Development of the Canadian Peat Harvesting Industry
Jonathan Ho

Abstract 

Peat has long been a useful resource for humans all over the world where peat moss is found. In Canada, mechanized excavation of peat did not begin until late 19th Century. The industry remained at a very small scale until the Second World War. “Peat”, is undoubtedly an interesting and unique substance. It can be turned into a variety of products that are useful to us in many aspects of life in a modern society. On the other hand, disturbing peatlands might lead to very serious environmental problems on the local and the global scale. Consequently, peat extraction is an industry that illustrates the intense conflicts within the industry and with the general public. This paper examines the transformation of the industry as a result of changes in the socio-economic and political patterns, technological advances, as well public opinion Focus will be placed on the historical development of the Canadian peat extraction industry, with some comparisons with the industry in other countries.

• Introduction

• Distributions of peatlands

• Geographic pattern of the industry

• Changing geographic pattern of the industry

• Technological advances

• Change in public opinion and the responses of the industry

• Conclusion

• Bibliography

Introduction 

Peat is an organic substance formed naturally under very special environmental condition. The establishment of a sizable peat layer can only occur if the decomposition rate of plant materials is slower than the rate of plant growth. This condition is mostly likely to be found in bogs because of their high water table and acidic environments. Bogs’ permanent or semi-permanent waterlogged conditions prevent oxygen from occupying the pores of the soils. Sphagnum moss, which is a characteristic plant of a bog, releases humic acid. This acid makes the pH values of the water in the middle of a bog as low as 3.5 (Environmental Assessment Office, 2000: p.94). A bog’s lack of oxygen and its low pH values discourage the growth and reproduction of bacteria and other microorganisms. As a consequence, partly decomposed dead plant material remains and amasses over a long period of time, forming a thick layer of dark fibrous matter known as peat. Peat is useful to humans because of two important characteristics. Firstly, its high organic compound makes it an utilizable fuel. Although the energy content per unit mass is not comparable to common fossil fuel, the extraction of peat has been in practice for hundreds of years (Ryan and Cross, 1984: p. 388). Secondly, its fibrous structure enables it to retain a lot of water and air. Some studies suggest that peat can hold 20 or 30 times its weight in water. 


Distribution of Peatlands

The environment described in the introduction is a classic example of a “peatland”. A peatland is defined as an environment or an ecosystem where peat is found. Bogs constitute most peatlands on the planet. Terms such as “mires”, “moors”, and “muskegs” are often used in the science literature to refer to a similar environment to a bog (Rubec, 1996: p.1). A fen is distinctly different from a bog. However, because peat also occurs in fens, some fens qualify as “peatlands”. Not surprisingly, peat extraction can only take place on peatlands. The global distribution of them is uneven. There are two clusters in the world. Tropical peatlands, found throughout the tropics, contain peat that has not interested the excavation industry very much. The second main type of peatland is characterized by sphagnum moss, as mentioned in the introduction. Sphagnum peatlands are most abundant in the subarctic climate belt (Maltby and Turner, 1983). In North America, sphagnum peatlands are most plentiful in the Canadian Shield zone surrounding Hudson Bay. Further to the south, peatlands are less frequent but still numerous. They are relatively rare in the United States with the exception of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and New England (Cameron, 1980, 12). 



Geographic Patterns of the Canadian Peat Industry

The distribution of peatlands is obviously important to the peat excavation industry because operator firms in the industry prefer locating in an area where a lot of peatlands are found. The reason behind location is simple: the firm can easily transfer its labour and machinery to a new site once the old site is depleted in areas of plentiful optimal sites. However, locating in areas of the highest likelihood of peatland occurrence is not always practical. Peat is too bulky to be cost effectively transported to markets. Despite high concentrations of bogs and fens, in the Canadian Shield area, for example, extraction is uneconomical because of the distances involved in transportation and the difficulty to recruiting labour. Peat extractors are mainly located in areas of lesser concentration of peatlands, but closer to markets. (See fig. 1).

