Issuu

Vol. XV No. 3

May / June 2021

Serving Soil, Mulch, Compost & Wood Pellet Producers www.SoilandMulchProducerNews.com

NEWS

From the Golden Leaf to Brown Gold Pine Straw Mulch Market Continues to Grow, Despite Being Labor Intensive

ine grows naturally on the sandhills of the Carolinas, and the longleaf pine, which is straight, strong, and pliable, has become a valuable commodity for many tree growers and harvesters. In earlier days, pine trees were harvested primarily for their wood, and much of it being sent to Europe where there was a shortage of lumber. Pine sap was also tapped for tar pitch and turpentine to be sold to naval stores for waterproofing ships. Over time, almost all of the pines were cut. The land then became a great opportunity for developers, though some landowners, instead, became tobacco farmers in order to keep their land. The allure was the Tobacco Allotment System. The U.S. Department of Agriculture had operated a tobacco-production cartel since the early 1930s, during the New Deal. According to Dr. Mike Walden, a Professor and Extension Economist at North Carolina State University, “The idea behind the program was simple. Limit the production of tobacco, and the price will rise. It was expected growers could make more money selling less tobacco at a higher price than selling more tobacco at a lower price. The government controlled production by limiting who could grow tobacco (only those holding a government provided “allotment”) and capping total production (called the “quota”) each year. When the program ended, there were about 430,000 quota owners and about 60,000 active producers of tobacco in the United States.” When tobacco -- the Golden Leaf -- became taboo, the Tobacco Allotment System was suspended. The writing was on the wall, tobacco had to go. But many of

By Kathleen Marquardt the farmers asked themselves, what to replace it with if you weren’t going to sell out to developers? Some farmers wanted to keep the land agricultural; that, and the fact that the long-needle pine tree grew there naturally were great incentives. They saw that Brown Gold, the long‑leaf pine, was a perfect crop to replace tobacco. The fallow tobacco fields were residual, fertilized fields, high in phosphorus and potassium, which are beneficial to pine trees. That and the fact that pines grow naturally across the South, from Texas to Florida and up to North Carolina, was encouraging for farmers wanting to find a way to preserve their land and make a living from it. T h o u g h l o n g l e a f p i n e, being straight and strong, is a popular t re e fo r l u m b e r, it takes decades before the trees can be harvested. Once harvested, new trees to replace them have

to be planted and tended to for at least another 20 years before they can be harvested again. One visionary farmer, who would be getting out of tobacco (because the Tobacco Allotment program was ending), hit on the idea of using the pine needles as mulch, which opened a market for a commodity that was a byproduct of the trees without removing them… and the needles were there for the taking. Because the long-leaf pine are slow-growing trees, Terry Bryant, farmer and owner of the Pinestar Farms in Carthage, Georgia, who took the farm from tobacco crops to long-leaf pine, said that they must wait ten years to begin the gathering of the pine needles for straw. But, unlike harvesting the wood for lumber, they can then harvest the needles indefinitely. Though it took a while to discern that the longleaf pine needles made a far better mulch than the short-leafed pine needles, a new market was thus created. Pine needle mulch, like other mulches, has both plusses and minuses. On the plus side, it is natural and sustainable, and it makes an attractive ground cover that helps prevent weed growth. These characteristics benefit tree growers. They also benefit the wildlife Continued on page 4

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Soil & Mulch Producer News May /June 2021

Celebrating 50 Years

Memphis Mulch & Soil Council 2021 Annual Meeting

Join us in the birthplace of Celebrating 50 Years Rock ‘n Roll to celebrate September 21 - 23, 2021 MSC’s 50th Annual Meeting! The Peabody Hotel

Covering topics for everyone from owners and plant managers to account and marketing managers to industry suppliers. This year’s meeting topics will include:

• A look at the new administration & policy changes • Consumer insight & gardening trends • The Art of Innovation: helping uncover the next big breakthrough

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May /June 2021 Soil & Mulch Producer News

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From the Golden Leaf to Brown Gold Continued from page 1

