Processing conventional produced peas in a regional environment (Eastern Germany)

The case study is about the development of conventional pea value chain in the German region of Saxony. More precisely, it focuses on the company Emsland-Stärke. While Emsland-Stärke was created in 1928 for extraction and process of starch derivatives from potatoes, the company decided in 2004 to foster the cultivation of peas in Germany and created a German sales market for peas. More precisely, it started to process peas to pea starch, pea protein, pea fiber and by-products. Indeed, the peas imported so far from Canada posed occasional problem of GMO contamination. 

The barriers at the start were the insufficient amount and a lack of farmers’ knowledge on cultivation of peas. In addition the transportation of the low delivery quantities was an obstacle of this market. Nowadays main growing areas are Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia in the east of the country. In the last year 2017 Emsland-Stärke processed 129.000 tons of peas. 93 % of this was grown in Germany, 5.5 % were imported from France, 1 % from Czech Republic and 0.5 % from Poland. Emsland-Stärke obtains its products by direct contracts with the farmers or on wholesalers.