Fig. 1 Areas of high likelihood of peatland occurrence. Although not clearly shown on this map, the concentration of peatlands is highest surrounding James Bay in Northern Ontario and Québec. The "Circum-boreal" zone and the coastline of British Columbia also have many peatlands. (Michealy, 1979)

Early extraction operations were most active in the Laurentides region of Québec and in eastern Ontario. This broad geographic pattern has held ever since the first commercialization of peat in Québec in 1864 (Warner and Buteau, 2000). The choice of location in this region was to a large extent due to these sites’ proximity to big markets in major urban and industrial centres of the Great Lakes – Saint Lawrence belt as well as the American Northeast (Singleton, 1980: p.98). Thus far we have discussed the broad geographic pattern of the locations of peat excavation operators in Canada. However, when examining the geographic pattern a little more closely, one will find that distribution of peat excavation operators is not always predictable using distance theories, especially if one considers the change of the pattern over time. Instead, there involves a rapidly changing location decisions are influenced by many political, social and economical factors. 


The first documented commercial extraction of peat took place in 1864 on a bog near Victoriaville, just north of Sherbrooke, Québec. A few other similar operations began in the same year in Welland, Ontario (Warner and Buteau, 2000, p. 60). A number of small operators started business in the Eastern Townships of Québec in the following decades, supplying fuel for such activities as trans-boundary steam locomotives and other industries. Although some isolated operations began in Ontario and New Brunswick, the main cluster was centred around Montréal and the Eastern Townships. This is a reflection of the Québec-centric economic pattern of 19th Century Canada. Peat was by no means enjoying a monopoly in the market for fuel. As Warner and Buteau indicate, many peat extraction operations had to close down due to inability to compete with coal. The peat fuel factory in Newfoundland, for example, was forced to close down in 1871 due to fierce competition with coal. The geographic patterns of the early Canadian peat production reflected the differential energy demand in the country. In rapidly industrializing regions such as eastern Québec, peat production expanded very rapidly whereas operations elsewhere in the country did not enjoy such an advantage. The geographic patterns of the Canadian peat industry became more complicated with the introduction of fertilizer peat production in Ontario in 1909 (Warner and Buteau, 2000: p.61). Despite the introduction of new market possibilities, the fuel peat market continued to dominate in the early years of the 20th Century. The attractiveness of peat compared to coal existed largely due to the fact that Canada depended heavily on imported coal for energy. As mining in Canada was expanding in the early 20th Century, the use of fuel peat declined in popularity. By World War II, the use of peat became insignificant in comparison with its horticultural product counterpart (Statistics Canada).

The Changing Geographic Patterns of the Industry

Locations of production sites had also been influenced by Canada’s role in the two world wars During the First World War, two very large peatlands in New Brunswick produced Sphagnum moss that was used as surgical dressings. Sphagnum was collected by local schoolgirls and shipped off to European hospitals close to the battlefields (Warner and Buteau, 2000, p. 61). The two New Brunswick bogs were probably favoured because they were closer to Europe than the main production bogs in Québec. During World War I, commercial excavation of peat was forced to a temporary halt but production soon resumed at the end of the war (Warner and Buteau, 2000:61). It was also during the two world wars when Canada established its high market share in the North American peat product markets. This change was brought about because imports from Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands, which dominated the American market before the war, were essentially banned when the United States declared war on Germany (Singleton, 1980: p.97-98, Warner and Buteau, 2000: p. 62). See fig. 2. Competition that Canadian peat products had to face previously suddenly disappeared. World War II therefore helped consolidate Canada’s place on the American market. Once consolidated, European products could no longer match the competitiveness of Canada’s peat products in the U.S. market. 

The sudden increase in demand of Canadian peat resulted in a massive expansion of the industry into every region where peat could be effectively mined. For instance, British Columbia, which relied totally on import of peat in the 1920’s, became the largest peat producer in the world overnight. Between 1941 to 42, the share of BC’s production in the national total jumped from 0 to 53% (Warner and Buteau, 2000). . The Lower Mainland Region, which contains many large-scale peatlands such as Delta (Burns), Lulu and East Lulu bogs, became very prominent sites for large-scale excavations. Productions also started in Manitoba and Alberta in the year 1942. Similar operations started in1949 in Nova Scotia. In the meantime, Southern Ontario’s production suffered setbacks (Warner and Buteau, 2000: p. 65). This was possibly because of exhaustion of the resource. On the global scene, Canada assumed the presence as a major producer in the world. In summary, the two world wars changed the geographic patterns of Canada’s peat production in a remarkable manner. From a Montréal-centered cluster of small productions on small peatlands, the trend shifted abruptly to a large-scale productions on large peatlands across the country. As illustrated in the above paragraphs, socio-economic and political factors were extremely important factors in bringing about the changes of the geographic pattern of the industry from its beginning to the mid 1940’s. Besides the geographic pattern, there were also many other aspects of the industry that are a response to the technological changes, marketing strategies, as well as product diversity. 

