing lowest production since 2014 chickpeas lowest since 2015. So the drought was not a small area it was all of Saskatchewan and we're still drying beneath these parts which is still a bit concerning. Canada falls production take a look at where they were from 2020 to 2021 same deal I mean we're dealing with lower stocks almost cut in half on peas, lentils down about a million metric ton and then chickpeas are down significantly as well. Yellow pea markets so the export markets for North American peas right now really not very active at all. We're kind of priced out of the market Ukraine's offered for 60 to 80 dollars metric ton less so everybody's going to go to Ukraine and buy as much peas as they can versus come to North America. The one thing that we have for us right now is the food ingredients sector and the USDA genders that's what's been holding up the LAP price. Canada's haven't been as active in September or October but that August one completed quite a few stocks in the PL 480 program they've got to be US origin peas so can't buy from Canada can't buy from anywhere else they've got to be US origin. We're the highest price in the world right now just due to that and we're unattractive to the export market but what will kind of hinge on the LAPs going forward is going to be I think PL 480 and ingredients are going to stay strong. So if we get another tender out there of any significant quantity I could see these make a little runny. 2021 crop I would say the least 65-70 percent small we got prices right now 15-50 of bushel historically that's right near the top of the market so the price summit that range and if there's a tender that comes along that those levels a little higher I'd be moving some more. Fertilizer costs are going to be well they already are insane so I'm looking at acres for 2022 definitely going to be up acres are going to be up on pulses soybeans out here especially in the eastern Montana there's a lot of lentils there's a lot of peas and it may not be a bad idea to put some big crops right now we're $11 on new crop yellow peas so back to God so price I'm in that range just is not probably a bad idea considering where the market could go there's so many so many variables out there with the weather you don't know with the moisture situation what's going to happen there but I'd still price them in to get get a little bit locked in. Green pea market been getting a lot of calls why are green peas lower than yellows well USDA really was active in the yellows not active at all in the green pea market export markets right now not really buying a lot we're $13.75 on old crop and we don't have a new crop price held there yet but historically looking at $13 $13.75 range still get price on green peas we're just the same thing with yellows we're too high in the export market I'd price at least half of them right now $13.50 $13.75 range is not that price and look for new crop contracts here as they come out little market not not very active now February or December that price drove out there India was a big buyer and we still have I think they'll be back in the market here in November December but they just are not buying they're buying hand them out and that's the trouble they're not buying big volumes they're buying enough to cover for short term when you get given situations like that the price really doesn't run although they are buying at the at the levels of mid 40s right which is not a bad price so for the October December shipping we're seeing the man about 25 percent of what's normal from export customers and just due to the price is too high and they don't want to buy send themselves out and get stuck with a bunch of high price levels I'd sell at least you know 65 percent of your of your old crop just look for some new crop I don't have a new crop well price as of yet but I would expect them to be rather attractive once they do come out chickpea market held up over production of chickpeas 2018-2019 we had a we had some big volumes of chickpeas if the turd guys from growing them just based upon well pricing the teens guys main comments were we're not putting them in they're two to three applications a fun aside for 18 cents it's not doesn't bash well for me totally understandable but now we're the difference a little different dynamic with with the drill we have you know us candidate didn't have much of a crop you think all of you know turkey and india had some racks so we are not looking at a big world supply chickpeas and I think they may be an attractive drop here for this next year still same thing was kind of sound like a broken record but the demand on the export market right now isn't that strong we have been buying some chickpeas for 50 per hour in the lineup at 45 46 cents per pound so pretty good numbers there I think we'll have some new drop pricing out rather soon I'd say probably in that november december time frame I expect some decent values there too I'd be at least 50 percent sold if you get something that's 40 good 40 one last crop I want to talk about and it fits in this area to a certain extent on this year with the dry conditions it is it is a little tough to want to go out and try a new crop but you have irrigation anything like some heavy soil that's out in trouble with rudder or something like that this would fit in pretty good that's well the heavier soils the age of six and a half to nine it's all it's three to five feet tall and kind of 13 inches or it's kind of where the pot set is so you're not cutting right on the ground it put probably means put a lot of nitrogen back in the ground there's the highest fixing crop of uh for a lagoon crop then crop they fix 30 more than these and I think we can get a 50 