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PUBLICATION STAFF Publisher / Editor Rick Downing Contributing Editors / Writers Robert LaGasse • Kathleen Marquardt Sandy Woodthorpe Production & Layout Christine Mantush Advertising Sales Rick Downing Subscription / Circulation Donna Downing Editorial, Circulation & Advertising Office 6075 Hopkins Road, Mentor, OH 44060 Ph: 440-257-6453 • Fax: 440-257-6459 Email: downassoc2@oh.rr.com Subscription information, call 440-257-6453. Soil & Mulch Producer News is published bimonthly by Downing & Associates. Reproductions or transmission in whole or in part, without written permission of the publisher, is prohibited. Annual subscription rate U.S. is $19.95. Outside of the U.S. add $10.00 ($29.95). Contact our main office, or mail-in the subscription form with payment. ©

Soil & Mulch Producer News May /June 2021

of the area, including a threatened bird species, known as the Red‑Cockaded Woodpecker, which nests in these trees. Ultimately, the pine needle farmers needed to work out a way to harvest a saleable crop while benefitting wildlife, both flora and fauna, at the same time. How would this be achieved? According to Bryant, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) was about to put a moratorium on the collecting of pine needles on public lands because t h e Re d ‑ C o c k a d e d Wo o d p e c k e r w a s classified as a “threatened” species. Bryant and other long needle pine g rowe r s s e t u p t h e Pine Needle Producers Association and invited the representatives of t h e E nv i ro n m e n t a l Defense Fund to work with them to set up a ‘safe harbor’ program for the woodpeckers. Landowners sign up to be part of this program, accepting responsibility t o p rov i d e fo r t h e woodpeckers ‘currently on their properties, but not for any new population growth. FWS bands the birds when young and still in the nests, so they can track them. Because of their ‘safe harbor’ program, the woodpecker is listed as a “threatened” (not “endangered”) species, giving everyone leeway to find ways to keep the birds safe and their population growing while the farmers are able to make use of their land. However, there is still a push to curtail activity around the trees and on adjacent land. Bryant has proposed a simple solution: start a campaign to plant thousands to millions of acres of pines, which will protect all species – flora and fauna -- in the community, and there will be greater availability of pine straw for the farmer. A win-win situation. His theory is, “to get the best wood as an end-product, you need to plant the stand thickly to keep out the sunlight; otherwise grasses, weeds, and hardwood trees tend to grow and take away the potential for production of needles.” The pine needles are raked year-round beginning in March, except during times when labor is scarce because other (crop) fields – those that are perishable -- must be picked when ready.

Long-leaf pine needles make an excellent mulch. Besides the aesthetic appeal of pine needle straw mulch, it provides insulation and moisture retention by reducing daily evaporation. It also helps control weeds, and because the needles tend to interlock, it helps maintain adequate heat in winter at the soil level. According to the 6th generation farmer and owner of The Straw Far m in Smyrna, Georgia, Chris Rogers, the pine straw is especially useful on sloped landscapes as it will not wash away in heavy rains. When asked about the effects of the recent COVID lockdown on the sale of pine straw, Rogers said, “COVID spiked demand. People are spending so much time in their homes and mulching their yards who have never done that before. You’ve also got a lot of real estate activity going on in Atlanta and that drives it as well. The biggest demand for pine straw would be in the big cities of the Southeast; you get to Nashville and there’s almost no pine straw there. So, there is plenty of room to grow.” But, as Rogers notes, the supply cannot grow very fast when, “It takes ten years to get a tree ready to produce needles for mulch.” Bryant had the same response for business over the past year and a half, “Demand in 2020 and 2021 has been greater than in years past, likely because of the time people have been spending in their homes and yards. It appears that homeowners were working to create an oasis for themselves as they hunkered down at home. Demand has increased at a higher rate than supply, creating an interesting scenario in our market.” Also commenting on growth of the industry, Bryant added, “The number of both large and small producers has increased in North Carolina, but I cannot speak for South Carolina or Georgia. I would say that the small-scale producers have popped up more rapidly and that has something to do with a manual labor shortage making it harder to become a largescale producer quickly. The biggest demand areas are currently in states where it is produced Continued on page 12

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May /June 2021 Soil & Mulch Producer News

