This article appeared in the Fall 2014 issue of Pulse Crop News.

Rachel Peterson, New Communications Coordinator

I am pleased to join the APG team as Communications Coordinator and I look forward to meeting all of you at industry events and out in the field. I am especially excited to come aboard during APG’s 25th anniversary year, and in time for the International Year of Pulses in 2016.

Since starting in June, I have been pleasantly surprised to be reminded what a small and friendly world western Canada’s agriculture industry can be as I attend meetings on behalf of APG and find many faces familiar to me from my last role as Communications Manager for the Agriculture & Food Council of Alberta.

Prior to serving in that role for eight years, I was employed by the Legislative Assembly of Alberta as a Research Analyst. During this time, I found Question Period to be riveting television as the other researchers and I gathered around the box daily while the Legislature was in session to watch democracy in action.

I had developed a strong interest in politics as a reporter covering politics and elections at every level at some point during my journalism career. My reporting career began at small, rural newspapers and culminated with four years as a General Assignment reporter at The Edmonton Sun. I covered everything from all 10 days of Klondike Days (a junior reporter initiation) to court proceedings, education, business, politics and criminal investigations. One of the highlights of my journalism career was being awarded an Honourable Edward Goff Penny Prize for Young Canadian Journalists. Every day was exciting and different from the next, and to date, my new role proves to be similar in that regard. But there are fewer emergency sirens so far.

I have enjoyed eating pulses all of my life, though I just called it food. As a child in Britain, a common staple in my mother’s dinner routine was baked beans, egg and chips (fries). As a mother of two elementary-school aged children, I often turn to baked beans on toast as a quick weekend lunch. My youngest has loved hummus since she was first exposed to it as a toddler in daycare and I know my oldest always enjoys a snack of chickpeas eaten one at a time using the Christmas appie fork. It has to be the candy cane fork. I have also started experimenting with more pulse recipes in the last year or so, and my husband is happy to eat any new creation as long as he didn’t have to make it.

Since becoming a mother almost a decade ago, I have developed a strong interest in nutrition. So when I learned that this position included educating Albertans about the nutritional value of pulses, I was intrigued. When I realized how great growing pulses is for the environment, I was hooked.

Having had a keen interest in writing since I could pick up a pencil, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to be the editor and primary writer for Pulse Crop News. I enjoy the entire process of producing a quality publication that is useful and interesting to its readers.

If you have ideas for stories that would interest you and other PCN readers, or if you are doing something unique with pulses that others may be interested in learning about, please drop me a line at rpeterson@pulse.ab.ca or 780-986-9398 ext. 3. Your photos are always welcome too. Follow @albertapulse on Twitter to find out if you have the information or photos we are looking for to complement future PCN articles!