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Beausejour, MB
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Chris then helped found a producer-directed co-op,
the Parkland Industrial Hemp Growers, to market hemp
grain and facilitate contracts for growers.
By 2001, there were 12,000 acres of hemp in the area
and 75 co-op members. When the CGP plant failed, the
co-op helped its members – plus an additional 125 growers
– to sell their crop, including as birdseed to Germany.
Hemp was really starting to take off in the Parkland
region.
Industrial hemp is a variety of cannabis sativa grown
for industrial uses, such as food, fibre, and animal feed. It
comes from the same plant species as drug-type cannabis,
but they are different strains with different uses, and hemp
has lower concentrations of THC and therefore no psychoactive
effects.
As a crop, it is resilient, versatile, and in many ways
quite low maintenance, Chris explains. With few disease or
insect problems, it works well in a rotation with wheat and
canola. Its deep roots take advantage of leached nitrogen or
water in the soil, and its fertilizing requirements are relatively
low.
Typically, hemp is planted in the second or third week
of May, but you can seed it as late as the end of June and still
get a reasonable yield.
“We've had farmers plant as late as July 7 and still get
400 pounds an acre,” Chris says. “I planted it once on July 4 –
just on the ridges of two fields because the rest was too wet
to travel – and it was one of the nicest crops I've ever seen.”
Because of its adaptability, Chris sometimes refers to
hemp as a “hail Mary pass” of a crop – the one that comes
through for you in a pinch.
“If it's raining at the end of September when you're trying
to harvest it, it can rain in the morning and you can
still go out and harvest in the afternoon. It's going to dry
off because the heads are up so high in the wind, so when
you know you can't do anything else, it's, 'Well, we'll go do
the hemp!'”
Most modern equipment is capable of harvesting industrial
hemp with minor adjustments, Chris says, but in the
early days growers had to get creative, adding their own
shielding to combines and making other modifications.
“One of our farmers in the area actually had a business
in the winter, where he would make up belts for John Deere
combines to replace the feeder chain,” he says.
Introducing hemp to the region also involved some
other growing pains – namely, public misconception about
the little-known crop.
One producer growing hemp a half mile from Dauphin
had teenagers regularly wading into his crop and stealing
armloads of plants. Others got used to hearing their neighbours
gossiping about them.
“To them, we were all growing marijuana,” Chris recalls.
“We were all potheads and all that.”
Within a couple of years, though, the novelty wore off
and hemp became just another crop.
Regulatory requirements with Health Canada continued
to be a hassle, however. Growing industrial hemp
involved annual criminal record checks and separate
licenses for growing and storage. Regular THC testing
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Manitoba Farmers’ Voice § Winter 2019 § 5
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