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Report Details the Local Pushback Against Renewable Energy Projects By Tim Benson

he Center of the American Experiment (CAE), a think tank located in Golden Valley, Minnesota, released a new report in late April detailing how concerned residents in rural states, and rural areas in more densely populated states along the coasts, are fighting back against large-scale renewable energy projects like wind farms and seeking to block these projects from their municipalities. The report, Not in Our Backyard, was authored by Robert Bryce, a visiting fellow at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity. The report begins by noting renewable energy sources like wind and solar are extremely popular in the abstract, and this popularity helps bureaucrats and legislators advocate for the expansion of these sources. The Green New Deal, for example, would push for 100 percent renewablepowered electricity generation by 2030, while the Biden Administration’s “Energy Efficiency and Clean Energy Standard” seeks the addition of “millions of solar panels — including utility-scale, rooftop and community solar systems — and tens of thousands of wind turbines,” across the United States. According to Bryce, the solar and wind industries will have received over $140 billion in total federal tax incentives from 2010 through 2029. However, Bryce details that the ambitious goals for expanding renewable energy generation in these plans may never come to fruition over massive land use concerns. He highlights, in particular, a scenario finding from a study released in December 2020 by the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University showing that getting to “net-zero emissions” by the midpoint of this century would necessitate converting 228,000 square miles of territory into either solar or wind farms. This, Bryce notes, would be the equivalent of covering the entire states of California and Washington with solar panels and windmills. As Bryce lays out, there has been significant pushback across the country to these large-scale projects due to health concerns from noise

pollution, the loss of property value, tourism losses, concerns over harms to wildlife, and in order to protect view sheds. In conjunction with the release of the report, Bryce and CAE have also launched the National Renewable Energy Rejection Database, listing over 300 governmental entities that have either restricted or outright rejected wind energy projects since 2015. These entities come from 31 different states spread across every region of the country, including states that heavily subsidize and promote renewable energy projects. (The 31 states are Alabama, California, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Vermont, and Wisconsin.) “Lots of people like the idea of renewable energy,” Bryce told Environment & Climate News, “but very few people want to live near, or see, 500- or 600-foot-high wind turbines. And who can blame them? No one wants to sit on their porch after a long day at work and see forests of giant spinning machines with their red-blinking lights all night, every night, for the rest of their lives. The negative health impacts that can be caused by wind turbine noise are real. And the refusal by major media outlets to cover the problem is scandalous. The lack of coverage is indicative of how the popular narrative about ‘clean’ energy has come to dominate discussions about climate change and what we should do about it.” “Rural communities in the Midwest are looking for a champion against these large industrial energy projects,” said Isaac Orr, a policy fellow at CAE. “Our organization has received numerous calls and emails asking for hundreds of copies of Robert’s report, and asking how they can also organize against these projects. I have personally talked to people who left Continued on page 10

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News From The Mulch & Soil Council By Robert LaGasse, Executive Director

Pallet Shortage

ince the start of the mulch & soil season, a worldwide shortage of pallets threatens to put a crimp in the flow of industry goods. Prices have doubled in the past year, and makers can’t keep up with demand. Some describe the situation as a perfect storm. As we entered the pandemic: • Sawmills slowed production reducing wood supplies • 3,100 trucking companies went out of business idling over 50,000 trucks • CDL school closures cut off the supply of new drivers • Trucking industry was already short over 80,000 drivers • Korean nail factories slowed production • As we emerge from the pandemic, we see double digit surges in consumer and industrial demand • Sawmills and pallet plants are not fully staffed due to Federal unemployment subsidies • Wood demand is increasingly much greater than supply • Truck drivers have not returned to work, also due to government subsidies • Nail production is still months behind • Consumer online purchasing remains high, placing more demand on shipping Pallets that cost $12 - $14 last year are now costing $25 - $28. Lumber that cost $375/1k Board feet in June 2020 set a record high on May 4, 2021, at over $1,650/1k Bd Ft, an increase of over 340% in less than a year.

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According to the National Wood Pallet and Container Association, pallets are used by 93% of all companies that handle materials. As the demand for products continues to surge, the supply chain remains challenged to get back to pre-pandemic supply and distribution levels, and pallets are expected to remain in short supply for the remainder of the 2021 lawn & garden season.

