For Nathan Keane, farming in north central Montana is a long way from the suburbs of St. Paul, Minnesota, where he grew up. But after marrying a farmer’s daughter and joining his father-in-law, Kerry Upham, on a fourth-generation homestead near Loma, Montana, Keane has built a life and career rooted in Montana agriculture.
Today, Keane farms with his family while also serving as vice president of the National Association of Wheat Growers. He previously served as president of the Montana Grain Growers Association and brings a background in business and sales to an operation that has changed significantly over time. What was once centered primarily around winter wheat and spring wheat now includes a much wider crop rotation.
“We raise a variety of crops that include winter wheat, spring wheat, barley, peas, chickpeas, lentils, mustard, winter canola, spring canola, flaxseed, and occasionally some hemp,” Keane said.
That kind of diversification has become increasingly important in an environment where weather, markets and input costs can shift quickly. For Montana pulse growers, Keane’s experience reflects a larger story about why pulse crops matter: they are not just another crop in the rotation. They can be part of a risk-management strategy, a soil-health strategy and a long-term business strategy.
Learning to Grow Pulses More Efficiently
Keane’s first pulse crop was chickpeas in 2015. Like many growers who added pulse crops to their rotation, the early years came with a learning curve.
“When we first raised them, they were quite expensive to raise,” Keane said. “We bought our seed every year, put fungicide down sometimes twice a year and we would desiccate them before harvesting. It was expensive to raise.”
Over time, the farm changed its approach. Keane said they now raise their own seed, rarely use fungicide and no longer desiccate the crop before harvest.
“Since then, we have learned to grow them very cheaply,” Keane said.
That is an important point for growers thinking about pulse crop production in Montana. The first year or two may require new knowledge, different management decisions and patience. But as Keane’s farm adapted, pulses became a more efficient part of the operation.
The benefits have gone beyond the crop year itself. Keane said pulses have helped the farm move toward more continuous cropping because they use less water than some other crops. That can matter in dryland systems where every inch of moisture counts.
“Pulses do not use as much water as some other crops,” Keane said. “Allowing us to do continuous cropping has given us an advantage of more revenue each year.”
The Soil Is Changing, Too
For Keane, one of the most encouraging changes has been what he sees happening below the surface.
“Our soil is also changing,” Keane said. “Our organic matter is going up, it seems to be getting more mellow. I think our overall soil is healthier.”
He is careful not to attribute that entirely to pulse crops, but he does see them as part of the equation.
That fits with what many Montana pulse growers have seen across the state. Pulse crops such as dry peas, lentils and chickpeas are valued in rotation because they can help with soil nitrogen, water use and crop diversity. MPCC’s strategic plan also identifies pulses as efficient users of water and strong builders of soil nitrogen and organic matter. The plan notes that Montana has led the nation in pulse acreage and production since 2011, with dry peas, lentils and chickpeas serving both domestic and international markets.
The latest USDA/NASS state overview also shows the scale of Montana’s role in pulse production. In 2025, Montana reported 830,000 planted acres of lentils, 690,000 planted acres of dry edible peas and 260,000 planted acres of chickpeas.
Drought Changes Everything
Even with a diverse rotation and better management, Keane is blunt about what drought does to a farm.
“Drought is a big bummer,” Keane said. “It sucks the fun out of farming. Without water, there is no hope for growing anything.”
In Keane’s part of Montana, seasonal drought is a recurring concern. He pointed specifically to 2021 and 2022 as severe drought years for his farm. Depending on timing and severity, drought can mean anything from a smaller crop to no crop at all.
“It really all depends on the timing of moisture if and or when it comes,” Keane said.
This spring, Keane said, the farm started the season under significant moisture stress. There was little winter snow and very little moisture in March, April and May. That affected decisions before and during planting.
“It forced us to decide on what we should be planting and how much inputs, like fertilizer, we should be giving our crops,” Keane said. “It also gets us thinking about how we should be insuring our crops for the year and whether we put any hail insurance on our crop.”
