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.