Technological Advances

“Just dig up the peat and ship it to the market” might be a good description of a common misperception of the technology involved in the peat mining industry. Although the technology utilized is not necessarily high-tech, it can certainly be described as highly flexible in response to local conditions such as the hydrology of the site and the water content of the raw peat. Very different technological approaches have been deployed in the four separate stages of production. The four procedures were: drainage, excavation, aeration and refinery. In Canada, innovation started on the first day of production of peat. The excavation technique used in the first peat production site near Victoriaville, Québec was an invention of the owner, James Hodges. Hodges applied a “large auger mounted on pontoons that floated on water in drainage channels across the peatland” (Warner and Buteau, 2000, p. 60). This is the first large-scale “wet excavation” technique that was developed into more advanced ones later (Hannel, 1918, p.45). It is only known that peat was cut in blocks measuring 18 by 6 by 9 inches and that the depressions formed by the cut blocks provided a channel for the navigation of the scow. Unfortunately, the exact techniques used for the propagation of the pontoon were not documented. Presumably, this method did not involve any drainage. The raw peat was left adjacent to where it was excavated until its water content decreased to a certain level (Hannel, 1918: pp.45-46). 

In the 1890’s, productions at several Ontario bogs showed improvement in the efficiency in the excavation and transportation procedures. In Ontario, technologies such as electrically driven diggers and light railway cars were installed to increase the speed of production. The peat industry, at this early stage, was extremely labour-intensive. Heavy dependence on weather conditions was by far the biggest problem that challenged the sustainability of the industry. Precipitation and humidity variations made it virtually impossible to predict the water content of the product. This made the utilization of peat as a fuel uncompetitive, especially because technology already allowed coal’s water content to be controlled within a certain range (Hannel, 1918: pp.45-47). Attempts to adapt the technologies used in the coal industry were made. However, these attempts were initially without success. Peat harvesters in Europe were also facing similar problems. As a consequence of the low levels of mechanization of the heavy dependence on weather conditions, life on the bog was not easy. As you can imagine, jobs provided by the industry were extremely physically demanding due to the reliance on manual cutting. They were also low paying and seasonal. Safety standards were also low. The fire hazards involved for instance at processing plants were extremely high (Swinnerton, 1958: p.24). 



As the 20th Century arrived, the peat industry saw a substantial improvement in its technology. In Beaverton, Ontario, a device similar to a shredder was used to chop raw peat into very small particles, enabling them to dry faster in open conditions. This substantially increased the productivity of the site. Weather was however still a major concern. A breakthrough was later introduced by Alex Dobson of Ontario. He successfully adapted the “briquetting” technology from the coal industry. Further improvements were made when the “Dickson peat-press” was introduced from Europe. The peat product became much more dependable after the employment of this drying machinery. The product’s water content could now be controlled evenly at 15% (Hannel, 1918: pp. 47). The industry became much more competitive. An astonishing 30% reduction in weight of the final product was achieved by the aforementioned technology (Calculated using water content and mass ratios in Swinnerton, 1958, p.1 and Hannel , 1918, pp. 46-47). Due to the ability to reduce significantly the water content of products, the marketing strategy of producers started to change. Before the dawn of the 20th Century, peat was strictly marketed as a source of energy for local users. As it became more feasible to cost-effectively ship products for further distances, more market opportunities became available.

Peat production reinvented itself in the early years in the 1900’s. Producers and buyers started to recognize the uses associated with the fibrous structure of peat Because of this quality, peat was processed specifically to be absorption agents. Peat started to be marketed as a stable litter for horses, cattle, and poultry. Horticultural uses were targeted because of peat’s supreme quality as a soil conditioner. Peat was also sold to shipping companies as packaging material for shipment of perishable fruits, vegetables and flowers (Swinnerton, 1958: pp.1-2). Among these attempts the horticultural uses proved to be the most successful. These attempts to expand the market for peat were extremely successful. In less than 50 years after the first try with the non-fuel markets, a complete transition was made. By 1942, less than 0.02% of the total estimated monetary value of peat produced was sold as a fuel (Statistics Canada). The abandoning of the fuel market was for the most part due to the fall of the price of fossil fuels and the rise of hydroelectrical power. However, the early 20th Century technological advances were important for it allowed the industry to have alternative markets. Otherwise, the peat industry might very well have been phased out.



