TODAY marks World Pulse Day and it is fair to say the Aussie pulse sector has a little extra more to celebrate than usual.
Each year, the United Nations designated World Pulse Day is held to recognise the role of pulses in providing a valuable, nutritious food source to hundreds of millions of people globally and to acknowledge the invaluable role of pulses in sustainable farming systems.
Those in the Aussie pulse industry got a bonus cause for celebration this year with the announcement of the news Australia had beat off a host of other applicants and won the rights to host the prestigious Global Pulse Conference in 2021.
This annual conference attracts 700-900 leaders of the global pulse industry across all sectors of the value chain, from breeders and farmers through to traders, exporters and processors.
It will be held in Sydney in May next year.
"This is terrific news for the Australian pulse industry", said Nick Goddard, chief executive of Pulse Australia.
"It will be 11 years since Australia last hosted this event, and since then, the Australian Pulse Industry has only strengthened its position in the global pulse world, as pulses have become more firmly entrenched in the Australian summer and winter cropping cycles.
He said the pulse landscape was markedly different to when Australia last held the event.
"Since last time we have seen the explosive growth of the plant protein revolution," he said.
And the conference was not the only piece of good news.
Australia's chickpea heartland, in northern NSW and southern Queensland, finally received good rain over the weekend after a horror drought, leading to optimism of an increased northern chickpea plant this year.
Mr Goddard also said the rain was sufficient for some growers to speculate with ultra-late summer pulse crops, such as soybeans and mung beans.