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By Alice McFarlane

Hemp Production

Hemp farmers anticipate a good crop

Sep 13, 2019 | 4:40 PM

Hemp farmers are ready to bring in this year’s crop.

Larry Marshall with Marshall Farms near Shellbrook has been growing organic hemp for 16 years. He said they expect to bring in a good crop. But the year wasn’t without its difficulties.

“This year the crops are looking fairly good. We’ve had some problems. A little bit of germination problems,” Marshall said. “We did some reseeding and then we had some hail so we had to do some more reseeding. But in general things are looking, on average, pretty good.”

Marshall said the hemp he grows is primarily for seed production. Statistics show hemp acres are up this year. He said the legalization of marijuana received a lot of attention.

“I think the only reason acres are up is because of the CBD and there are a lot of people growing it hoping to just dry down the leaf material and bale it up and sell it for that reason. I think the seeded acres are pretty stable for seed production. The price has remained about the same and I don’t think there’s been a real big increase in hemp production for seed,” Marshall said. “Now with the CBD there is interest in companies purchasing the chaff that comes off the combine. It’s all in its infancy and needs a lot of kinks worked out.”

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Marshall Farms is an organic operation. But Marshall said the majority of hemp is grown through conventional farming.

Hemp farming is regulated by Health Canada which created some limitations, Marshall said.

“They’ve got it under a restricted crop so you need a permit for it where as in the U.S. it’s just a natural foods crop so you don’t need a permit. Anyone can grow it and sell the products anywhere. It’s really too bad we’ve been lumped in as if it’s marijuana which in the past it’s been put into that basket. But Health Canada hasn’t released it so you still need a permit; you still need a lot of regulations so you have to have a permit to grow it,” Marshall said.

The Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance is the umbrella organization. Marshall said it will be a slow process and it will take time for Health Canada to change the rules.

“There’s just so much value added that can come from hemp. With most crops the seed is exported. But you can’t export hemp seed so it has to be value added. If they would only open doors to allow it as a natural product, you would see all kinds of value added in small communities around the country,” Marshall said. “We’re just not seeing this. The marijuana companies are the ones that are swallowing up the value added so it doesn’t benefit the small communities. But if it was deregulated like it is in the states right now there would be a lot of value added in small communities.”

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF