WINNIPEG – If straw can be turned into gold in Elie or Killarney, the people at Melita think it might work in their town too.
The town of about 1,500 people in the southwestern corner of Manitoba is the third community in the province to consider the prospect of a strawboard plant.
Bill Russell, chair of the Melita and area economic development board, said people have been kicking the idea around for a while.
“Everybody’s looking for something to diversify … and also have an industry that’s agriculturally related. They want something they can sell as a byproduct,” Russell said.
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The group hired an agricultural consulting firm from nearby Souris to do a survey this month of farmers within a 25-kilometre radius of Melita. Farmers will be asked what they do with their straw, prices they expect for straw, and prices they expect for baling and transportation.
But most importantly, the group needs to know if there’s enough straw in the area to support a plant. Russell said a plant could use about 40,000 tonnes of straw per year, but it depends on its size.
Russell said if the results look promising, the group will conduct a more extensive survey and start looking for help with technical aspects of a plant and financing.
The group has not yet determined what type of straw would be most plentiful.
