I can't agree that moving coconut fiber out of the tropics for the benefit of temperate zone agriculture and horticulture is anything but organic matter piracy, frankly.
Peat is being laid down in Canada many times faster than it is currently being harvested, and Northern soils accumulate organic matter much more rapidly than do soils in the growth zones of coconut. At the Vermillenium conference in September 2000, Dr Rhada Kale of India was asked by an American vermiculturist if it helped the people of Sri Lanka to buy their coconut coir as a peat substitute, or if it was actually robbing them. Dr Kale replied, without hesitation, "It is robbing them." I certainly do agree with Micah that other, preferably local, materials be explored as organic matter sources. Eliot Coleman has an eloquent and informative discussion of these issues in the 2nd edition of The New Organic Grower, in case anyone would like more thoughts on this subject. Frank Teuton Micah wrote: "Cordelia, Good luck with your clay soil! Regarding the peat, one thing that a lot of people are not aware of is that the peat industry is causing huge destruction to bogs all over the world, bogs which took millennia to form. Peat is great gardening stuff, organic & useful, but it is part of a very complex, rare, and fragile ecosystem which is being rapidly lost. There was a great article about this in the last Oregon Tilth paper; I encourage everyone to explore more renewable substitutes, like coconut fiber or other ag processing by-products, depending on your needs. Just my thoughts on this! Micah"