A second wave of technological advance was experienced by the peat industry as a result of World War II. As mentioned above, the volume of peat production boosted significantly because of the monopoly Canada enjoyed in the American market. The sudden surge in demand for peat increased the incentives on the part of the producers to develop more efficient technologies. British Columbia bogs for example became an experimental field for new technologies. According to Swinnerton, BC’s Lower Mainland was the first production region in Canada to utilize drainage to facilitate peat mining. Drainage of bogs was done by using a grid of intersecting ditches. In Delta (Burns) Bog, the Industrial Peat Company put in a main artery ditch, which drains a number of parallel smaller secondary ditches. The secondary ditches were 300 to 350 feet apart, at right angles to the main ditch (Swinnerton, 1958: p. 14). 



Although most of the digging was done by hand, this is the first attempt in the history of the Canadian peat industry to modernize radically the techniques. As the water table of the bog was sufficiently lowered by the ditches, peat harvesting began (Swinnerton, 1958: p. 14). Excavation of peat was very different from the tradition methods. To reduce reliance on manual labour, a high-pressure hydraulic jet was introduced. The jet used water to loosen the peat along the sides of the ditch. The water than carried the peat along the ditch and was subsequently pumped into a sump where twigs and roots were screened out. The slurry material was then processed into the processing plant (Swinnerton, 1958: p. 18). See fig. 3. Despite the fact that pipes had long been deployed in Denmark half a century earlier (Hannel, 1918, pp.90-100), the methods used in BC were still quite revolutionary. The techniques enabled peat excavation to be a lot more resilient to weather factors. This meant that the industry had become a more reliable income sources for communities in proximity to production peatlands. As indicated by Warner and Buteau, the entire population of Delta, BC was directly employed or indirectly affected by the peat production at Burns Bog (2000: 65).

After modernization, the industry concentrated its efforts on diversification of product, quality control of output, and tailoring the techniques to the conditions unique to each site. In the 1970’s, a large amount of scientific knowledge about peat and peatlands, including the differences among bogs of different climatic regions, was suddenly becoming available to the industry. Much of this knowledge contributed to diversification of techniques used in different region. Sites in British Columbia and in New Brunswick introduced different dewatering technologies from the U.S. and from Europe to deal with the differences in the structure of peat (Cancross, 1979: p.3-4, Buivid et al., 1976, p. 167). In New Brunswick, it was known that the “colloidal” content of the peat was too high to produce peat for horticultural uses (Cancross, 1979: p. 3-4). Because of the knowledge of differential characteristics of peat in the country, the industry headed into a phase of reversed technological homogenization. 



The potential of revitalizing the peat fuel market in New Brunswick in remote areas of Québec was recognized immediately after the success of “peat biogasification” in Europe in the 1970’s. The process of biogasification uses high temperature and complex chemical reactions to produce methane through oxidization of peat particles (Buivid et al., 1976: p. 167-169). The technology was adapted from the common practice in Europe of gasifying wood during World War II. This technology quickly gained attention from many government agencies and utility companies. A large number of such plants were proposed by utility companies to supply electricity to remote small towns. (See Fig. 4). Hydro-Québec, for instance, came up with a plan to supply the region of Saguenay Lac St. Jean using local peat (Michealy, 1979). Similar proposals were published in the late 1970’s about the potential to use fuel peat in Saskatchewan (Guilov, 1979, Guilov and Korpijaako, 1984). All of these proposals were a direct result of the Oil Crisis of the time. As oil prices eased, the attractiveness of peat fuel declined. Most of the proposals by utility companies were consequently abandoned. This is a notable case where a new technology was at first adapted because of global market fluctuation and subsequently abandoned. It is notable that in contrast with the short span of the “fuel peat-rush” in North America, production of electricity using biogasification techniques remained popular in Europe. The energy still provides a substantial amount of energy to the Republic of Ireland as well as many other countries on the continent. This difference in the popularity had nothing to do with technology or with how environmentally friendly people are in Europe compared to North America. Rather, the lack and the unreliability of hydroelectric dams and the security of the fuel in comparison with mainstream fossil fuel were the principal reasons why peat continued to be used in Ireland and not in North America (Lang et al., 1984, p. 349). In North America, most peat essentially supplied the horticultural demand. Uses were common in both professional and amateur sectors. Peat’s superb ability to break up, drain and aerate soils made it a popular choice of soil amendments for commercial pot-mixers and hobby gardeners (Triggs, 1987: p.158). 

