SEXSMITH, Alta. – Val Chledowski says his father would roll over in his grave if he knew what was happening on his northern Alberta farm.
When Chledowski’s father emigrated from Poland in the 1920s, he cleared trees from the land with an axe and grub hoe. Last year, Chledowski planted 500 acres of trees on the same land.
At $30 an acre per year rent over the 20-year contract with Ainsworth Lumber, Chledowski thinks growing trees is better money than growing grain.
He left his land fallow the year before he planted the trees because none of the neighbouring farmers wanted to take on the additional expense of more farmland and questionable returns.
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Fred Radersma, silviculture superintendent with Ainsworth Lumber, said the company has planted hybrid poplar trees on about 1,200 acres of land in the past two years on seven farmers’ fields.
“It’s just another crop,” Radersma said.
The only difference is it takes 20 years to harvest the trees for Ainsworth’s oriented strand board plant in Grande Prairie, Alta.
The hybrid poplars are fast growing and straight.
“They’re phenomenal,” said Radersma, who searches the area for the perfect trees to be used for breeding at the Tree Improvement Centre in Drayton Valley, Alta.
The tree must be disease free and tall and have a straight bowl, good branch angle and small crown. Radersma has the global positioning system locations of about 250 suitable trees.
When more breeding crosses are needed, he shoots the branches off with a gun, packs them in snow and ships them to the centre, where they’re crossed with pollen from China, Finland, Sweden and the United States.
It takes seven to 10 years of trials and development to find good trees for planting. Like other types of farming, tree production depends on the weather. Last year, newly planted trees died when the rain quit in July.
“It’s very similar to grain farming. If you don’t get no rain, you don’t get no growth,” Chledowski said.
Like other crops, trees also grow better on good, well-drained soil.
Soil tests are taken before a site is selected to ensure good fertility. The land is sprayed, disced, sprayed and disced again in the fall before seeding to ensure a good seedbed for the tiny 45 centimetre high trees. The spot where each tree will be seeded is marked in the fall, and the small trees are planted in the spring.
After seeding, Chledowski keeps the weeds down by discing between rows three times the first year, three or four times the second year, two or three times the third, and maybe once in the fourth, depending on weeds and budget.
Chledowski, who was hired to keep weeds down on all the field sites, works 10 hours a day, six days a week from mid-May to mid-September using a small Kubota tractor and eight foot discer.
“I enjoy this. I still like being close to the land,” he said.
By the fifth year, the trees will be high enough to spray without damaging them.
During a walk through a field of trees, Radersma and Chledowski said they believe the heavy snow in the Grande Prairie area this past winter will give the crop a good boost. Some first-year trees are already more than two metres tall.
Since seeding his land to trees, Chledowski has been teased that he’s turned into a “tree hugger.”
He doesn’t think he’s going to grow a beard and begin eating granola, but he does believe growing trees is a good alternative to traditional agriculture.
Doug Macaulay, a woodlot specialist with Alberta Agriculture, said there is a growing interest from farmers who are looking to trees as an alternative crop, especially on marginal farmland. Lumber company Alpac of Athabasca, Alta., also has agreements with landowners to plant trees on private land.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for them to do something with that land,” Macaulay said.
