NOTICE: Hard copies of the Australian New Crops Newsletter are available from the publisher, Dr Rob Fletcher. Details of availability are included in the
Advice on Publications Available.Phil Nichol, Russell Kingdom, Patrick Calabria
The University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury
Telephone: 02 4570 1965
Facsimile: 02 4570 1310
[Your attention is also drawn to the article on industrial hemp by Caroline Ditchfield.]
The University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury in 1997 formed the Sustainable Fibre Research Team.
The team has conducted research trials under a variety of natural and artificial conditions, with two fibre plants species, namely industrial hemp and kenaf.
Both these plants produce fibre which is suitable for industrial processes and may form the basis of a new sustainable fibre industry in Australia.
It is important that the fibre crops selected are flexible enough to be slotted in to current processing technologies without major modification, or are able to justify the substantial expense of new capital for processing.
Further, the range of products must not provide a significant hazard to the environment.
The current reliance on wood, cotton and synthetics for our major fibre needs in Australia has caused considerable environmental damage to our fragile ecosystems and this has proven unsustainable.
Further, the economic and social situations that reliance on such resources can create, are also not sustainable.
The Sustainable Fibre Research Team is investigating sustainable fibre crops to determine whether they can actually perform on environmental, economic and social grounds, in the Australian context.
Any claims made by authors in the Australian New Crops Newsletter are presented by the Editors in good faith. Readers would be wise to critically examine the circumstances associated with any claims to determine the applicability of such claims to their specific set of circumstances. This material can be reproduced, with the provision that the source and the author (or editors, if applicable) are acknowledged and the use is for information or educational purposes. Contact with the original author is probably wise since the material may require updating or amendment if used in other publications. Material sourced from the Australian New Crops Newsletter cannot be used out of context or for commercial purposes not related to its original purpose in the newsletter
Contact: Dr Rob Fletcher, School of Land and Food, The University of Queensland Gatton College, 4345; Telephone: 07 5460 1311 or 07 5460 1301; Facsimile: 07 5460 1112; International facsimile: 61 7 5460 1112; Email:
r.fletcher@mailbox.uq.edu.au[
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GK; latest update 6 June 1999 by: RF