Episode 4

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Published on:

31st Mar 2026

Pulses in Pet Food with Shannah Peterson

Shannah Peterson has been a part of the procurement team at Anchor Ingredients for the past six years. She also works with their sustainability and regenerative programs. On today’s episode, Peterson discusses the demand drivers for pulses for pet food markets, how trends like sustainability and regenerative farming practices impact pet food buying decisions, some important opportunities to be aware of for pulse producers, and what she’s watching from the pet food market in 2026. She shares great insight as someone who is a part of purchasing and sales decisions of pulses almost daily.

“ There's been this humanization of pet food where people really care the quality of pet food that their dogs and animals are consuming the same as humans. So one thing we've seen is as this trend in regenerative agriculture has hit the food space, it's also hit the pet food space. Where a lot of these brands are like we want to be able to source this product sustainably. We want to source it from regenerative farms. So we actually run a regenerative program where we offer regenerative farmers a premium for these pulses being grown regeneratively on their farm. And that's actually through our traceability platforms being carried all the way to our customers.” - Shannah Peterson

This Week on Growing Pulse Crops:

  • Meet Shannah Peterson, a member of the procurement team at Anchor Ingredients
  • Explore the use of pulses in the pet food industry and the recent impact of consumer concerns
  • Discover regenerative and carbon programs used by Anchor Ingredients to create premiums for producers

Growing Pulse Crops is produced by Dr. Audrey Kalil and hosted by Tim Hammerich of the Future of Agriculture Podcast.

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About the Podcast

Growing Pulse Crops
The science and business of farming field peas, chickpeas, and lentils
This show features the latest in research, agronomy, and economics of pulse crops (peas, chickpeas, lentils, etc.).

Demand for these nutrient-dense, high-protein foods continues to grow. There is also interest from farmers to include more pulses into diverse rotations for benefits like nitrogen fixation and soil health.

But the industry continues to face challenges, and we are eager to address these head on. So if you’re a pulse grower or in any way interested in these important crops, hit subscribe and stay tuned for future episodes. We’ll be back with plenty of information about challenges pulse farmers are facing throughout the U.S. and what solutions are working.

Brought to you by the Pulse Crops Working Group with support from the Northern Pulse Growers Association

About your host

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Tim Hammerich

I share stories about agriculture, agtech, and agribusiness on podcasts and radio.