What The 'Lentil King of Saskatchewan' Knows About World Trade
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Who is the “Lentil King of Saskatchewan” and why is he important to global pulse trade?
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Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio News.
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Odd Lots Podcast. I'm Joe Weissenthal.
And I'm Tracy Alloway.
Tracy, uh, Canadian elections last night.
Yes. Big event. I think a lot of people are talking about it in the context of US politics, right? Of course. So we just saw Mark Carney and the Liberals win. And in a lot of ways, I think people would agree that Mark Carney is sort of the antithesis of Trump, right? He's the sort of globalization, Davos, former central banker guy. And and the funny thing Is or the slightly ironic thing is, it seems like Trump might have swung the election in the direction of the liberals. Sure, yeah.
Well, yeah, you go back like three months ago or four months ago or something, and it just seemed guaranteed that the conservatives, Pierre Polyev, was going to win. And then Trump started talking about making Canada the fifty first state, and suddenly fortunes turned very quickly. But that was just a news hook. We're not really doing a Canadian politics episode today, per se.
We're doing something better.
We're doing something better. The real reason that we're doing this episode, this just happened to be good timing for the hook. The real reason we're doing this episode is that uh several weeks ago I was reading an article and I saw a title about a man named the Lentil King of Saskatchewan, or not named, but titled as such. And I thought to myself, the Lentil King of Saskatchewan sounds like a great oddlots character, someone that we should talk to. to learn about a very specific business and how it works.
The lentil king of Saskatchewan, the Sultan of Split Peas, the Grand Poopa of Pulses, the Baron of Beans, Monarch of Multi Grains. I can keep going.
You did your prep. That that's really good. Anyway, do we have The Lentel King of Saskatchewan on the podcast today. And we are gonna really learn about how the international pulses and grains trade actually work. What does it mean? How does trading work with the US? How does it work with the rest of the world?
How did Murad Al‑Katib turn a basement idea into a multi‑billion‑dollar pulse business?
How do you build that supply chain?
I'm also just incredibly surprised that Canada is such a big player in this market. I think it exports like a third of the world's lentil crop, something like that. That's kind of crazy.
That is a lot about lentils. But they have a lot of land in Canada for this type of thing. Not a ton of people, a lot of land. Anyway, let's learn all about the lentil trade, the pulse trade, the grain trade, and so forth. Are we
gonna take the pulse of the pulse trade?
We are gonna take the pulse of the pulse trade. We are speaking with Murad Al Khatib. He is the president and CEO of AGT Food and Ingredients, credited with turning Saskatchewan into such a powerhouse of trade from uh lentils. So, Mrad, thank you so much for coming on Outlot.
Well,
thanks for having me. Why don't you start with what does the Lentil King of Saskatchewan do? Tell us about the business of uh AGT food and ingredients.
Is it good to be the Lentil King?
It's definitely been an interesting uh career for me to kind of contribute to the transformation of agriculture out in Western Canada.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who is the “Lentil King of Saskatchewan” and why is he important to global pulse trade?
0:00–3:24
2
How did Murad Al‑Katib turn a basement idea into a multi‑billion‑dollar pulse business?
3:24–10:06
3
What makes Canada such a dominant player in the world’s lentil and chickpea markets?
10:06–17:58
4
How does AGT Foods build and manage a global supply chain from Saskatchewan farms to consumers in India, Turkey and beyond?
17:58–27:32
5
What would happen to the supply chain if the United States imposed tariffs on Canadian lentils?
27:32–36:25
6
How have precision agriculture, digital tools and zero‑tillage boosted yields on Canadian pulse farms?
36:25–45:27
7
Why is trade‑related infrastructure (rail, ports, processing plants) critical for Canada’s agricultural future?
45:27–52:39
8
What are the long‑term outlook and strategic priorities for Canadian ag‑food exporters amid shifting global trade policies?
52:39–54:34
Speakers
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