Milkweed, the all-purpose miracle plant

It is an incredible plant that grows like quackgrass in Canada. Milkweed produces a fiber of incomparable softness that keeps warm on the glaciers of Everest and can clean up the oceans... A Quebec engineer has rediscovered what was in the 17th century, at the court of France, the fabric Kings. And will open a new "silk road" that will criss-cross North America from Quebec to Mexico.

Harvesting a field of weeds had never been seen before. This fall, in Canada, in the St. Lawrence Valley, that is what happened. From there to think that Quebecers have fallen on their heads... A few dozen farmers have indeed been convinced to sow milkweed, an invasive plant that grows like quackgrass in North America, along highways and in poorly maintained grounds. The pet peeve of all Canadians, except for François Simard. It is not its pretty pink flower that interests the engineer but its pod-shaped fruit which leaves floating in the wind like dozens of white threads, softer than cotton, which has earned the plant the nickname "soyer". of Quebec".

The textile specialist knows he has unearthed a treasure

Six years ago, this textile specialist was commissioned by the sector to find new Quebec raw materials, other than flax and hemp. Objective of the mission: save the economic sector ravaged by relocations. Not so easy. But when François Simard came across the “Traité des asclépiades”, published in 1810 by Sonnini de Manoncourt, a member of the Royal Society of Agriculture in Paris, he was convinced that he had just unearthed a treasure. Reading the manuscript, he understands that Asclepias syriaca is more good than bad grass. And that it has already proven itself. Native Americans used its young shoots in their cooking, its stem to make ropes, its root as a contraceptive or to cure dysentery, its sap for warts and herbal tea for coughs. In the 17th century, not resentful, they transmitted their knowledge to the first French explorers, who hastened to send some plants to the court. What attracted the attention of Louis XV was above all the sweetness of his sons, with whom the Indian women made cozy cocoons for their babies. The King of France granted his hosier, Mr. Jacques La Rouvière, the exclusive weaving and sale of the fiber. Bad luck, in 1759, the English general Wolfe won in front of the city of Quebec the battle of the plains of Abraham on the troops of general Montcalm, which put an end to the French regime in Canada as well as the intentions to exploit the milkweed: in order not to compromise the flourishing cotton and silk trade in their empire, the new masters of Canada buried the project.

Ultra warm, ultra waterproof, ultra absorbent

Two centuries later, in the 2000s, the American Winthrop Phippen, a researcher at Western Illinois University, confirmed the unique qualities of milkweed fiber: ultra warm, ultra waterproof, ultra absorbent. Despite these promising results, the US government preferred to invest in biofuels and withdrew its funding. The research program stopped.

Milkweed silk does not clump, does not get wet, is obtained without animal suffering

"In 2010, after reading Winthrop's work, I decided to give all my time and money to exploiting milkweed," says François Simard, convinced that he has a new textile fiber at hand. natural, a 100% ecological alternative to cotton production. “In the United States, 40% of the fresh water used by agriculture is intended for the irrigation of cotton fields, major consumers of pesticides and fertilizers, he explains. Milkweed does not require chemicals or watering to produce silk that is finer than cotton and has incomparable insulating and thermal properties. Even goose feathers are no match: milkweed silk, also called American silk, is just as light and twice as warm. It does not settle, does not get wet and, icing on the cake, is less expensive! "And it is obtained without animal suffering," adds the Canadian eco-friendly and vegetarian.

But the man must convince the farmers and, first of all, Daniel Allard: "When François called me to tell me about milkweed, I thought there was a proliferation of weeds in his fields, recalls Daniel, who has worked with the engineer before. And when he asked me to grow some, I thought it was a joke. He returned to the charge a few days later with the results of the studies carried out by the American university. There, I understood his enthusiasm and I followed him in the adventure.

It is now up to him to recruit volunteer farmers around his farm in Saint-Tite, in the province of Mauricie. The arguments abound. Milkweed is a perennial plant that only needs to be sown every ten years and grows by itself on poor soils unsuitable for any other crop. To the ecological argument, François adds an economic one: he promises a purchase price of the harvest per hectare equivalent to that of cereals. Enough to convince the most skeptical of farmers. And 75 pioneer farms are now part of the project. All located on the migration route of the monarch butterfly, Canada's emblematic butterfly, whose larvae feed exclusively on the milkweed flower.

The first coats lined with milkweed silk are on sale on the Internet

For the first harvests, only the pods are harvested and transported to Saint-Tite in the only processing plant. Each contains 205 seeds to which 788 fibers are attached, i.e. nearly 5,000 meters of silk, which must be separated, brushed and bound before rolling the heat-insulating yarn for marketing. A process that François Simard and his team invented from A to Z. A small group of clothing workshops have already purchased all 50 tons of the 2016 harvest. And the first coats lined with milkweed silk are already on sale on the Internet (altitude-sports.com).

Daniel Allard still can't believe it: “We started four years ago without being sure of the turn of events. Today, we are overwhelmed by demand!” Quebec mountaineer Jean-François Tardif tested last June, on Everest, a suit padded with milkweed fibers and says he will not go on an expedition without it. As a result, the Canadian Coast Guard has already reserved part of the upcoming production for the supply of extreme cold clothing, parkas linings and gloves.

The new natural fiber is also of interest to manufacturers, because if it repels water, it is capable of absorbing fifteen times its volume in oil and hydrocarbons, i.e. twice as much as the usual absorbents based on petroleum-based polypropylene, used during black tides. In 2010, following an oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, BP contacted Western Illinois University to try to obtain milkweed silk. In vain, since no agricultural production existed then. This year, it is the fire departments of Quebec municipalities who want to buy it to mop up accidental hydrocarbon spills. The automotive industry is another big potential customer: it plans to use the plant as an acoustic and thermal insulator for auto trim. In the milkweed everything is usable, said the Amerindians.

Tomorrow, the plant will have outlets in the automotive, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.

François Simard also sees a multitude of outlets in fiber. “We only exploit silk, but tomorrow the plant will be 100% valued. See its roots that plunge up to 3 meters into the ground. They could stabilize soils and capture heavy metals. In the near future, they will decontaminate the soil but also the oceans! As for the seeds, they give an oil whose omega 3 content is the highest of all living organisms. We expect to start production next year. It is of great interest to the cosmetics industry, but also the pharmaceutical industry for the treatment of severe burns.

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The engineer, who created the company Fiber Monark, intends to open what he calls “a new silk road”. It would crisscross North America from Quebec to the mountains of Michoacan, Mexico, the final destination of the monarch butterfly migration. “When we are ready, he says, the Silk Road will pass over the oceans, because we intend to export this extraordinary plant and our know-how. And why not one day relaunch the project of Mr. Jacques La Rouvière in France. For the Quebecer, the adventure has only just begun.