Trucking Company Bankruptcies Add to Shortages

hings we consider that have adversely impacted the availability of trucking this season include the widely reported pre-pandemic shortage of 80,000 drivers, the closing of driver training schools for a year and government payments delaying drivers going back to work. However, a much-overlooked contributor to the trucking shortage in 2021 is the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic forced more than 3,000 trucking companies out of business in 2020 — a significant leap from about 1,000 the year prior. As reported in Transport Topics newsletter (https://www.ttnews.com/), a total of 3,140 trucking companies with an average fleet of 16 trucks ceased operations last year, according to a report from transportation industry data firm Broughton Capital, up from 1,100 in 2019. And of those that closed last year, slightly more than half — or 1,580 companies — shuttered during the months of April, May and June, when freight volumes plunged amid the widespread economic disruption that pushed businesses to close

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Report Details the Local Pushback News From The Mulch & Soil Council Against Renewable Energy Projects Continued from page 8

Continued from page 6

and put millions of people on unemployment. In May alone, 760 trucking companies closed their doors. Smaller trucking companies were particularly hard hit. The first quarter 10,700 trucks were pulled from the road, but May was actually the peak of trucking failures and 16,000 trucks were pulled from the road. In total, it is estimated that more than 50,000 trucks stopped hauling in 2020. According to American Trucking Associations, small trucking companies and independent owneroperators make up the majority of the nation’s freight carriers; 91% of fleets operate with six or fewer trucks and 97% operate with 20 or fewer. Both Broughton and ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello see trucking capacity remaining very tight the remainder of 2021 and well into 2022.

their home in Wisconsin due to having industrial wind turbines nearby when I worked in the Wisconsin state senate in 2011. They’re not kooks or conspiracy theorists, they are real people who are being negatively affected by these installations.” Bryce puts forward numerous ways in which municipalities are trying to block or limit these projects, whether by more straightforward methods like regulating noise limits and turbine height and requiring minimum setbacks from buildings and dissenting landowners, or by more creative methods such as Minnesotans grouping together to sell wind rights to conservation holding companies or a county in Michigan building a series of heliports because turbines cannot be built near heliports for safety reasons. Bryce ends by urging policymakers to end tax incentives for wind and solar energy companies, to stop ignoring the numerous documented adverse health impacts of wind turbine noise pollution, and, if the goal is to seriously reduce carbon dioxide emissions, to consider increasing the use of nuclear energy and natural gas in our electricity portfolio, which are much more scalable and have a far smaller land-use footprint than wind and solar. “Paving rural America with renewable energy infrastructure won’t solve climate change,” Bryce concludes in the report. “It will, however, cost trillions of dollars, create visual blight on landscapes across the country, kill untold numbers of bats and birds, cause more negative human health impacts, and lead to more economic pain in rural America. This paper shows that land-use conflicts will prevent any wholesale effort to convert the domestic economy to renewables.”

About MSC

he Mulch & Soil Council began in 1972 and is the national association of producers of horticultural mulches, consumer potting soils and commercial growing media. Its mission is to define quality products and promote an open market and fair competition. To learn more about the Mulch & Soil Council, visit mulchandsoilcouncil.org. To become a member, call 806-832-1810.

Tim Benson (TBenson@heartland.org) joined The Heartland Institute in September 2015 as a policy analyst in the Government Relations Department. This article was reprinted with permission from heartland.org, a product of The Heartland Institute (https://www.heartland.org/ publications-resources/publications/research--commentary-report-details-the-local-pushbackagainst-renewable-energy-projects).

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From the Golden Leaf to Brown Gold Continued from page 4

– North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia are the three largest markets thus far. Interest is growing outside as people learn about long leaf pine needle mulch. “ Another byproduct of the pine, are pinecones, which are used for seeds. Bryant said they use walnut tree shakers to shake the trees and recover the cones in October, when the cone is still closed to preserve the seeds. Both seeds and cones are sold – the cones for decorations, and the seeds for reseeding pine stands. All of this and long-leaf pine forests are environmentally sound. The National

www.amadas.com 12 Soil & Mulch Producer News May /June 2021

Wildlife Federation states that, “restoration of longleaf pine forests has become a major conservation priority in recent years. More than 30 endangered and threatened species, including the woodpeckers and indigo snakes, rely on longleaf pines for their habitat. Additionally, longleaf pines are more resilient to the negative impacts of ‘Climate Change’ than other Southeastern pines.” When asked if Bryant thought the pine straw business would grow beyond what it is now, he opined, “It will depend on bringing the younger people into the business and, in order