Another technological change that occurred in the 1970’s was the introduction of “dry excavation techniques”. The dry method differed from the wet method mainly by the extent to which draining was done. For dry harvesting, the water table has to be lowered to a level significantly deeper than the wet method. This was to support heavy excavation machinery. The machinery used in this method is usually a giant vacuuming machine that sucked up the surface peat (See Fig. 5). Aeration of the peat became unnecessary because the water content was already very low as a result of active draining (Monenco Maritimes Ltd., 1986: pp. 2-4). In the 1980’s, almost all peatlands in production shifted towards this method. When compared to the wet method, the dry technique was certainly more devastating to the environment. The aspects of the dry method at most concern included a permanent road through the peatland required for easy access and the increased risks of irreversibility after harvesting. 

As discussed in the above paragraphs, the peat industry is susceptible to ups and downs associated with the possibilities and challenges created by the interplay between technology and economy. In all of the cases presented above, peat harvesters were trying their best to go with the flow of constant changes. In every case, the industry was responding to each change. The situation reversed remarkably in the second half of the 1980’s. In direct conflict with conservation groups and change in policy and public opinion, the industry was forced to be pro-active in order to survive.

Change in Public Opinion and the Reactions of the Industry 

By reading a number of proceedings from meetings such as “peat symposiums” and “peat congresses” attended by people of wide national and professional backgrounds, one can get a sense of the change in attitude of the industry and peat experts over time. Although not directly reflecting the opinion of the general public, these experts certainly reflected the schools of thinking that were crucial to the development of the industry. With the expectation of a gradual change of attitude between the 1970’s and the 80’s, I was shocked to find out that the change was extremely abrupt. In the 7th International Peat Congress held at Dublin, Ireland, it was clear that the conservation of peatland was not yet a vision shared by many scientists, as development and exploitation were still the main themes of most presenters. The situation totally changed in only three years. In the 1987 Symposium about Wetlands/Peatlands held at Edmonton, Alberta, more than half of the presenters were giving talks about the conservation of wetlands and Peatlands. In fact, even the representatives from the Canadian horticultural peat industry were expressing a need to cooperate with conservationists and preservationists to achieve a sustainable balance between both sides. The view of peatlands as resources waiting to be exploited entirely disappeared. While it will remain a mystery as to the reasons why the change occurred so rapidly, the causes and the roots of these changes can be traced to the development of the “peatland branch” of the environmental movement 



The first conservationists publicly calling for the protection of peatlands were concerned about bogs in Europe. These conservationists, including David Bellamy, were promoting the importance of peatlands in the environment. Their main arguments were as follows. Bogs are:

• Essential ecosystems 

• Habitats to unique plant and animal species specifically adapted to extreme conditions. 

• Records of past environments and human history 

• Reservoirs of genetic resources, and: 

• Areas of educational and amenity values 
  
  (Ryan and Cross, 1984: p. 389).
  
  
  

It must have been hard for these conservationists to sell their idea at the initial stage of the movement. Bogs are distinctively different from forests, which was the focus of many environmental movements. Even protection of forest only started to receive some media attention in the 1970’s. Despite difficulties, bog conservationists in Europe started to gain attention when people realized the scarcity of the peat as a resource. The discovery of ancient tools and bog bodies perfectly preserved in bogs also helped raise the public awareness about peatlands. In Ireland for instance, people began to recognize that peatlands are a part of the Irish culture and that it would be a tremendous loss to destroy all the peat bogs in the country (Irish Peatland Conservation Council, 1995). The cultural connection happened to be very important in gathering momentum for the movement towards preservation of peatlands. The Republic of Ireland Government took the first step towards conservation in 1970, which was declared as the European Conservation Year by the European Council. Designation of peatlands for permanent preservation started in that year (Ryan and Cross, 1984: p. 389). Because virgin bogs (non-harvested bogs) had a much higher aesthetic value than cutover bogs, conservation efforts prioritized the preservation of undisturbed peatlands. 



