Tucked between Waterloo and Hamilton, Maple Ridge Acres is home to a herd of alpacas plus owner and farmer Frances Stewart. After years of caring for her animals, Stewart has teamed up with researchers in the Faculty of Environment to unlock surprising new possibilities for alpaca waste.
Waste fiber, the shearing from the neck, belly and legs of the Alpaca, is often too short and coarse to be used in the mill. Farmers often use some waste fiber in their garden to help the soil retain water, but excess is often burnt or stored. Then there is also the question of manure, and lots of it.
With these two waste problems mounting, Francis approached Dr. Maren Oelbermann, professor in the Faculty of Environment who leads the Soil Ecosystem Dynamics Research Group. The group is dedicated to improving soil health - and by extension, food security - in the age of climate change and were intrigued by Stewart's dilemma.
"When I thought of using the waste fiber in a more productive way, I was interested in pelletizing it similarly to what they do with sheep's wool," Stewart says. "But alpaca fiber does not bind as a pellet because of the lack of lanolin and would require a binding agent; hence combining it with manure."
"With the research group's expertise, we thought developing a specific fiber-to-manure ratio could offer farmers a natural, effective alternative to chemical amendments, potentially enhancing soil structure and nutrient content," she explains. "This would not only improve farm sustainability but also create added value for waste fibers from the alpaca."
Experimenting with varying quantities of the three materials to come up with the best possible combination that will yield fast acting compost.
Augustine Kwame Osei is a post-doctoral fellow in the Faculty of Environment conducting the experiments with Dr. Maren Oelbermann.