to attract young Ag students, the Pine Needle Producers Association needed to promote the fact that there is a good future in pine needle mulch. The youth don’t want to be into such a labor-intensive business for the next forty years. And because the pine straw is still worked mostly by hand, there is a need to mechanize the process of gathering straw.” Today, it is raked, and twigs and other debris are removed by hand; then the straw is packed into a tight bundle. Ag students from the Agricultural and Environmental Technology and Biological Engineering program designed a machine that sorts the straw and makes it easier for baling. As Bryant said, the machine reduces 15 percent of the field labor. Now to add to that machine and attract the youth to this “back to the land” business. On top of bringing new generations in, Bryant states that more long-leaf pine needs to be planted. “As that is also a desire of conservationists in the Southeast, we have both business and environmentalists hoping to achieve the same goal.” The National Wildlife Federation agrees with the idea that the longleaf pines are more resilient to “Climate Change” They can withstand severe windstorms, resist pests, tolerate wildfires and drought, and capture carbon pollution from the atmosphere. Pine straw mulch contributes valuable organic matter to the soil, conserves moisture – thus preventing erosion, and blocks weeds. Because, unlike wood mulch, it is lofty, so it creates a trapped air space that resists temperature swings and prevents moisture loss. Long-leaf pine straw is making a place for itself in landscape management. But, unlike many businesses, many of those involved with pine straw are working with other entities to assure that the local flora and fauna are protected during the process of gathering and maintaining the straw. As mentioned, they work with the Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the threatened red-cockaded woodpecker. Some are also working with the Sandhills Area Land Trust (SALT), which incorporates much of the North Carolina Sandhills, a region of sandy soils between the Piedmont and the Coastal Plain and is home to the largest contiguous stands of longleaf pine forest in North Carolina with numerous wetlands, and dozens of rare plants and animals. This is a partnership between SALT, the North Carolina Cooperative Extension, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Bryant was a founder of the North Carolina Pine Needle Producers Association, which works to “enhance professionalism in their industry and increasing the availability of quality pine needles”. They are making certain that they are caring for all aspects of life in the area, while they are taking care of the business of doing business.

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into biodegradable, compostable pots and packaging, while capturing phosphorous runoff, diverting it from waterways, reports IntelligentLiving.co. Freund Farm, Inc., which started out making compostable plant pots for seedlings, has introduced CowPots Packaging corners – triangular packing and packaging shapes that are as strong as fiberboard. Matthew Freund first started experimenting with manure over 20 years ago as a way to mitigate the environmental impact of his family’s dairy. The process of making the pots and packaging is a lot like many farm-based biofuel operations. First, the manure goes through a machine that separates the solids and liquid. From there it goes through a digester that siphons off methane used to make biogas for the farm. Then the manure is composted, during which process all harmful pathogens are removed. Then, the material is made into pots and packaging using a heat process. Research conducted by the Mississippi Agricultural Forestry and Experiment Station in 2015 showed that CowPots break down four times as quickly as similar products in the market. The FDA has given both the pots and packaging the greenlight to be utilized as “secondary packaging” for meal items. Also, the USDA has certified the material safe for shipping to the European Union.

breakdown in talks and collapse of financing will result 100,000 tons of organic waste from Santa Rose and Sonoma County being trucked away and processed elsewhere, reports the Press Democrat. Renewable Sonoma terminated negotiations with Zero Waste Sonoma, the county’s waste management agency and the city of Santa Rosa after 2½ years of reviews and discussions. Adding to complications was a legal case brought by residents concerned about noise and runoff. Zero Waste Sonoma has lined up capacity in Mendocino, Napa and Marin counties so residents will not lose collection service, a spokesperson said. Cold Creek Compost in Mendocino County, a past contender for the Sonoma County contract, has been accepting about 20% of Sonoma County’s yard waste for the past three years and recently agreed to take 30% of the county’s organics. Cold Creek has proposed developing part of a former dairy site within Sonoma County to accept organic waste. Plans call for a “stateof-the-art” process that is less expensive than the one described by Renewable Sonoma. In addition to taking in organics from residents, the new facility would accept chicken manure from local poultry producers, according to Cold Creek’s owner. An environmental impact report that is required before the project can be approved will be released this summer.

