Chickpeas becoming a hot crop for Virginia farmers

ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY - The July sun beat down on a group of Natural Bridge farmers as they waited for a tardy tour bus. When the bus finally pulled up, the farmers noticed it had "QUICK'S" plastered on its side - ironic, considering they had been waiting in the field next to a Shell gas station for nearly half an hour.

The bus carried some 40 occupants from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Department employees and some family members gathered in Lexington this year for their annual summer Board of Agriculture meeting. But this year's assembly added a new attraction: Mack Smith's chickpea field.

Smith, whose family has farmed land near Natural Bridge for six generations, is one of a handful of farmers on the forefront of commercial chickpea research in Virginia.

Representatives from the Virginia Department of Agriculture crouched to examine the little green pods on Smith's plants. They were gazing into what could be the future of the state's agriculture.

"It's a unique-looking plant. It's like nothing I've ever seen," said Smith, owner of Smith Farms. "Even though we're in the production end of agriculture, you wouldn't believe how many people have asked about chickpeas. People are really interested in it."

Smith said his unusual crop has attracted a lot of attention since he planted it in April. The plants are typically grown in dryer Western states such as Montana and Idaho, Smith said. But he said the agriculture department contacted him earlier in the year with the hopes of researching commercial chickpea viability in the region.

Spearheading the crop's introduction to Virginia is the country's largest hummus producer, Sabra Dipping Co., which relies on chickpeas as a primary ingredient. Garrett Hart, assistant director of economic development in Chesterfield County, said Sabra's only hummus factory in the United States - and the largest hummus-producing plant in the world - sits near Chesterfield.

"Sabra is trying to buy their raw materials as close to the plant as they possibly can to reduce their environmental footprint when it comes to transportation," he said. "The majority of the chickpeas in the U.S. are raised in places like Oregon. But the goal was, last year, to plant about 2,000 acres of chickpeas in Virginia. And we did. And they were successful."

Hart said that for Sabra, it makes more sense to bring chickpeas to Virginia than it does to bring a factory to Oregon. The company, headquartered in White Plains, N.Y., opened its Chesterfield plant in 2010 in large part because of the area's location and accessible transportation routes, he said.

Sabra, a joint venture owned by PepsiCo and Israeli-based Strauss Group, has seen tremendous success in the hummus industry since the company was purchased in 2007, Hart said. This, in turn, has propelled chickpea demand. According to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 214,000 acres of chickpeas have been planted for commercial use in the United States so far in 2013, up from 83,000 acres in 2008.

National chickpea production was valued at more than $115 million in 2012, up from less than $35 million in 2008, the year before Sabra began construction of its Chesterfield plant.

Growing popularity

Smith said chickpeas as a crop are most comparable to soybeans. Chickpea statistics are still a far cry from soybeans' production value of $169 million in Virginia alone, according to data from the state agriculture department. But Hart said Sabra's - and, in turn, chickpeas' - popularity shows no signs of slowing down.

In response to increasing hummus demand, Sabra began considering Virginia's viability as an additional source of chickpeas closer to its Chesterfield plant. Sabra contacted the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services earlier this year, said Matt Lohr, the department's commissioner. Lohr said he helped Sabra set up a handful of trial crops in Rockingham and Augusta counties, in addition to Smith's fields in Rockbridge County.

Around the same time, Sabra also reached out to Virginia State University's school of agriculture, said Mark Klingman, an administrative assistant for the school's Small Farm Outreach program.

"Sabra approached us early this year looking for farmers to test three or four different varieties of chickpeas to see how they'll do in Virginia. They wanted to test out parts of the state and different climates to see where they're growing the best," he said. "If they can get Virginia farmers actually producing someday, that's going to be a win-win situation for Sabra and for the farmers."

Klingman said his department spread the word to growers in Chesterfield and Halifax counties, many of whom agreed to plant trial crops each year for the next three years. During this testing period, Sabra has agreed to cover costs for chickpea seeds, pesticides and antifungal sprays, Klingman said. Farming equipment and labor costs are in the hands of the individual farmers, he said.

Smith said Sabra representatives also promised him compensation for his 5 acres of chickpeas. He said he expects payment equal to what he would make harvesting 5 acres of soybeans.

"I don't lose any money, but, at the same time, I don't make any more money," he said. "It's a pretty fair deal. I was guaranteed something on that 5 acres, no matter what happens."

Although Sabra representatives would not confirm the number of Virginia farmers currently involved in the chickpea trials, there are at least seven participating farmers in at least five Virginia counties, according to Lohr and Klingman. Greg Greene, Sabra's marketing director, said these test crops could open the door to agricultural opportunities down the road.

"At this point, the goal is research driven. We are very optimistic about the possibilities and proud of the partnership we have with VSU," he said. "Long term, there may be the potential for larger scale chickpea farming in Virginia."

The chickpea's introduction to the region has not come without growing pains, said James Brown, a Clover farmer contacted by Virginia State. Brown said steady rains kept him from getting tractors and other farming equipment out into his fields. He has only been able to spray his plants with fungicide once since he planted in April.

"I just haven't been able to get back out and work them with the tractor. The rain messed me up a little bit," Brown said. "And then the crows came in and ate all of it. I planted 5 acres and I think the crows picked about half an acre to an acre."

Smith said chickpea seeds range in size from tiny kernels to large marbles, which made it difficult to plant them with standard drilling equipment. He said farmers considering chickpea crops long term might need to invest in specialized machinery.

Some advantages

Despite difficulties, Smith said chickpeas could appeal to many Virginia farmers. He said his crop was hardy enough to produce chickpea pods in the wake of this summer's torrential downpours.

"These are indeterminate plants. That means they'll bloom and make pods continuously from the time they come out of the ground until the frost kills them," he said. "And these plants don't like a lot of rain. If we had normal weather conditions for the year, they would probably be taking off. If we can grow these in abnormal, wet conditions, what will they do in normal conditions?"

Smith said his corn and soybean crops are plagued by hungry groundhogs and deer but his chickpeas have not had nearly as much trouble with destructive wildlife. Klingman said chickpeas are not appealing to deer and other Virginia animals, and farmers might consider using chickpeas as a barrier around other crops in the future to keep critters out.

Smith said these crops may also improve his soil quality. Chickpea plants carry Japonicum bacteria, he said, which form little bumps along the plant's roots. These nodules pull nitrogen out of the air and deposit it into the soil. When the plant dies and the roots wither at the end of the growing season, the nitrogen stays behind.

Smith Farms will rotate its chickpea crops into other fields each year to improve overall soil quality, said Marcus Smith, Mack Smith's son.

"When we come back here and plant corn in this field next year, the corn will actually be able to use all that extra nitrogen," he said.

Mack Smith said it is still too early to tell if Sabra will grow chickpeas commercially in Virginia long term. The state's humid environment makes these plants susceptible to certain kinds of blight that are less prevalent in dryer western climates, Klingman said. However, Smith and other farmers remain optimistic. Smith said he expects chickpeas to have a future in Virginia long after Sabra's trials wrap up.

"Hummus is one of the biggest condiments in the country right now. This thing is taking off with leaps and bounds," he said. "I'm experimenting. Obviously, it seems like we can grow them here. I'm just one of the guinea pigs trying to figure this thing out."

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