Bright Prospects for Canadian Industrial Hemp Production
Thursday, 12 January 2006 13:43
Recalling the bust-to-boom story of canola, a Brandon Sun article forecasts a bright future for industrial hemp. In fact, hemp could outshine canola because "hemp has an advantage over canola in that the plant's fibre has commercial applications as well as its seed. . .
'Industrial hemp is different in that it has the opportunity to develop an industry based on total plant utilization,' Keith Watson, a diversification specialist with Manitoba Agriculture Food and Rural Initiatives recently told an agronomists‚ meeting." The Jan. 12, 2006 article recalls hemp's earlier problems: "Farmers who initially attempted growing the early varieties wound up with dense fields of plants pushing 10 feet or more. Harvesting the coarse fibrous stocks even sent a few combines up in smoke. . . Then Consolidated Growers and Processors Ltd., one of the first processors to attempt establishing a plant in the province, fizzled out before construction began. . . and then went bankrupt in early 2000, leaving growers with a mountain of seed and no market." The article explains that producers responded to the setbacks by "pursuing marketing and processing opportunities for a crop they believed has a future here" and forming "a company called Parkland Bio Fibre Ltd., which is working towards construction of a plant to process hemp plants into insulation products used in place of pink fiberglass." The article concludes that "these early setbacks -- which forced growers to become leaders in the industry's evolution -- may actually contribute to the industry's long-term stability."