New pea and lentil varieties to watch for in 2026

Two seed growers - Justin Ritco with Condie Seeds at Lumsden and Thomas Winney with Winney Seed at Rosetown - recently appeared on the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers podcast.

AAC Beyond is a new yellow pea variety. Ritco says it has consistent high yield and protein levels.

"We've seen this level of yield in peas before, but usually that yield came along with some sort of negative attribute such as poor standability, too long season of variety, having seed coat breakage. But what makes AAC Beyond exciting is this top-end yield is in combination with an early maturity and moderately resistant Fusarium root rot package, which isn't something that we've seen before. And so it makes this variety a lot more well-rounded and desirable for growers."

AAC Julius is a smaller sized yellow pea compared to Beyond. Ritco says the smaller seed size of Julius means "growers can hit their target plant populations using fewer pounds per acre", making it "a more economical seeding operation." He also listed some of the differences between Julius and Beyond.

"Beyond is more compact, a shorter vine length, a shorter overall height. And Julius, even though it has a smaller pea size, it's actually a more robust plant overall, so it's a much bigger, much taller, longer vine length. And so both varieties are strong, but they bring different strengths to the farm. Julius, I'd say, is more efficient for seeding and Beyond, efficient harvest operation." Ritco said.

The new variety of red lentils is CDC 6928. Thomas Winny explained its performance in trials.