company is partnering with a marketing firm and investing $5 million in the next six years to scale up sales. Simard expects bioproducts to account for almost a quar- ter of its revenues within the decade. For a company that generates $22 million in an- nual revenues, that’s no small order. Building capacity and inventory will be a big part of its growth Girard says, a story that their colleagues in the wood pellet sec- tor know too well. “The worst thing we can do is build up demand and then fail to sup- ply. The customers will just turn away. We have to be ready on the production side to allow us to grow sustainably on the mar- keting side.” The Giradville Forestry Cooperative also hopes other cooperatives or forestry contractors will follow suit, creating a vi- able bioproducts sector that customers, and the government, can take seriously. • Biologist Fabien Girard spends much of his time finding and commercializing new products. “The boreal forest yields an amazing array of renewable products if you look, and we’re looking.” 28 canadianBIOMASS SepteMBeR/OctOBeR 2009
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