Resource Fiber, Alabama Former First Lady to bring bamboo to South

August 25, 2014 |

In Alabama, Former First Lady Marsha Folsom highlighted the potential of bamboo as a crop for Alabama during a Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce event. Her company, Resource Fiber, plans to make the Asian plant the state’s new cash crop,  The company recently started its 100-acre nursery to test plant bamboo and plans to open its first manufacturing facility in 2015.

“Bamboo has a $15 billion global market, with $14 billion industry in Asian and the other $1 billion coming from other places like India and Indonesia,” she said. The same soil where cotton flourishes is the perfect place for bamboo to grow, she said. And the Black Belt happens to have an estimated 500,000 acres of viable soil.

Resource Fiber plans to plant 4,000 acres of bamboo over the next few years. They will also work with Auburn University, the University of Alabama, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Tuskegee University for research on development of and applications for the crop.

Category: Fuels

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