Closing the Circle with Biopolymers

esearchers are working on ways to make biodegradable plastics, but while their efforts hold promise for a shift away from petrochemicals, much further investment in infrastructure is needed, as well as thoughtful planning, according to a Phys.org article. A project called VOLATILE, based in Spain, is aimed at developing a Volatile Fatty Acid Platform (VFAP) based on anaerobic digestion where microorganisms break down organic waste into volatile fatty acids. VFAs are the building blocks of two main types of plastics used to make plastic bags and food packaging. In the future, the VFAP process could be used to produce load bearing, bio-based thermoset plastics used in automotive and aerospace industries. Already, biopolymers derived from trees and crops are used to make car interiors. (Materials manufacturer Röchling Automotive says it has patented a polylactide (PLA)-based biopolymer that consists of at least 90% renewable raw materials, reports .) According to the article, adding production of biopolymers to anaerobic digestion systems contributes to a circular (sustainable) economy. Food and green waste are converted to compost for agriculture and horticulture, while resulting fuels – hydrogen gas and methane – are used to make electricity and to power vehicles. A lot of emphasis is being placed on biodegradable packaging products. Packaging is produced in ever-increasing volumes and is a big environmental threat. But replacing petroleum-based packaging has some big challenges. Importantly, biodegradable packaging needs to be effectively and consistently recycled instead of growing feedstock on agricultural land that is needed for food crops and biofuels. Also, there is a lack of composting plants in most regions of the world, including Europe, a spokesperson for VOLATILE noted.

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U.S. Prepares to Hike Tariffs on Canadian Softwood Imports

ith lumber prices at an all-time high, the U.S. Commerce Department is planning a preliminary tariff hike on softwood imports from Canada, the second increase in three years, reports

cbc.ca. The Department’s recommendation is to more than double the “all others” preliminary countervailing and anti-dumping rate to 18.32% from 8.99%. Analysts say that if the tariff rates are finalized, the move will raise producer costs and cut into their profits. Yet they expect little or no effect on consumer prices for wood products in a market where demand and prices are high. With the preliminary tariff rate, current cash deposit rates will continue to apply until the finalized rates are published, likely in November. The Canadian government and industry representatives have voiced strong criticism of the rate increase. On the American side, industry observers think the change will incentivize producers to push harder for a resolution to the softwood lumber dispute, which could unlock significant cash, resulting in a projected $4 billion. The U.S. Lumber Coalition has expressed its support of the Commerce Department’s commitment to enforce trade laws against what it considers “subsidized and unfairly traded” Canadian lumber imports. The coalition says the U.S. industry remains open to a new U.S.Canada softwood lumber trade agreement “if and when” Canada demonstrates it is serious about negotiations.

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t the Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy at The Heartland Institute, we are producing the research and conducting the effective advocacy needed to help restore sound science and common sense to efforts to protect the environment. The Center promotes pro-energy, proenvironment, and pro-jobs policies based on sound science and economics, not alarmism or ideology. Through events, publications, social media, and government relations programs we have changed public opinion on climate change and other environmental topics. We have changed public policy not only in the United States but in other countries as well. In 2017 and onward, we are focusing on winning the global warming war and repealing bad legislation and regulations adopted during the height of the global warming scare. With your help, we can win the global warming war. Please contact us at 312/377-4000 or think@heartland.org, or visit our website at www.heartland.org/Center-Climate-Environment heartland.org/Center-Climate-Environment.

CSPMA Welcomes New President – Asha Hingorani

he Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association (CSPMA) recently announced the hiring of a new president, Ms. Asha Hingorani. Asha is taking over from Mr. Paul Short, who will be progressively retiring after almost 14 years as CSPMA president. In her former career, Asha held the position of Director of Government and Public Affairs with Wine Growers Canada. As a former journalist, she also teaches Scientific Communication in Regulatory Affairs at Algonquin College in Ottawa. She brings a background in communications, policy development and governmental relations at the political and bureaucratic level. Her international experience and association management skills are additional strengths that will help advance and guide the needs of the Canadian horticultural peat industry. For a transitional period extending until March 2022, Mr. Short will act as an Advisor Former President for the CSPMA. He will also be sharing his knowledge of the industry, specifically relating to international issues and the government relations linked to the horticultural peat industry with the new president. As a truly pan-Canadian association, the CSPMA team will now be present in four locations: Ms. Asha Hingorani (President) in Ottawa (ON), Ms. Doris Reeve (Executive Assistant) in Edmonton (AB), Ms. Stéphanie Boudreau (Science Coordinator) in Rivière-du-Loup (QC) and Ms. MarieClaire LeBlanc (Project and Communication Manager) in Québec (QC). For more information, please contact Marie-Claire LeBlanc: Project and Communication Manager at mcleblanc@peatmoss.com (www. peatmoss.com). The Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association (CSPMA) is an association of horticultural peat moss producers and related enterprises devoted to promoting the sustainable management of the industry and the responsible management of Canadian peatlands. It provides support and advocacy for its members through leadership in environmental stewardship, as well as societal and economic wellbeing related to the use of Canadian peatland resources.

