St-Isidore seed dealer experimenting with hemp
-
-
- JackHerer
- added this
Grow Hemp for the War, " says a World War II ad found on the back of a 1943 map of Iowa. More than 60 years down the road, hemp is back, for another type of combat: the one against high energy prices and agri-food multinationals.
Marc Bercier grows hemp on the lower part of a field behind his St-Isidore seed cleaning facility. He's testing 100 varieties and hopes to soon find the right one to produce vegetable oil and market it as a Canadian substitute for virgin olive oil.
"I'm anti-multinationals," Bercier says, standing inside a container housing his new oil press. The German-made press will allow him to extract oil for human consumption from hemp and camiline (false flax) seeds, both very rich in Omega-3s.
The press can also extract oil from soybeans, which can be used as a green fuel. One day, a soybean-burning co-generator will provide all the electricity and heat required to dry grain and operate the Marc Bercier Seed Cleaning Center.
Bercier's tractors and combine could also run on soybean oil. No big company will get rich off his diesel bill anymore.
Like his neighbours that grow cash crops, Bercier is currently enjoying very high grain prices. But along with them have come sharp price increases for farm inputs like fuel, fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides. These products are all controlled by large multinationals, Bercier notes.
Bercier's main business is in itself an everyday combat against the Monsantos and Pioneers (DuPont) of this world, that own the patents over genetically modified (GMO) seeds. Bercier successfully grows and markets non-GMO seeds, competing against much larger feed companies and co-ops that resell GMO seeds and the weed- and pest-control chemicals that come along.
Grain prices could drop again as soon a in a year of two, but high input prices are there to stay, Bercier predicts.
"We can't control much the price we are paid for our farm products, but we can control our farm operating costs," he says. One way of achieving this is to produce your own fuel.
Marc Bercier grows hemp on the lower part of a field behind his St-Isidore seed cleaning facility. He's testing 100 varieties and hopes to soon find the right one to produce vegetable oil and market it as a Canadian substitute for virgin olive oil.
"I'm anti-multinationals," Bercier says, standing inside a container housing his new oil press. The German-made press will allow him to extract oil for human consumption from hemp and camiline (false flax) seeds, both very rich in Omega-3s.
The press can also extract oil from soybeans, which can be used as a green fuel. One day, a soybean-burning co-generator will provide all the electricity and heat required to dry grain and operate the Marc Bercier Seed Cleaning Center.
Bercier's tractors and combine could also run on soybean oil. No big company will get rich off his diesel bill anymore.
Like his neighbours that grow cash crops, Bercier is currently enjoying very high grain prices. But along with them have come sharp price increases for farm inputs like fuel, fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides. These products are all controlled by large multinationals, Bercier notes.
Bercier's main business is in itself an everyday combat against the Monsantos and Pioneers (DuPont) of this world, that own the patents over genetically modified (GMO) seeds. Bercier successfully grows and markets non-GMO seeds, competing against much larger feed companies and co-ops that resell GMO seeds and the weed- and pest-control chemicals that come along.
Grain prices could drop again as soon a in a year of two, but high input prices are there to stay, Bercier predicts.
"We can't control much the price we are paid for our farm products, but we can control our farm operating costs," he says. One way of achieving this is to produce your own fuel.
-
- groups:
- Community, News and Politics, Politics, Green, 1 more
-
- tags:
- News, News and Politics, Politics, Green, 10 more
more from Community:
from the community
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
4
-
5
-
6
-
7
-
8
-
9
-
10
- more