In North America, the motivation for the conservation of peatlands was quite different. The first attempts to preserve peatlands were actually part of a larger goal to conserve wetlands in general. Wetlands’ importance was initially recognized only by conservation groups whose main interest lay with fish and waterfowl. Many bogs contained water bodies which were a consequence of peat mining. These water bodies attracted many waterfowls and were therefore considered areas of primary conservation targets. In addition, North Americans tended to worry less about the depletion of land-based resources. This so-called “frontier attitude” remained despite the rise in popularity of environmental movements. These two trends combined were responsible for a different priority in peatland conservation efforts. In North America, associations such as Ducks Unlimited have been the principal groups working on the preservation of peatlands. Part of their mandate was to protect game species (Rubec, C.D.A., 1998). Due to this difference in background of the movement and the groups involved, North American conservationists tended to put less focus on the preservation of undisturbed bogs (Sanowski et al., 1987).



Conservation efforts also happened on a global scale. Caused principally by the large amount of research about wetlands pointing towards the importance of them in the global ecology and increasing public awareness, an international agreement on wetland preservation was signed in 1976. The knowledge about the importance of peatlands in global climate control also started to emerge since the International Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (Mathews, 1993). Many scientific studies indicated that the health of peatlands has a direct effect on global climate change. Peatlands are believed to be a major contributor of atmospheric methane which is an effective greenhouse gas. According to Hanson, peatlands produce more than 80% of atmospheric methane gases (E.H. Hanson and Associates, 1991). Disturbing peatlands would increase the speed of release of methane into the atmosphere, which would worsen the global warming problem (Parkyn, Stoneman and Ingram, 1997). The possibility of contributing to climate change has prompted further public opposition to disturbance of peat in many countries. The conservation argument has probably benefited from the widespread discussion of global warming. Local and global efforts to raise public awareness began to exert pressure on the peat industry. Opposition to current sites and plans of new sites was threatening the very existence of the industry.



In addition to the disadvantaged position of the industry, government attitudes also started to change. Before the rise of environmental movements, there were no environmental standards on the industry (Swinnerton, 1958: pp.24-25). By 1958, the federal government was still encouraging owners of peat productions to turn their exhausted peatlands into “useful” purposes such as cranberry and blueberry farms (Swinnerton, 1958: p.25). Clearly, the government did not see any ecological value of peatlands. The opposite was happening in the 1980’s. Ontario was the first government in Canada to recognize the importance of wetlands. As early as 1981, a provincial wetland policy was in the legislature (Halen, 1987: p.605). . The development of a similar federal wetland policy started in 1984 (Jones, 1987: p.591). These wetland policies expressed the government’s goal of preserving wetlands by means including fostering private stewardship land acquisition (Jones, 1987: p. 596). These legislative efforts illustrate the government’s change of attitude from an active encourager of peat harvesting to an active promoter of conservation.



In respond to the rapid change in public and government’s attitude towards peatlands, the industry did its best to change its image. Since its formation, the Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association has been actively adopting its own environmental standards as well as peatland recovery enhancement measures (Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association, 1993). Examples of such measures include manual planting of bog plants and introduction of native species (Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association, 1993). By self-regulating, the association hopes to convince the public that the industry is no longer the uncaring resource exploiter it once was. By trying to convince the public about the industry’s commitment to the environment, producers are probably hoping to remain in business and avoid having a bad reputation among customers. 

Conclusion 

As a resource industry, the peat industry deals with relationship with buyers and the general public very carefully. However, public relation is not all that a resource industry has to face. As shown in the case of the peat productions, economic, political and technological changes at a local and global scale can seriously affect the industry. Like many other resource industries, peat harvesters have gone through many inevitable cycles of boom and bust. In this paper I have tried to demonstrate that mitigation or response to changes deployed by the industry were different depending on the scale of the change. Some changes are only local and just slight adjustments were needed. In contrast, other changes affected the whole industry. In this case, the entire industry needed to modify itself to survive. In the peat production business, differential responses to changes at different scales result in geographic and market expansion, homogenization, reverse homogenization, and lastly alliance formation. Through the study I found that many aspects of the opportunities and difficulties facing the peat industry are also applicable to other resource extraction industries.