Those are the kinds of decisions that can define a farm year. Drought affects yield potential, but it also affects input decisions, crop mix, cash flow, insurance choices and stress levels.
Crop Insurance as a Farm Safety Net
Keane said 2021 taught his farm a valuable lesson.
“In 2021, we were caught with not enough insurance compared to the risk we had that year,” he said. “It was a hard lesson learned, but we learned from it, and I feel that we now insure ourselves according to the risk we have each year.”
For Keane, crop insurance is not about making money in a bad year. It is about protecting the farm so it can continue into the next season.
“Crop insurance enables us to know that if we have a catastrophic failure, we will at least be able to farm another year without having to go into huge debt,” Keane said. “Crop insurance is one of the most important tools we have to ensure that we can farm another year.”
For Montana pulse growers, crop insurance has become one of the most important risk management tools available. Weather extremes, fluctuating commodity prices, and rising production costs create significant financial uncertainty. Crop insurance helps producers manage those risks by providing a financial safety net when severe losses occur, allowing farm businesses to recover and continue operating.
While the Montana Pulse Crop Committee (MPCC) does not administer or sell crop insurance programs, Montana’s pulse checkoff has played an important role in advancing the long-term viability of insurance for pulse crops. Through decades of investments in agronomic research, yield data, variety development, and producer collaboration, Montana pulse growers have helped build the information needed to support more accurate crop insurance products and stronger risk management opportunities. Those investments have contributed to improvements in coverage available to producers and have helped strengthen the economic stability of Montana’s pulse industry.
This work aligns directly with MPCC’s mission to improve return on investment for Montana farmers through research, market development, education, and strategic industry partnerships. Reliable risk management gives growers greater confidence to adopt improved crop rotations, invest in new technologies, expand pulse production, and make long-term decisions that benefit both their operations and Montana agriculture.
For Keane, that confidence is deeply personal.
“Without crop insurance, we are one huge disaster from having to sell the farm,” he said. “We stick hundreds of thousands of dollars into the ground, praying that it will return dividends in the future. The problem is that the weather doesn’t always cooperate with what we want.”
He said crop insurance allows his family to think beyond a single growing season. Investments in equipment, infrastructure, and improvements become possible because catastrophic losses no longer threaten the entire operation.
“Insurance gives us the peace of mind that we can invest in the future, knowing we are covered if something happens,” Keane said.
Stories like Keane’s demonstrate why effective risk management matters. Crop insurance is more than a federal program—it is an essential business tool that helps Montana producers withstand difficult years while continuing to invest in the future of their farms. Combined with the research, innovation, and market development supported by Montana’s pulse checkoff, it helps ensure that pulse production remains a resilient and sustainable part of Montana agriculture for generations to come.
A Practical Lesson for Montana Pulse Growers
Keane’s story is not about one silver-bullet solution. It is about building resilience from multiple directions.
Pulse crops helped his farm diversify its rotation. Better management helped lower the cost of growing them. Soil changes are showing up over time. Crop insurance helps protect the operation when weather overwhelms even the best planning.
That combination matters in Montana, where pulse growers face rising input costs, unpredictable weather, disease pressure and changing markets. MPCC’s strategic plan identifies producer resilience, market development, education and innovation as central priorities for Montana’s pulse industry. It also recognizes that pulses can help improve soil health, reduce fertilizer needs and support long-term farm viability.
For Keane, the heart of the matter is simple. He enjoys growing crops. He likes watching each plant move through its stages and seeing a return after the work has been done. Drought can strip away much of that satisfaction, but the right tools make it possible to keep going.
“We never get rich off insurance and it is not meant for that,” Keane said. “It keeps the American farmer from ultimate failure and assures that this country can continue to feed this nation and many others.”
That is the larger value of risk management, crop diversity and producer-led investment. Montana farmers are not just growing pulse crops for this year’s harvest. They are building systems that can better withstand the years when rain does not come, markets shift and decisions get harder.
▶ Want to learn more about pulse crop rotation, soil health and grower resources in Montana? Follow the Montana Pulse Crop Committee for producer stories, research updates and practical information for Montana pulse growers.
