The federal and provincial governments are pumping $2.5-million into pulse crop research at the University of Saskatchewan.

Agriculture minister David Marit says the goal is to find new opportunities to use the starch by-product in pulse crop processing.

He says Saskatchewan is a big player in the world market, with exports 60 percent of the world’s lentils and over 40 percent of peas.

The pulse industry has expressed strong interest in the research, with several food companies partnering in the project including InfraReady Products and P&H Milling Group.