Elie, Manitoba, Sept. 23--Dow BioProducts Ltd. is nearing completion of the world’s largest straw harvest, and expects to net around 250,000 bales for manufacturing its Woodstalk composite fiberboard products.
More than 140 people, including Dow BioProducts’ staff and contractors are involved in the harvest, expected to be complete by the first week of October. The straw is harvested from fields spanning a 65-kilometer (40-mile) radius of the Elie plant, using over 60 pieces of farm equipment, including balers
and stackers.
“We are on track to collect the most straw ever in the history of Dow BioProducts, with around 75% of the harvest now complete,” said Craig Nechwediuk, Dow BioProducts straw harvest leader.
“The weather has been our biggest challenge as a dry summer produced virtually all the straw in the first week of harvest. We were unable to get to it all immediately and farmers have been exceptionally helpful, particularly as we had some rainy days since then and had to wait for the straw to dry out.
“The weather is now cooperating to produce an excellent crop.”
The straw bales each measure 4’x4’x8’ and weigh nearly half a ton.
The harvest of waste straw helps the environment by significantly reducing the volume of straw that would otherwise be turned back into the field or burned off. The straw is primarily stalk from wheat, and is unsuitable for human or animal consumption.
At full capacity, Dow BioProducts’ plant prevents 175,000 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year, the equivalent produced from 36,000 minivans traveling 20,000 kilometers (12,500 miles) a year.
Environmental concerns are driving demand for Woodstalk products, with an increasing number of manufacturers using the product, and architects, designers and consumers specifying Woodstalk as the product of choice for building and construction products.
Woodstalk products relieve pressure on forest resources. And, because the products are made with formaldehyde-free resin, they don’t release detectable levels of volatile organic compounds into the environment. Woodstalk fiberboard is made with a polyurethane resin manufactured by Dow Chemical Canada, Inc.
