Ustedes tienen gusto de algunos guisantes? Si? Loose translation: Would you like some peas?Yes?

Justin Flaten is brushing up on his Spanish in preparation for the pulse crop farmer's first trip to South America to take advantage of the recent U.S.-Peru trade agreement.

Flaten, co-owner of JMGrains in Garrison, is one of many going on the next North Dakota Trade Office mission to Peru and Colombia on Tuesday. Good timing, as more than 80 percent of all U.S. exports to Peru are now duty-free and a similar trade agreement with Colombia is pending.

For pulse crop growers such as Flaten, that could mean a piece of the $48.1 million worth of peas and lentils that Peru and Colombia import. U.S. exports into the two countries are a fraction of that; currently, a majority of Peru's and Colombia's pulse crops are imported from Canada.

"The pea market in Colombia is almost exclusively dominated by Canadian suppliers,"Flaten noted. "(The trade agreement)is going to give us U.S. suppliers a big advantage, which is going to bring more dollars to North Dakota."

With such a small domestic market, North Dakota's pulse crops producers expanded into international markets to survive. Flaten said 92 percent of his business is in exports:China, France, Germany, Mexico, Canada and Brazil are among the dozen or so countries their product is exported to.

"Ienjoy this part of the business,"Flaten said about exporting. "There's a lot that goes into it. For me, I really enjoy doing the selling and the exporting and making new contacts. I'm really excited to take part in the trade mission and bring more value back to the state."

And because North Dakota is the largest producer of pulse crops - peas and lentils - many of the state's producers have secured connections across the globe, from the major Asian markets to European countries and now South America.

Peru imports about 70,000 metric tons worth of lentils and peas; Colombia imports about 90,000, Flaten said. His business produces about 35,000 tons a year, but he would expand production if he secures more contracts in South America.

Larry White, marketing director of the Northern Pulse Growers Association based in Bismarck, which represents 75 percent of the pulse growers in the U.S., said the trade agreement gives U.S. growers a leg up on Canadian producers.

"Now, we have a free-trade agreement (Canadian producers)don't have,"said White."That's why there's interest in going there."

White and the NPGA secured connections for producers in Europe on a North Dakota Trade Office trade mission, and is confident this next mission will do the same. North Dakota producers are still benefiting from connections made during that mission; Marvin Flaten, Justin Flaten's father, was one of the producers on that trip, and now JMGrains exports to France and Germany.

"Here, you have a lot of small companies that have a one-on-one relationship that has some distributor or buyer half-way around the word,"White said, adding emphasis that face-to-face connections are key.

These missions are not sight-seeing tours; nearly every minute of the attendees' days are taken up by meetings scheduled by the trade office. Although Flaten's never been to either Peru or Colombia, he's confident with how the NDTOprepared him.

"We've had a couple of phone conferences advising us of the legal side, so that we're protected financially,"he said. "And they advised us on different culture things that a farm boy from North Dakota might not expect."

(Reach reporter Crystal R. Reid at 250-8261 or at crystal.reid@bismarcktribune.com.)