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ellemont, AZ – Operations are getting underway at a 425,000-square-foot sawmill facility to process brush and small trees thinned from four national forests in Arizona, reports WoodWorkingNetwork.com. NewLife Forest Products is collaborating with the Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) to remove overgrown ponderosa pine and reduce wildfire hazard in the Apache-Sitgreaves, Coconino, Kaibab, and Tonto forests. Good Earth Power AZ and its operating entity, NewLife Forest Products, completed a deal to acquire the former Essity AB. tissue production plant just north of Flagstaff late last year. Located on a 35-acre site in close proximity to harvesting areas, highway, and rail transportation, the converted warehouse will manufacture lumber, engineered wood products, biomass, and bagged products. At full capacity, the mill will be able to produce as much as 120 million board feet of lumber annually - making it the largest sawmill in the state. Thinning and harvesting efforts are targeted to reach 30,000 acres per year. The sawmill will run multiple lines for processing timber, capable of handling any size logs efficiently, but particularly small logs, which are considered most profitable. The plant also will produce landscape bark, horse bedding, woodchips, and soils. NewLife Forest Products is owned by FEC Logging USA Holdings, and is backed by Lateral Investment Management, a San Mateo, California-based private credit and growth equity firm.

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Invasive Jumping Worms Threaten Soil and Forest Health

hree invasive earthworm species that entered the U.S. in imported plants years ago are gaining ground – literally – as they alter soils and ecosystems across the South and Mid-Atlantic and in parts of the Northeast, Upper Midwest and West, according to a ScienceNews.org article. Native to Japan and the Korean Peninsula, Amynthas agrestis, A. tokioensis, and Metaphire hilgendorfi, known as Asian jumping worms, crazy worms, snake worms or Alabama jumpers, have become well established in the U.S. In many states, jumping worms are sold as compost worms or fishing bait. Their distinctive frenetic wriggling attracts fish, and their ability to devour food scraps faster than nightcrawlers

and other Lumbricus species has made them marketable for vermiculture. Characterized by smooth, glossy dark gray to brown colored bodies circled by thick, white bands and ranging from 10–13 centimeters in length, jumping worms are a bit smaller than nightcrawlers. They shouldn’t be confused with another non-native worm species, red wigglers (Eisenia fetida), either. Red wigglers are distinguished by a large light-colored band that typically covers up to a third of the body length. Although the red wigglers also are often used for composting, they are not classified as invasive species in North America. Originally from Europe, they like the same living conditions as the jumping

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worms but are not considered to have a negative environmental impact in the wild. Why all the concern about jumping worms? They are voracious. They can munch down 95 percent of leaf litter in a single season, reducing or removing the forest understory. This in turn robs the soil of nutrients or protection for the creatures that live there or for seedlings to grow. Ultimately, native plant species are replaced by invasive, nonnative species that tolerate the soil conditions. Jumping worms change soil chemistry by modifying nitrogen and carbon dioxide release, affecting the fungi, bacteria and microbes that live in the soils, according to study findings published in Soil Biology and Biochemistry. Based on DNA extracted from worm castings and guts, it seems that each jumping worm species harbors a different collection of microbes. The scientists think that each species might have a unique niche in the environment. This could mean each species has a different impact on the soil, which will likely cascade down to having different effects on other worms, soil biota, pH and chemistry. Jumping worms grow very quickly and are typically quite hardy. Their egg cocoons survive frigid winters. But harsh, prolonged drought can do them in, as can compost that is properly heated to reduce pathogens. A Cornell University Cooperative Extension Jumping Worms Fact Sheet says that the cocoons can be spread easily in potted plants, and on landscaping equipment, mulch, tire treads and even hiking boots. The cocoons are hard to see with the naked eye, but if you notice jumping worms a “mustard pour” can be used as a control. The mustard pour consists of a gallon of water and 1/3 cup of ground yellow mustard seed. Pouring this mixture slowly onto soil will drive any worms to the surface where they can be collected and discarded. Dispose of all live worms in the trash or place them in a bag, close the bag and leave out in the sun for at least 10 minutes. Then throw the bag away.

