Source: Winnipeg Free Press Contact: Fri, 14 Aug 1998 Author: Geoff Kirbyson MANITOBA A MAJOR GROWER BEFORE CROP BANNED High yields, variety of uses lead to high hopes for hemp Rask Klagenburg has some high hopes for hemp. The Selkirk-area farmer thinks the 30 acres where he's testing the recently legalized crop could make his entire farm of 2,100 acres more efficient and profitable. "If it works out OK and it will be better paying crop than wheat or canola, there will be a lot of interest in it from Manitoba farmers," Klagenburg said of his two- to three-metre-high plants. "It's a learning experience. If I make some money, that's great. It's a new crop and it looks promising." It's still too early to tell how successful hemp farming will be in Manitoba, but many seem to agree it has a significant upside. While canola is considered an expensive crop to grow and wheat isn't much of a money-maker, hemp could be a high-yielding crop. It also has a number of applications, including hemp oil for cooking, or for burning in automobile engines, and hemp fibre for paper, clothes and particle board. The Consolidated Growers and Processors Canada Ltd. (CGP) a group of North Americans and European investors is presently a two-day forum on hemp today and Saturday and Centennial Concert Hall. The Affair, which is expected to attract up to two hundred participants, includes tours of hemp crops around southern Manitoba and presentations by eighteen hemp experts from around the world. Douglas Campbell, General Manager of Winnipeg-based CGP, said, that there are currently 27 farmers who have included more than 1200 acres of hemp among their crops this year. And if things go well, there could be thousands of additional acres allotted to hemp next year. "We're very hopeful that we can find a way to produce hemp economically so it can compete with imported cotton," Campbell said. "Most of the textile people we've talked to in the industry say if the price of hemp is competitive, they'll buy it because it is very durable and it can do thousands of blends." He added that farmers could gross in excess of $400 dollars per acre, putting hemp on a par with canola, and malting barley and making it more profitable than feed barley, feed wheat and feed oats. Barry Prentice, an associate professor in the agriculture and food science facility at the University of Manitoba, plans on taking one of the tours himself to satisfy both his own curiosity and professional interest. "I think that it is an interesting new industry, for Manitoba and we have to see how viable it is, said Prentice who is also director of the U of M's transport institute. "It can be rotated in with other crops to help break disease cycles but we have to look at the length of time to harvest it, labour input, the cost of equipment, what crops to replace and can we get critical mass of production to sustain the industry." He noted that Manitoba used to be one of the major growers of industrial hemp before it was banned 1930s. Because farmers are currently forbidden from growing hemp there is a huge market to exploit south of the border. "That's our ace in the hole," Prentice said. "There is a large market for hemp, because of its notoriety. Wearing a hemp shirt is cool. "If we can get started here first, we're here for the long haul. But I think the U.S. will grow it eventually." A local supply would have other benefits for the local market, such as eliminating hemp imports from China, and making use of nearby oil crushing facilities. - --- Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)