bushel crop I think they said somewhere in that 40 to 50 pounds advantage can put back in the soil with fertilizer cost that's a that's a good option main markets are fractionation we have a lot of customers coming in now looking for this we we started on the father beans and I took a risk three years ago or four years we had a lot of the a lot of the customers looking at it but they never wanted to buy it they want to put it in their food applications they liked it because it was a high protein source higher than these 29 30 protein but yet they didn't really is all a labeling position they didn't know how the consumers react father beans it's not that well known well now that they've we've tested it out in our new app and brought some food customers and they really like functionality of it so I think there's a the market's going to grow on this one and it's it's more adapted to the north and probably north central north to the northeast the one thing is the allergens in it so soybeans if you have anything with soybeans or anything like that to where there's any contamination it probably would be a good fit but birth hold birds all seed and bird hole is handling the seed for us we have the favela variety it's a low bi-seed convice seeding variety high protein variety so it is a it is a good option and we should have some contracts out within the next week on that so opportunities and challenges I think the protein plant-based protein they're not going to go any way away anytime soon I mean we're going to be looking at that into the food sector it's growing and I think it'll continue to grow over the next several years r&d groups I mean we've had countless food companies in our r&d lab with Dr. Mehmet Tolbeck in our Saskatchewan or Saskatoon lab he's been doing a lot of r&d with a lot of food companies and doing functionality trials so I think we're going to be we're going to be seeing this thing grow continually one challenge that we're starting to see from some of them they're just like Scott said they're testing for glyphosate, paraquat, other chemicals we have some companies that require yellow peas they want the paraquat test done right away if there's any detection at all they don't want anything to do with it same with glyphosate so it's a challenge for farmers because it's a great option for a burn down or for a harvest aid yeah we're seeing some resistance from customers on that so is that more just the guys aren't waiting the seven days to harvest or that's they don't want it at all no you know that's it's sometimes drift you can even see it in drift like there'd be guys that say hey I've never sprayed that before but maybe my neighbor did and there's drift or even waiting the seven days you still get residual so what do they want farmers to do then exactly yeah kill the crop yep that's what we're doing that's what we're telling them but do you have people swathing or no not much there's some in Canada that that happens but not not down here it is an option but yeah yellow peas is primarily where it's at and we get guys that don't desiccate yellow peas but when you get into lentils you get into chickpeas that's where we're telling them really no other way then yeah yeah exactly so it is a it's a big challenge in front of us and it's not everybody but there are specific customers where we get a ip put it in a different band and run it for them so that's one challenge you can see and we just basically what we do is we check with the grower it's not right now it's not the huge huge volumes every you know every month we're looking for some but it's not to the point where we're dealing with thousands and thousands of tons of it but something to watch down the road I would market at increments I know I've been getting a lot of calls where's the high kind of like Durham here how many about a month or two ago where's the high on Durham well it's also when they went to no bid how that worked out and it was panic time but marketed increments I think is still your best your best option we deal with cash flows on your farm make a sale won't sell at all sell quarter third whatever whatever works for our cash flow in that period of time you need it provide your processor for the with a representative sample of each band it's it's truly important to us and truly important to our customers if we're buying based off of a spec when we get something completely different it uh it does create problems for everyone so being forthright and getting the samples as a key part of it uh this is more geared towards our mineout plant clean out harvest equipment trailers um I guess both plants it is but with soybeans I guess is what I'm I'm alluding to soybeans can cause a big problem when we're making pea protein and we're making bobbled bean protein chickens uh chicken flour as well so if you're cleaning stuff out thoroughly it's very important because it is food grade there's a reason they're buying peas because they're substituting out of something else and we're we've got testing so good anymore we're down to parts per million and parts per billion so as we're testing our flour we'll find that and then you know it doesn't work for the customer so it's very important in order to to clean out stuff as good as you can and make sure you don't have any issues one last thing I'd like to bring up is ordering pulse all your crop are all seed and you're inoculant early we're looking at supply chain issues everywhere we go and talking to different seed suppliers some of them don't even have price on yet but I would for sure order early and early I mean probably November and in the early December because after the first year I'm here and it could be tough to get specific varieties