A natural solution to plastic pollution
Find out how the world’s first compostable bale wrap was invented. Scroll down to discover insights from researchers at Lakeland College, Canada, who share their scientific perspectives, and a customer who’s already using it.
Read time: 4 minutes
Though on sale for less than a year, it’s already clear that Nature’s Net Wrap can save farmers time, cut costs and avoid damage to the environment
We don’t have to explain to farmers why we brought Nature’s Net Wrap to market. When they see it, they tell us they’ve been looking for this for many years
“We don’t have to explain to farmers why we brought Nature’s Net Wrap to market. When they see it, they tell us they’ve been looking for this for many years,” says Larry Ruud, rancher in Western Canada and co-inventor with his son Austin of the world’s first certified compostable baler wrap.
Plastic net wrap and twine account for approximately 2.5 million tons of waste per year, at least half of all plastic waste in agriculture . It ends up in landfill or is burnt – both with harmful consequences for the environment. Larry points out that plastic net wrap can be left behind in fields, contaminating soil and water. It can also become entangled in machinery such as bale processors, manure spreaders and seeding equipment, leading to downtime and repairs which can add up to thousands of dollars per year.
“Perhaps worse, it can be ingested by cattle and wildlife. When that happens, it can cause weight loss and death. So plastic poses a significant and often costly problem,” he explains.
As Nature’s Net Wrap decomposes naturally, it will also save farmers the time and money they currently spend burning or burying plastic bale wraps.
Nature's Net Wrap at the New Holland stand at a trade fair.
Austin Ruud, inventor and founder of Nature's Net Wrap.
Developing a unique product
Austin Ruud came up with the idea for Nature’s Net Wrap in 2015. Frustrated as he struggled yet again to remove plastic wound around machinery parts, he thought there had to be a better material to wrap bales. And so the Ruuds, whose ranch uses thousands of bales a year, began a nine-year journey.
Nature’s Net Wrap is made from a blend of biopolymers and natural fibers that have been tested both in the field and in laboratories. Today, the Ruuds have a product that is strong enough to meet farmers’ typical storage needs, yet is compostable and fully consumed by microorganisms and enzymes in the soil, leaving behind no microplastics.
“This is a global product first. It’s the only compostable bale net wrap on the market,” says Austin.
Their accomplishment is no mean feat. As if the task of inventing a strong, compostable non-toxic bale net wrap wasn’t hard enough, the Ruuds also wanted to ensure their product reached the largest possible market and has the biggest possible impact. Making it compatible with any baler model from any manufacturer was as high a priority as strength and degradability.
Extensive research and development
To this end, they worked with multiple universities and private testing facilities, including the University of Alberta and Lakeland College, both in Canada, drawing on their institutional knowledge and research facilities. By 2022, they had a prototype and were ready to do field tests.
“There was snow on the ground, it was the fall. When the first bale came out, we literally looked at each other and said, “Oh boy, the real work begins now,” because we knew we had something that worked,” says Austin.
There followed two years of field tests to see how the net wrap performed through various models of balers and a range of climatic zones. When they were happy, they approached Marty Chamberland, who today is Nature’s Net Wrap’s Chief Growth Officer, but who at the time worked for CNH and knew the Ruuds and their ranch well.
“They approached me about the manufacturing side, and for access to our dealership network,” says Chamberland. “I could see straight away the need to get this product to market as quickly as possible, and that the sustainability opportunity was huge. I also realized these guys needed capital.”
I could see straight away the need to get this product to market as quickly as possible, and that the sustainability opportunity was huge
From the left to the right: three-month old bales, six-month old bales, twelve-month old bales, 2.5-year old bales.
If you think of any netted product, there’s the possibility for our blend to get made into that
Global potential
With the plastic baler net wrap market worth some US$1 billion a year, Chamberland contacted CNH Ventures, CNH’s venture capital fund, which took a minority stake in Nature’s Net Wrap in January 2024. By May, with CNH’s help, they launched in the North American market.
The mid-season launch meant farmers already had their bale net wrap inventory for 2024, but many were keen to test Nature’s Net Wrap, ordering one or two rolls. They included farmers who wanted to avoid plastic and had already switched to sisal, which is more expensive and breaks down after just eight months.
Some ten months later, Austin Ruud is getting calls and emails from all over the world as farmers hear about Nature’s Net Wrap and want to know where they can get it.
But it’s not just farmers who get in touch. Two cities in the United States contacted the Ruuds. Mandated to reduce plastic from their landfills, the cities wanted to use it to bale up leaves and pine needles in the autumn. They’ve also had calls from farmers who grow tomatoes, flowers and vine crops, and others who use plastic netting and webbing, as well as from people keen to apply it to stop soil erosion.
“If you think of any netted product, there’s the possibility for our blend to get made into that,” says Austin.
But that diversification lies some way down the line. Currently, Nature’s Net Wrap is the company’s only product and is solely available through CNH’s Case IH and New Holland dealer network in North America. There are plans, however, to extend that to Europe this year.
But some farmers aren’t prepared to wait. “We’ve had customers coming into dealerships of CNH brands looking for this solution only to find out that it’s a baler wrap and that their balers use twine — so they’ve bought a new baler,” says Chamberland.
That’s proof of the true potential of Nature’s Net Wrap.
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