Pigs' milk and potash: Saskatchewan grower dominates the fenugreek market

A Saskatchewan producer seems to have cornered the national market on a lesser-known crop withapplicationsas diverse as pigs' milk and potash.

Nathan Sudom appearsto be the onlyfenugreekexporterin Canada, according to numbers released by StatisticsCanada on Thursday.

"It's a pretty cool company, you know, being able to take a product from Saskatchewan, and export it all around the world and add value to customers," said Sudom, CEO of Emerald Seed Products located in Avonlea, Sask., located 80 kilometres southwest of Regina.

He and his family havebeen producing fenugreek for over 25 years.

According to Statistics Canada,2,809 acres of fenugreek crops were reported in 2016 and 100 per cent of those crops were in Saskatchewan.Comparatively, there were only 179 acres of fenugreek reported in Canada in 2001.

Sudomsaid he thinks all of the province's fenugreek crops are grown byfarmers he does business with.

He buys the crops from those farmers and exports them to to the United States, Japan, Israel and Bangladesh, among other countries.

Unlikely uses

A study published by Cambridge University tested fenugreek on dairy cows,generatinginterest in it as an alternative to alfalfa which mayincrease lactation for some farm animals.Sudomsaid his top importershave used the plant to increase milk production in pigs.

It is also used as a precipitating agent in the potash industry.

"The mining side, it's something that's completely different and you don't really see at all really," he said explaining that aviscous solution extracted from the plant's seedsis used by clients in Saskatchewan toclean potash.

The plant is also used as a culinary spice, most commonly found in Indian curry dishes.

Cornered market a rarity

An analyst from Statistics Canada saidSudommay have coined a rare Canadian market.

"It's not something we see all the time," said Eric Neudorf, analyst with the census of agriculture for Statistics Canada.

He comparedSaskatchewan's fenugreek productionto Ontario's sweet potatoes in2016, whenthey held 99 per cent of Canada's total crops.

"Although there were small plots of sweet potatoes across Canada it's not quite the same as fenugreek where it's all in one place," he said, attributing southern Saskatchewan's hot and dry summers to the plant's segregated growth pattern.