As our farming community gets into the field for another growing season, a product that is actually from the former Sheerness Mine can help reinvigorate the soil.
Black Earth Humic Products, who extract Humalite from the ground on the former coal mine in Sheerness that is great for plant growth. Justin Miller, Director of Sales for North American Agriculture for Black Earth, shares that Humics help farmers get more out of every acre of land. “It goes from nutrient use efficiency. As we look at this Humic reserve, we still get a lot of questions on what is it. It is organic matter. Our reserve is 64 percent organic matter material, the raw source of it. From that raw source, we make various other products. It is really about adding a product, that you can land-apply to your soil, that has a 64 percent organic matter. Those type of soils with high-organic matter have an ability to hold on to nutrients. Humics don’t displace fertilizers, it just really helps fertilizers work better.”
For some, Humics and Humalite is known, but they may wonder what the products from Black Earth bring to the soil and crop system, in practical terms. “I really think it is about adding organic matter, first and foremost, which contributes to increasing cation-exchange capacity, feeding the soil with carbon, and improving nutrient use efficiency,” shares Miller. “Everything is under scrutiny that we use on the farm. A big piece of this, that we know, is major inefficacies around fertilizer. A big piece is increasing the efficiency of that, and getting more nutrients in the plant.”
Black Earth is maybe a new name for people around these parts but Miller explains that the new company can provide more products under this banner. “The company, WestMet, is a branch off the ‘historical’ mining company, that has been on that Hanna site for decades upon decades, and that reserve has always been there. Really, they didn’t have an active role in producing those end products. With the acquisition, that goes back to December 2024, we acquired the Black Earth Humic Company and their entire product portfolio. For a few years, WestMet was out there selling the raw products, which we still do, but now it is the entire suite of products. We are the only mine to market humic company in all of Canada. There is no other humic reserve the size of ours or the quality of ours. Now we have a hand in the products from ‘A to Z’. From the raw (products) that we still sell, to the powders, the granulars, to our liquid facility just south of Edmonton.”
The company has a footprint all over Central Alberta with the mining taking place at Sheerness, then to north of Halkirk for processing, then to Ryley for further processing into their liquid product. Miller notes that the products are made in Alberta which provides cost efficiency for their customers with transportation. “Availability is here. That’s a great thing not only in Alberta but for our customers in BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, etc. From A to Z, this product is made all within the country and really unique in the ag industry.”
For more information on the products that Black Earth can help your farm, visit their website.
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