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Pellet Fuels Business - A Runaway Success During Pandemic

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im Portz, executive director of Pellet Fuels Institute, is calling 2020 an unexpected runaway success for wood pellet production, reports Biomass Magazine. Wood pellet production lagged in April last year, with the sector logging just 122,000 tons of production, the lowest one-month total since July 2018, but then things changed, Portz wrote in a Pellet Mill Magazine op-ed. As the 2019-’20 heating season ended and the number of pandemic cases leaped, producers lengthened planned maintenance outages, phased out peak-season throughput totals or just modulated their production throttles slightly. Beginning in April, monthly output trailed 2019 numbers, but only slightly. The last nine months of 2020 saw the sector average 164,000 tons a month, down from 177,000 in 2019, but still well ahead of the monthly production averages of 2016-’18, Portz explained. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, production and sales data for December 2020, sales in 2020 (2.18 million tons) were slightly ahead of 2019 sales (2.22 million tons) through October. November and December sales were down, with almost 60,000 fewer tons sold than for the same time period in 2019. Considering the uncertainty that surrounded the industry and the others that wood pellet producers rely on—not only for their fiber, but also to sell their finished product in the early months of the year—2020 must be considered a runaway success, Portz said, adding that the ability to safely remain online assured upstream manufacturers that if they were able to remain in production, wood pellet producers would be ready to and willing to pay for their residuals. For wood stove owners, pellet supplies met their demand for fuel throughout the pandemic year. “It is believed that over 1 million American homes use wood pellets either as a primary or supplemental heat source, and those homeowners needed pellet producers to figure out how to overcome the challenge of the pandemic. They certainly did, continuing to deliver to the market a high-quality fuel to heat what were not only people’s homes, but had become remote offices and children’s classrooms as well. The fact that the sector was able to meet this challenge in the most uncertain of times and deliver upon our commitments to both our fiber partners and our end users is not articulated in the data,” Portz summed.

Municipal Solid Waste Compost – Cheap Alternative to Fertilizer

ANITOBA, Canada – Findings of a five-year field study published in the journal, Food Waste International showed that soil amended with compost made from municipal solid waste (MSW) - food scraps and yard waste – significantly boosts vegetable growth and nutritional value. The agricultural research trial conducted in Brandon, Manitoba was led by Dr. Lord Abbey of Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Agriculture and was supported by Manitoba Conservation & Climate and the Compost Council of Canada. The trial tracked growth and composition of lettuce, beets, carrot, green beans grown in MSW. The researchers applied the compost at different frequencies, once every year and once every two years with our control being none at all. Nutrients were greatly increased in the annual and biennial municipal compost applied soils at the end of year five of the study. The trials proved that long-term frequent application of municipal compost will potentially biofortify food plants. The harvests were analyzed at Alberta’s Metabolomics Innovation Centre, Canada’s national metabolomics core facility. Compost produces a reservoir of essential plant nutrients and biomolecules such as macro- and micro-nutrients, amino acids, carbohydrates, lipids and mineral nutrients, vital for plant metabolism, the researchers wrote. The study showed increased total amino acids in the lettuce, carrot, beets, and green beans by approximately 323%, 109%, 94% and 18% respectively, compared to the control. Overall, total phospholipids were enhanced by the biennially applied MSW compost. Total organic acids in the lettuce, beets, and green beans were altered by the annual and biennial MSW compost applications by approximately 35% and 23%; 6% and 6.4%; and 22% and 65%, respectively, compared to the control. Food plant biofortification can be achieved using MSW compost, which offers cheaper and environmentally sustainable means of improving nutrients density and functional property of food plants to improve human health and wellbeing. Consequently, these results suggested that compost application to plants may be a cheaper alternative to grow and biofortify food plants to promote healthy diets and human wellbeing. However, further studies involving enzymatic assays and molecular techniques are required to elucidate the mechanisms underpinning such biofortification in response to compost utilization in agriculture, the study authors concluded.

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VOL. XV NO. 3

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MAY /JUNE 2021

Inside This Issue From the Golden Leaf to Brown Gold PAGE 1

Report Details the Local Pushback Against Renewable Energy Projects PAGE 6 News From The Mulch & Soil Council PAGE 8 Closing the Circle with Biopolymers PAGE 14 U.S. Prepares to Hike Tariffs on Canadian Softwood Imports PAGE 16 Invasive Jumping Worms Threaten Soil and Forest Health PAGE 20 Pellet Fuels Business - A Runaway Success During Pandemic PAGE 22

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