Pulses are moving from staple foods to strategic nutrition assets. Plant-based proteins, meanwhile, are progressing beyond early consumer hype into a broader industrial ecosystem spanning milling, fractionation, fermentation and food formulation. For the grain, feed and ingredient industries, this is about more than new products; it is about new supply chains, tighter quality specifications and new opportunities to capture value.

Pulses are increasingly recognised as a scalable answer to today’s nutrition challenge. As food systems face tighter budgets, climate stress and rising health pressures, legumes offer a rare combination of affordable protein, high fibre and strong micronutrient value in a shelf-stable crop. Yet the real shift is happening beyond the field. Pulses are rapidly moving from commodity trade into ingredient manufacturing, from flours and starches to concentrates and isolates, reshaping value chains, quality expectations and investment priorities. This cover file explores why pulses are becoming central to global nutrition strategies, what is changing in processing and trade, and where millers, ingredient processors and exporters can win in the next cycle.

To ground this theme in both market reality and industrial execution, this cover file features two complementary reads. In “An overview of world trade in pulses,” Diana Sarungbam of the International Grains Council examines the latest shifts in global trade, highlighting the 2025 slowdown and the demand and policy signals that could shape a recovery in 2026.
Alongside this, “Helvét-Farm: Turning peas into the next protein platform” offers a case study from Hungary, showing how investment in pea processing, fractionation and extrusion can convert a traditional crop into higher-value protein and flour streams, supported by quality control across the full value chain.