HEMP MAY TRANSFORM TOWN

Fields of nearly two-metre tall, emerald-green hemp growing at Craik,
halfway between Regina and Saskatoon, have proven to be a curiosity to
travellers.

But ongoing work between a British Columbia clothing company and
federal researchers indicates that homegrown hemp has big potential.

Hemptown Clothing Inc. of Vancouver and the National Research Council
(NRC) are entering the second year of a three-year collaboration on a
new enzyme technology for processing hemp fibre.

The small Saskatchewan town of Craik, along with the surrounding rural
municipality, found its way into the hemp processing equation when it
donated 80 acres of land to Hemptown more than a year ago.

In turn, Hemptown -- which makes corporate apparel such as T-shirts
and tote bags for a range of companies -- hopes to build a hemp mill
in Craik by 2007 to process the fibre.

Jason Finnis, president and founder of Hemptown, said the company has
about 60 acres of hemp growing at Craik, a town they were attracted to
because of its plans around sustainability. Hemptown's new subsidiary,
Crailer Fiber Technologies, gets its name from the community.

"The issue that we've had in our business is that right now all the
hemp fibre is coming in from China," said Finnis.

"The reason we haven't been able to get it in Canada is because of a
lack of processing equipment. There's no technology behind that."

Processing time can take up to 60 days, said Finnis, explaining that
part of the process involves letting the crop be exposed to moisture
in the field.

"Our goal was to eliminate that step so we could come up with a more
consistent and less expensive alternative."

The aim is also to use the most environmentally friendly methods for
processing.

Hemptown was started 10 years ago with a focus on "sustainable and
organic textiles," and currently sells shirts that are a hemp-cotton
blend, with the goal of eventually getting to 100-per-cent hemp, said
Finnis. He said the cotton for one traditional cotton T-shirt requires
one-third of a pound of chemicals and 1,700 gallons of water.

"Hemp grows without those pesticides or fertilizers and it's only
getting rainfall -- a very hardy plant."

The research in Ottawa involves finding the best conditions to use an
existing enzyme, which helps break down the natural "glue" that holds
the hemp fibres together. This process takes the processing time down
to a matter of hours, said Finnis.

"Through 2005 and 2006 we'll be working to come up with the ultimate
process and once we arrive at that ... then we will be fully aware of
what we need to build and what we need to put in that building
(planned for Craik)," said Finnis in a recent interview.

Scott Ferguson, a business development officer with the National
Research Council Institute for Biological Sciences, is also encouraged
about the potential for processing a quality, white hemp fibre for use
in the textile industry.

"It looks very exciting from the standpoint that we've got an initial
process in place that will produce at least equivalent, and in many
cases better, fibre than what we've seen from the competitors,"
Ferguson said.

The research at NRC is being led by Dr. Wing Sung, an expert in using
enzymes for industrial applications.

And while hemp fibre can be used for fabric, other fibres from the
plant have potential for many other industries, according to Finnis
and Ferguson.

"I've seen car doors that they've tried making out of hemp-based
products or plant-based products, boats can be made from it, basically
anything with a fibreglass material can be made out of hemp fibre,"
said Ferguson.

"There's a huge opportunity area."

While some of the research into processing in Canada is new, hemp as a
crop is not.

Industrial hemp and marijuana belong to the same species but hemp
contains virtually no THC, which creates the hallucinogenic effect.

"It's kind of like comparing a poppyseed bagel to opium," said Finnis
of comparisons between hemp and marijuana.

The cultivation of hemp was banned in 1938 in Canada and the U.S.
However, Canadian farmers have been growing industrial hemp
commercially since 1998, and the crop is federally regulated under a
licensing system.

According to the Saskatchewan Hemp Association, about two dozen
farmers grew approximately 1,000 licensed hectares (2,500 acres) of
hemp in the province in 2004. The association said more than 2,500
hectares (6,200 acres) of hemp were grown in Canada last year for
seed, grain and fibre.

Craik Mayor Rod Haugerud said the interest of area farmers in the crop
has been piqued. He sees hemp processing as a way to prevent money
from leaving the region.

"A few years back we did a 20-year plan for the town, and one of the
things that really bothered us is that in our area there's
approximately a million bushels of grain grown every year, and out of
that million bushels now, all one million gets trucked somewhere,"
Haugerud said.

"When we get the hemp processing plant in town, along with a couple
other initiatives that we're working on, we hope to provide local
markets for our farmers."

Craik's hemp will take centre stage this weekend when an area field
plays host to Saskatchewan's Hemp Field Festival Saturday and Sunday.
Jason Freeman, one of the organizers, said the event includes
workshops and seminars related to hemp production, followed by bands,
DJs and performances.

There are also plans for a five-or six-acre maze that will be cut
through the hemp field.

Haugerud said the buzz about hemp production and processing is just
the latest project Craik has been involved with since it launched
plans for an Eco-centre -- open since last year -- and Eco-Village --
currently taking sustainable housing proposals.

"As one of our councillors put it, we've gone from wingnuts to experts
in three years," Haugerud said.

"I think we're on the right track. Either by pure luck or by design we
have stepped right in the middle of the sustainability thing. Well,
that was by design, but ... we didn't know the rest of the world was
ready for it."