Challenge:
To better understand the potential to use surplus sheepwool as a soil enhancer
Solution:
Trials using pelletized wool used to grow a variety of greenhouse crops suggests potential for wool as a soil enhancer
Impact:
The use of pelletized, surplus wool keeps carbon in the system and offers a lower-impact amendment alternative to peat
When Jennifer Osborn and her partner added two sheep to their farm almost 20 years ago, their aim was to produce wool that could be used to make clothing and other goods.
As their sheep multiplied, so did the wool piling up after each shearing. Osborn searched for buyers, but “once I had this wool that nobody really wanted to deal with, I had to figure what to do with it, as I couldn’t make a living out of the fiber.”
As she was figuring out how to move forward, Osborn came across reports that wool enhances soil, making it a potential natural fertilizer. She and her business, EcoWool Canada, set out to create and sell pellets made from the wool her farm was trying to offload.
“The one thing I’m consistently asked about is the research needed to explain what wool does to the soil,” says Osborn. “I can tell you anything I want, but there needs to be scientific data to show that our wool pellets enrich the soil.”
To get this data, Osborn turned to Brock University, which is a member of the Ontario-based Greenhouse Technology Network (GTN).
“I can tell you anything I want, but there needs to be scientific data to show that our wool pellets enrich the soil.”
~ Jennifer Osborn, EcoWool Canada
Through Brock BioLinc’s Innovation, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship unit, Professor of Biology Liette Vasseur and Assistant Professor of Chemistry Vaughn Mangal are working with Osbourn to determine the effectiveness of EcoWool’s pellets as a soil amendment to improve soil health, fertility and crop performance.
A soil amendment is any substance – excluding fertilizers, pesticides, agricultural lime and untreated manures – that aims to change soils’ chemical or physical characteristics.
Research shows wool contains carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur, which are among the elements that boost soil quality. Wool also further benefits soil by aerating the soil, retaining moisture, improving water infiltration and reducing erosion.
To test EcoWool’s wool pellets, Vasseur and Mangal are growing spinach, sweet peppers, marigolds, basil and yellow beans in pots containing either pellets, conventional fertilizers or nothing added to the soil at all.
During the experiment, every activity, such as how much water is added, is recorded and plants are monitored and weighted at the end.
After harvesting the crops, the researchers will use sophisticated instruments at the Brock-Niagara Validation, Prototyping and Manufacturing Institute (VPMI) to measure organic carbon and nitrogen quantity and quality of soil and water samples.
“What we’re doing is saturating the soil in the pots so that water comes out of the soil,” says Mangal. “We then collect the leaching water for nutrient and carbon analysis to see how much carbon and nutrients are retained and lost in soils containing the EcoWool pellets.”
Mangal and Vasseur have completed one round of growing and harvesting the plants and will undergo another 55-day experiment of growing, monitoring, harvesting and soil testing before they produce their final report for EcoWool.
In addition to supporting Osborn’s company, Vasseur says the research may encourage the greenhouse industry in Niagara and beyond to use wool pellets as an environmentally sustainable way to boost their crops’ soils.
Vasseur notes that peat moss – harvested from natural peatlands that take thousands of years to regenerate – is currently being used in the industry to increase soil balance.
“If more carbon is stored in the soil, EcoWool pellets may also partially replace peat moss,” she says, adding that peatlands are one of the most important habitats that absorb carbon dioxide and therefore need to be protected to mitigate climate change impacts.
Osborn is also passionate about protecting the environment. It’s “common practice” for sheep farmers to burn their excess wool, she says, noting that “wool is 50 per cent biogenic carbon, similar to wood.”
“Burning the wool alters the path of the carbon, releasing it from the natural cycle and having it contribute to the atmospheric carbon,” she says. “Pelletizing wool keeps that biogenic carbon in the natural system, which is considered carbon neutral.”
