Saskatchewan is exploring the viability of a new type of cash crop for
the province’s farmers – one that grows 20 metres tall.
The Saskatchewan Forest Centre believes the province is well equipped
to take a leading role in the emerging agroforestry industry.
It is holding workshops to gauge farmer interest in the novel, yet
age-old crop and to understand what concerns producers have about
converting some of their land into tree production.
Spokesperson Deb Weedon said the centre is hosting eight or nine
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workshops in communities across the forest fringe, which stretches from
Yorkton to Meadow Lake. So far the sessions have been drawing about 25
farmers per meeting and they have lots of questions.
“They’re extremely keen and extremely interested. I think a lot of it
has to do with the way the markets for crops are right now,” said
Weedon.
The centre is a non-profit agency formed in 2001 and funded by the
federal and provincial governments. Its mission is to assist in the
development of Saskatchewan’s forestry industry by providing training,
market research and technology to landowners.
Breeding programs have created an opportunity for farmers to become
involved in the forestry industry. It used to take 80-90 years for a
tree to become harvestable. Now there are fast-growing trees such as a
hybrid poplar that can be cropped within 20 years, said Weedon.
The biggest concern she is hearing from farmers is whether there is
going to be any provincial or federal money to assist those interested
in getting into an industry where there won’t be any revenue for
decades.
She said the answer is a definite maybe. It hinges on what happens with
federal initiatives like Forest 2020 and international agreements like
the Kyoto Protocol.
Forest 2020 is “a common vision” for forestry that was agreed upon by
the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers in 1999.
Weedon said the goal is to have five million acres of fast growing,
high yielding trees planted on agricultural land by 2020.
Kyoto is an international plan to restrict emissions linked to global
warming. The federal government was expected to ratify the protocol
this week, committing the country to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Fast growing trees are considered a tool to reduce greenhouse gases
because they take carbon dioxide from the air and convert it into wood.
“If that goes through, there may or may not be money for this type of
program,” said Weedon.
Money may also be available through federal and provincial conservation
cover programs. But nothing is certain because many of the government
programs mentioned lack details.
Another question for farmers is what demand there will be for
Saskatchewan grown trees come harvest. There is a partial answer for
that one.
The centre hired a forestry research firm called Forintek Canada Corp.
to investigate the potential of Saskatchewan-grown hybrid poplar for
creating wood products.
Forintek took samples of Walker poplar, a fast growing tree developed
by the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration, from shelterbelts
near Prince Albert and Carrot River.
The trees worked surprisingly well for veneer products like plywood and
laminated lumber and for oriented strand board, said Bob Knudson, the
composites team leader at Forintek. It was stronger than expected.
In fact, the wood was “pretty well interchangeable” with aspen, the
traditional feedstock for these products.
“We see this as a species that can fit into markets that already
exist,” said Knudson. But he thinks there should be some mill-scale
tests to confirm his findings, which were pilot-scale experiments
conducted on trees grown for shelterbelts rather than commercial
forestry.
The Saskatchewan Forest Centre will prepare a report stemming from the
workshops before the end of January.
Weedon said the centre also wants to create a network of farmers
interested in agroforestry. The database is in its infancy right now,
containing 15-20 growers who have planted anywhere between 10 and 300
acres of trees on their land.
