In a former juice factory in Port Williams, a group of machines hum and hum as they process piles of wool.
Today, wool processed in the massive facility that houses the Taproot Fiber Lab is used to produce yarn, either from Taproot’s flock of sheep or from people who want to spin the wool themselves.
As Sara Gennaro, mill manager at Taproot Fibre Lab, explains, much of the wool produced in Nova Scotia is unspun because it either comes from sheep that are not raised for wool production or comes from parts of the sheep that get dirty and matted.
“Often farmers who have very large flocks of sheep do not pay attention to the quality of the fibre because there is no money in it.”
This means farmers have to burn or throw away the wool, or sell it for less than the cost of shearing it – costs that farmers bear regardless, because shearing sheep is part of their life cycle.
“There’s a lot of waste wool in Nova Scotia,” Gennaro says. “So we have the opportunity to buy that wool… and turn it into something useful.”
This year, Taproot plans to produce wool pellets as part of a drive by wool producers in the coastal region to help farmers and market gardeners increase food production and cope with climate change – while also providing an additional source of income for sheep farmers.
Wool pellets provide nutrients and help with water retention
Wool pellets were first developed in 2016 by Utah sheep farmer Albert Wilde.
They are made of low-quality wool that is crushed and pressed into pellets about six millimeters in diameter. These pellets can be scattered on the surface of pots and gardens or dug into the soil.
Ruth Mathewson, Atlantic director for Canadian Co-operative Growers, says that when mixed into the soil as an additive — a means of changing its physical and chemical properties — wool pellets help plants in a number of ways.
“If there is a drought then … the water will stand,” says Mathewson, who is also a sheep farmer at Woolies of Upperbrook Farm near Truro.
Because wool can absorb moisture — up to 30 percent of its weight in water without feeling wet — wool pellets retain moisture in the soil and also absorb water during periods of rain.
This means wool pellets can help growers survive the dramatic fluctuations in rainfall that can result from climate change.
“So from a climatic perspective, it’s a beneficial material in both cases.”
Wool pellets also contain nitrogen that is slowly released, providing an alternative nutrient source for vegetable producers who want to avoid chemical fertilisers.
Some hope it will also serve to support sheep farmers.
When Margaret McEachern, owner and operator of Knit Pickers PEI, learned that some Maritime farmers’ wool wasn’t being used, she became concerned. “It’s just wasteful for it to be going to landfill,” she says.
But then McEachern learned of the existence of wool pellets.
After securing two small business grants, McEachern ordered a pellet mill — which cost about $20,000 — and began accepting wool from Maritime sheep farmers, which she began processing into pellets this summer.
McEachern says the response from farmers has already been extremely positive, especially as it offers significantly more than farmers receive for wool.
“The point of this is really… [was] to be able to support Canadian farmers, especially here in the Maritimes,” he says. “They’re just grateful to have a place to put their wool that’s not going to landfill, and they can make money off of it.”
Pellet production also takes place outside the coastal area.
It also has the potential to have a big impact on the planet; Prince Edward Island alone produces about 14,000 kilograms of wool a year, he says, and if some of that were used for wool pellets on organic farms and in home gardens, sheep farming would become more economically sustainable while reducing the need for watering and chemical fertilisers.
Wool pellet production is also developing outside the coastal region.
Mathewson says the Canadian Wool Growers Cooperative is developing a commercial machine to produce pellets on a larger scale.
That machine will be placed on a platform so it can travel. Mathewson says it’s unclear whether it will reach this region, but Maritime farmers will be able to ship their wool for use at the mill.
Either way, he says it will open up new uses for wool, which has been particularly important for sheep farmers in recent years; during the pandemic, Chinese demand for Canadian wool has plummeted, causing a pile-up.
“Wool doesn’t like to be stored, so its value has been declining, so we’re looking for ways to monetize that value.”
Mathewson says the co-op machine will be up and running by fall at the latest.
Back at the Taproot Fiber Lab facility, once the machine is up and running, Sara Gennaro says the pellets Taproot produces—made from low-grade wool purchased by the mill as well as Taproot’s own wool waste—will be available for retail sale or could go back to sheep farmers for use in their fields.
Gennaro says the hope is ultimately that by creating a new use for wool, more farmers will be encouraged to produce wool not just for pellets, but for all sorts of other uses.
“I hope this will be an incentive not only to preserve wool or shear sheep… but also to focus more on the quality of the fibres.”
