Jan Slaski, Ph.D., A.Ag.

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Ontario Hemp Alliances Field Day, July 16, 2004
Can hemp provide opportunity to secure fibre
supply for pulp and paper industry?

• Jan Slaski, Ph.D., A.Ag.
• Alberta Research Council, Vegreville

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Ontario Hemp Alliances Field Day, July 16, 2004

• Pulp Production
• World 40 million MT/year
• Canada 11.4 million MT/year
• Alberta 2.2 million MT/year

Industry leaders in Alberta are seriously
considering using agri-fibre as alternatives to
wood.
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Ontario Hemp Alliances Field Day, July 16, 2004

• Reasons for researching hemp
• Limited wood supply
• Longer distance to haul raw material (cost of
  gas)
• Forest fires (25 years to grow new forest in
  Alberta)
• Competing uses of timber

Therefore, growth of the industry is restricted.
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Ontario Hemp Alliances Field Day, July 16, 2004

• Reasons for researching hemp
• Search for new fibre properties
• New paper grades
• Higher quality of existing products

Hemp fiber will NOT replace wood fibers in paper
but will supplement them for specialty papers
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Ontario Hemp Alliances Field Day, July 16, 2004

• Reasons for researching hemp
• 3. Competitive cost of raw material
• Wood - 100/MT delivered
• Ag-fibres - 36-90/MT delivered (distance)

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Ontario Hemp Alliances Field Day, July 16, 2004

• Reasons for researching hemp
• 4. Suitable fibre properties

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Ontario Hemp Alliances Field Day, July 16, 2004

• Reasons for researching hemp
• 5. Societal aspects
• Changing public attitude towards forest
  preservation
• Opportunity to diversify and sustain rural
  economies

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Ontario Hemp Alliances Field Day, July 16, 2004
Features of an ideal hemp cultivar for pulp and
paper industry

• High yield of fibre
• High yield of seeds
• Drought resistant
• Low demands for nutrients
• High content of bast fiber
• Low content of lignin

• Zero THC
• No GMO

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Ontario Hemp Alliances Field Day, July 16, 2004

• Our research goals
• To secure supply of fibre of uniform quality and
  quantity and to reduce costs of fibre production

• Assess characteristics of the existing genotypes
• Develop new cultivars suitable for the pulp and
  paper industry using classical and molecular
  breeding methods
• Optimize cultivation practices for Alberta
  (manure, sludge, water use efficiency, marginal
  land)
• Evaluate/develop post-harvest processing methods
  (cutting, refining, pulping, blending)

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Ontario Hemp Alliances Field Day, July 16, 2004

• ARCs 2004 Field Trials
• Optimization of cultivation practices for Alberta
• 5 cultivars (USO 14, Finola, Anka, Crag, Carmen)
• 2 seeding densities (100 and 300 seed/m2)
• 2 fertilizers (Cattle manure, Inorganic)
• 4 replicates (8 x 4 m plots)

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Ontario Hemp Alliances Field Day, July 16, 2004

• ARCs 2004 Field Trials, cont.
• Variation among hemp accessions as detected by
  molecular markers
• (Demonstration strip 65 genotypes)
• Development of genomic map, localization of QTLs
  for fibre contents and quality for Marker
  Assisted Selection
• (Segregating population of oil x fibre type
  cross)
• Track favorable mutations through TILLING
• (Population arose from chemically mutagenized
  seeds)

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Ontario Hemp Alliances Field Day, July 16, 2004

• Conclusions
• Hemp provides opportunity for pulp and paper
  industry in terms of securing raw material
  supply, reducing production costs and improve
  product quality.
• Large amount of research needs to be done to
  achieve these goals.
• Commitment from the industry and coordination of
  efforts between industry and hemp researchers/
  promoters is needed.