Canadian Geographic is making publishing history this week. Its latest issue is hot off the presses, printed entirely on paper made from wheat straw. It’s the first time that such materials have been used to print a North American magazine.

Wheat straw is essentially agricultural waste — it’s the junk left behind after wheat grain has been harvested. At this point, it’s pretty much worthless. Traditional paper pulp, on the other hand, relies on a limited supplies of trees, which also are used for a wide variety of other purposes. The idea that, to some extent, agricultural waste could be used to satisfy a portion of the demand for wood pulp is phenomenal.

• Publishers could reduce their ever-rising paper costs.
• Farmers could make a little money off of something they’ve traditionally treated as trash.
• Environmentalists would be able to protect a larger portion of forests.

Canadian Geographic has been printed continuously since 1930 and has faced the changing publishing world with a surprising amount of success. The present incarnation of the magazine focuses on not just the geography of Canada but the historical and environmental factors that affect Canadian geography. That commitment to environmental issues includes reporting on controversial issues and publishing an annual environment issue. This year’s environmental issue just happens to be the current issue — the one printed using wheat straw paper.

The annual environmental issue is a collaborative project between the magazine’s staff and Markets Initiative, a Canadian environmental group. According to a report on the CBC, Nicole Rycroft, of Marketes Initiative, came up with the idea or printing on more environmentally friendly materials. "Canada's forests are disappearing at an alarming rate and if we just look at newsprint, for example, 100 million trees are logged every year in Canada just to make newsprint,” says Rycroft.

Canadian Geographic relied on wheat straw pulp imported from China for this printing. But approximately 23 million tons of wheat straw go to waste in Canada every year — enough to make it worth Canadian Geographic’s while to encourage the development of this cheap source of paper pulp. 23 million tons of wheat straw could make enough paper to produce 20 million magazines. Furthermore, this isn’t new technology: Chinese and other Asian papermakers have used agricultural waste from wheat and rice crops for hundreds of years.

Rycoroft’s plan is to convince the pulp and paper industry in Canada, as well as the United States to replace even a portion the wood they use for pulp production with agricultural waste.