Pubdate: Wed, 16 May 2007
Source: Goldstream Gazette (Victoria, CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 Goldstream News Gazette
Contact:  http://www.goldstreamgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1291
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?330 (Hemp - Outside U.S.)

B.C. Briefs

HEMP, CANOLA STUDIED FOR B.C. BIOENERGY

Even before significant increases in temperature, climate change is 
starting to prompt shifts in B.C. agriculture.

Increased interest in carbon-neutral fuel sources has put the focus 
on ethanol and biodiesel options for farmland. One of the crops that 
has popped up around B.C. is industrial hemp, a fast-growing plant 
that produces vegetable oil as well as tough fibre used in rope and textiles.

A 110-acre hemp crop was planted in the 100 Mile House area in 2006. 
The agriculture ministry says smaller hemp plantings have been done 
in Smithers, West Moberly near Fort St. John and on Vancouver Island.

B.C. Agriculture Minister Pat Bell said the 100 Mile House pilot 
project is being increased to 200 acres this year, to get to a volume 
where processing facilities could use it to produce fibre and 
potentially ethanol. B.C. is following the lead of Manitoba, which 
has 28,000 acres in hemp, and Saskatchewan with 14,000 acres in cultivation.

A fuel with greater potential is biodiesel, which can be used 
full-strength in conventional diesel engines. It can be made from 
recycled restaurant cooking oil, or from oilseeds such as canola.

The province provided $75,000 for a feasibility study of a biodiesel 
production plant in the Peace region, where most of B.C.'s 45,000 
tonnes of canola is grown each year. The study found that production, 
along with 11,000 tonnes from Alberta, would feed a "best-size" 
biodiesel plant producing 22.7 million litres of the fuel per year.

"We wanted to see if biodiesel production was a viable option for 
Peace canola growers, and it looks like it is," said Irmi Critcher, 
president of the B.C. Grain Producers Association, which conducted the study.

Ethanol in Canada is mainly produced today from feed grain. Husky 
Energy has plants in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Both provinces have 
mandated ethanol use in gasoline. An unmodified engine can use 
gasoline with up to 10 per cent ethanol, which is marketed by Husky 
and Mohawk gas stations as a cleaner fuel with lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Husky also has a refinery at Prince George, and Bell said the company 
is studying the addition of an ethanol plant that would take 
advantage of waste heat from the petroleum side. If built, it would 
use grain shipped by rail from Peace River farms, and possibly winter 
wheat, a crop being tested in the Vanderhoof area.

Bell recently returned from a meeting of North American agriculture 
ministers in Mexico, where growing crops for energy production was a 
hot topic. It was there he heard about a commercial-scale ethanol 
plant being built in the southeastern U.S. that uses cellulose.

Such technology could use waste wood or other plant fibre, and its 
potential for B.C. deserves further study, he said.

Seatbelts required

The B.C. government is closing a loophole in the Motor Vehicle Act to 
require everyone transported in a farm worker van to be provided with 
a seatbelt.

Labour Minister Olga Ilich said a regulation change will mean vehicle 
owners, drivers and employers transporting workers will face fines if 
seatbelts are not provided for all passengers.

The measures follow an accident on the Trans-Canada Highway near 
Abbotsford on March 7. The van was carrying 17 people when it lost 
control, struck other vehicles and flipped, killing three women and 
seriously injuring other passengers.

The government vowed to continue co-ordinated roadside enforcement on 
farm worker conditions, on farms as well as on roads.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman