The southern Alberta farmer has been growing hemp for 12 years, and in the early days, the distinctive odour that wafts from his fields when the crop is in flower would invariably catch the attention of area residents.
In fact, hemp, which is part of the cannabis family but contains no THC , is enjoying a bit of a moment. Across the Prairie provinces, new businesses are popping up to process and market different parts of the plant. The growth in acreage is due to multiple factors, including growing interest in hemp seed as a nutritional "superfood" as well as the legalization of cannabis in 2018. That opened up a new source of revenue for farmers, as hemp growers can now harvest flowers for CBD, the non-intoxicating cannabinoid that was once illegal without a medical prescription.
Dan Madlung, president and chief executive of BioComposites Group, which runs a hemp fibre processing plant near Drayton Valley in central Alberta, says developing this third plank of the hemp industry is crucial. In the past, most Canadian farmers growing hemp for seed have had no buyer for the stems and stalks, and have had to let that part of the plant go to waste.
There are still many challenges that must be overcome before hemp farming becomes truly mainstream. While farmers no longer have to undergo a criminal records check to grow industrial hemp , they still face other regulatory requirements such as Health Canada licensing.
It's not a niche industry at all. It's one of the fastest growing plant along with bamboo. It's reported to be the first known plant to have been spun into usable fiber 50k years ago. Today's ignorance on the matter is what keeps it 'niche'.
Hemp really is a untapped biodegradable resource.
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