Harvesting is done with a conventional combine harvester machine. Once cut, the plants, which are composed of two types of fibre – long outer fibres suitable for textiles, and short inner fibre suitable for paper or industrial applications – are left in the field for about 45 days to ‘ret'. Retting is a natural process that is triggered by dew that falls on the crop each morning. Once this process is complete (dry), the stalks are collected and sent to the “decortication” machine. |
