Issues in Contemporary Agriculture: Environment

Researcher Uses Pulp Residue to Replace Fertilizer

(Telegraph-Journal, June 1, 2009)  In a lab in Fredericton, soil researcher Sherif Fahmy is turning garbage into profit. Fahmy, who works for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, uses pulp residue from pulp and paper mills to replace increasingly expensive fertilizers in growing crops.

Sherif Fahmy, a soil and land resource scientist, is using pulp residue from pulp and paper mills to replace fertilizers to benefit both crops and the environment.

"We're sitting on a gold mine here, in my opinion," he says, talking about the thousands of tonnes of pulp waste that continues to end up in landfills.

For the last 11 years, Fahmy's tested the effects of pulp residue on legume, potato and grain growth. His research shows that using forestry residuals - collective waste such as sawdust, bark and effluent from pulp and paper mills - has a number of benefits not only for crops, but for the environment.

"When pulp and paper effluent ends up in landfills, or if the waste is buried, it produces methane gas. That affects the climate," Fahmy says.

To test the effects the residual matter has on crops, Fahmy spent four, three-year cycles growing three different crops - legumes, potatoes and grain.

He found that the soil during the study demonstrated improved water retention and increased organic content, while simultaneously boosting crop yield. It also prevented soil erosion. That last point is important Fahmy says, because highland areas like the potato-growing belt around Grand Falls are susceptible to the phenomenon.

Using forestry residuals for farming has already yielded practical applications outside of the lab. A New Brunswick company is currently employing the technique to produce compost for local farms.

Envirem Technologies Inc., based in Fredericton and specializing in industrial and organic waste recycling, is using forestry residuals to produce commercial composts to replace fertilizer.

The company's goal, like Fahmy's, is to have forestry residuals adopted in place of traditional fertilizers and soil supplements.

"It's a very clean, single product, that you can use to develop high quality composting, and additives for potting soils and top soils," says Bob Kiely, general manager for Envirem.

The company annually diverts over 400,000 tonnes of waste materials from J.D. Irving Limited, as well as thousands more from other forestry firms across Atlantic Canada.

Envirem recently received a $2 million loan for research and development from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency's Atlantic Innovation Fund. The company is now using that money to help create value-added applications for forestry residuals, partly to make them viable for export.

Fahmy's been a part of that research, and he sees a limitless potential in agricultural markets for forestry residuals.

"I also was thinking to export the material, to overseas let's say. To places like Dubai. There's a lot of activity that is happening over there," Fahmy says.

However before looking to international markets, he points out that the adoption of the technique needs to happen in New Brunswick at a larger scale. Many local farmers have not readily switched to forestry residuals. Although he cites cost of transportation as a factor, the bigger problem is marketing it as a viable alternative.

Kiely sees marketing as the key to making forestry residuals ubiquitous in crop fields.

"You have to understand, compost is no more expensive than peat, and peat is being exported out of New Brunswick to global markets," Kiely says. "Compost is really starting to evolve, and the markets are not mature yet, they're still pretty young. A lot has to do with the marketing side."

The full extent of Fahmy's research will be published once it wraps up next year, which will mark the end of his research crop's twelve-year growing cycle.