The current crop production base in the western Canadian prairies is about 30 million ha. Grain production started about 150 years ago, beginning with cereal grains like wheat, oats, barley, and more recently, maize. Oilseed crops, especially canola, were developed and then successfully introduced in the past 60 years. In the past 50 years, the pea, lentil, chickpea, soybean and common bean crops were also successfully introduced as economically and ecologically competitive grain legumes into the crop production systems. One of the main perceptions of biological reasons for using legumes in crop rotations is the benefits they provide through nitrogen fixation. In spite of the fact that faba bean is a superior nitrogen fixer, and is known to provide excellent benefits in crop rotations, it has lagged in economic expansion. Since the late 1970s, the development of faba bean in western Canada has had intermittent investment and inconclusive commercial success. The biologic, economic, technical, and socioeconomic factors affecting faba bean underdevelopment will be reviewed. Recent scientific, technical and economic developments that fundamentally will lead to rapid uptake of faba bean production will be presented.