The Canadian Rockies Hemp Corp., based in Bruderheim, Alta., approximately 40 minutes northeast of Edmonton, imported seeds from the Institute of Bast Crops in northeast Ukraine, part of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences.
"The fact that they're able to get it done during these times but they continue to live their lives as normal as possible — and it's pretty remarkable to see what they're able to do." The idea to bring hemp seeds from Ukraine was years in the making, Barr says. Countries such as Ukraine have a lot of knowledge and technical expertise when it comes to hemp and many of their varieties developed for bast fibre are on the same growing latitudes as Alberta farmers.
Since Ukraine has not allowed men to leave the country, he says they had to hire Hungarian drivers who could get around Russian checkpoints, driving through fields and woods to bring the seeds across the border into Poland, where they moved to Germany before flying out to Canada.
Now list all the other things that we still import from the Ukraine!