The Rural Voice, 1995-09, Page 33Canada's. And these points must be
kept in mind when discussing the
potential for farming for paper's raw
materials. Canada's long-standing
logging and forestry industries stand
in the wayof farmers making an easy
or fast entry into paper production.
Even against the sound of
environmental alarms, the
perception of Canada having
an endless supply of trees is slow to
change. At the same time, Richard
Glandon, director of Paper and Paper
Products with Natural Resources
Canada, counters Scheifele's claims
that Canadian forest production has
peaked. Technological advances
have improved planting and yield
potentials for Canadian forests. He
also downplays the 1993 figures on
harvesting and replanting of forests,
saying the numbers fail to take
natural regeneration of trees into
account.
And yet, Glandon echoes
Scheifele's belief that farmers can
play an increasingly active role in the
development of wood -pulp
alternatives, especially where wheat
and flax straw are concerned. The
intent is to supplement wood -based
pulp, not replace it. He points to
successful trials conducted at a mill
in Beauharnois, Quebec, where wheat
straw has been incorporated into the
paper -making process.
"It's there, it's a value and if we
can find a way of using it (for paper
production) at a cost which is
comparable or cheaper than wood,
then to me, we'd be stupid not to do
that," says Glandon.
He also indicates a growing
interest in flax straw, stating the same
mill in Quebec is considering a move
in that direction.
Back in Ridgetown, Gordon
Scheifele continues with his
breakdown on wood -pulp
alternatives. Despite research and
new plant varieties, Scheifele
believes a return to the past would be
best for the future, with hemp leading
the way. Not that research on
Austrian willows or switch grass is a
waste of time; just that at this
moment in time, hemp will do the
job.
"I think we have the plant," states
Scheifele. "We have the hemp which
is adaptable, we've shown it back in
the 1930s before the Second World
War that it grew very well in
Ontario."
However, there are those who
believe hemp to have some serious
question marks hanging over it.
According to Bob Roy, a researcher
at the Delhi Research Centre, it goes
beyond the first question of
legalization.
"You need to know the long-term
(three year) production history,"
reports Roy. "That if you grow
variety "x", it will yield "X" number
of tonnes dry matter per acre, based
on a three-year growing season."
Some grasses and hemp are potential
fibre crops farmers could be growing
in the future.
The next step is to assure the
intermediate businesses of a
reasonable return on their investment
dollar. But other problems include
fertility concerns, weed control,
harvesting methods, baling and
storage. The fact that hemp was
grown in the region earlier this
century doesn't help current trends
and standards. Roy also cautions that
varieties grown 60 years ago vary
greatly from those of today. This is
why Tillsonburg-area farmer Joe
Strobel, with his field of hemp, has
attracted so much attention in the past
two years. It's not for the legality of
the plant — the levels of tetra hydro
cannabinol (THC) in hemp are far
lower than in marijuana — but for the
establishment of standards. The fear
that marijuana could be hidden in a
hemp field is unfounded to Roy.
Hemp for fibre is grown with a field
density similar to wheat, since long
fibres for paper production are
contained in the stalks. Marijuana
needs more space for the growth of
the leaves, which means it could be
easily spotted from the air.
This added "nuisance factor" as
Roy calls it, compounds the problems
facing farmers who might want to try
growing fibre hemp. As an industrial
crop, it doesn't pay very well and
with relatively few farmers growing
it, a sudden drop in the price of hemp
would be harder to absorb. One other
consideration is that China and India
are well-established competitors
already on the scene.
This is not to say farmers
shouldn't pose the questions,
"What if?" or "Why not?" In
spite of those who say it can't be
done, Gordon Scheifele maintains
anything is possible in the
agricultural industry, pointing to the
successes of regional farmers who
now grow Shiitake mushrooms,
evening primrose and chicory.
They've found their niche markets
and the same could happen, though
not overnight, with wood -pulp
alternatives grown by farmers.
"There's a lot of argument that
you get into a herbaceous type of
plant fibre, that there's a wide degree
of variability in its quality," says
Schcifele. "However, a reasonable
answer to that objection is that we
have different plants and when you
begin to pull these together with
some management, you can put
together a blend and produce a good
consistent mix of a non -woody fibre
with a woody fibre."
The key is to supplement and not
supplant; start small and build, maybe
with a foot -in -the -door through the
recycling industry. It won't happen
today or tomorrow but sometime in
the future. With careful research and
a healthy bit of risk-taking, farmers
could help make the Paper Chase an
easier catch.°
SEPTEMBER 1995 29