CALGARY – For many grain farmers, straw is a waste product scattered on the ground to prevent soil erosion.
But some researchers believe straw could be spun into gold, or at the very least a cloth, paper or a wood substitute that’s as durable as any particle board on the market.
Some obstacles stand in the way, said Ken Domier, a retired University of Alberta scientist.
It is difficult to separate fibres from cereal and oilseed straw, and it is expensive to turn fibre into something useful, Domier told a special crops conference.
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Although discussions continue on the prairies regarding fibre plants for the food and construction industries, very little has happened, Domier said.
Banned as a drug
“Some of these initiatives have to be led by government to get them started.” Among these new crops is hemp, used to make textiles and paper.
Hemp growing has been banned in Canada since the end of the Second World War because, like its cousin marijuana, it contains a mood altering chemical, THC.
Two experimental crops in Alberta at undisclosed sites are growing well, said Domier. Researchers hope this crop, which grows higher than two metres and contains minimal amounts of THC, might be the next successful prairie crop.
In Europe considerable research has been done on hemp, partly because European forests are almost depleted and a new source of pulp is needed.
Dutch researcher Etienne De Meyer told the conference that hemp fits in well with crop rotations. In theory, there are numerous possibilities for hemp but no one is sure how feasible it is on a widespread commercial basis.
Costly to extract
Hemp is a rapidly growing plant with narrow, feathery leaves. The stem of hemp has a woody core and a bast outer circle around the stem and bark. Bast is fibre found in plants. It can be used in textiles and paper making, but extracting it can be time consuming and costly.
