GOOD EXPERIENCE WITH HEMP

John Ackland heard all the jokes when he decided to try his hand at
growing hemp on his farmland.

"The first time I grew it around here, I had lots of guys coming into
the shop and laughing, 'So, you're growing marijuana, are you?'" he
chuckled.

"Now it's becoming a more common crop around here, and the jokes are
long gone," he said. "People are starting to understand that it's
actually a cash crop. Now, my phone bounces off the wall with people
asking how they go about getting contracts to grow hemp. So they
realize there is potential out there."

Commercial hemp production became legal in Canada in 1998, although
growers must still be licensed by Health Canada. In 2005, roughly
24,000 acres were seeded to the crop across the country -- over
one-third of it in Saskatchewan, equally split between conventional
and organic production.

The seed from the hemp plant contains an edible oil used for cosmetics
and cooking, which has many positive health benefits. It is low in
saturated fats, and contains a mixture of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty
acids, as well as gamma linolenic acid, a nutraceutical compound.

The fibre from the hemp plant is also very durable, and can be used
for making clothing, paper and building materials, although this
market is not well-developed in North America.

Ackland says there are a lot of things farmers should learn about
producing hemp before they decide to get into it. "You definitely do
not grow hemp without a contract to sell it with a company," he noted.
"You can get hung out to dry on it. You can end up with that product
for years until there's a shortage in the industry and they put out an
advertised call for it."

Ackland stated that the buyers from the processing companies also
serve as excellent sources of advice for hemp growers. "They just
don't turn you loose without any support. They continue to provide you
with support along the way, because it is a different crop. It's not
like you're growing a different variety of wheat. It's a lot different
than that," he said.

Ackland says there are plenty of surprises and learning experiences
for first-time hemp growers. The height of the plant is something that
will astonish most producers. "It grows tremendously fast. It will
grow a foot a week. I have plants out there that are six or seven feet
tall," he noted.

Patience is also an important virtue for hemp growers. "The window of
opportunity for seeding it is between May 15 and June 15, and it is
much wiser to seed the crop well into June," Ackland stated.

"Even though it is listed in terms of days to maturity, that isn't how
it matures. It's a photosensitive plant, so if you seed it too early,
you just end up with an awfully tall plant."

There are no insecticides, herbicides or fungicides approved for use
on the crop. "In the spring of the year, you could do a burnoff with
Roundup before you seed it, but once you seed it, you're done," said
Ackland.

"Hemp is a very high nitrogen user, however, and unless you're going
organic, you have to put a lot of nitrogen and phosphorous in the
ground. Otherwise, you end up with a disaster of a crop."

Ackland pointed out that hemp can be very temperamental to harvest,
requiring some specialized equipment or modifications to standard
implements. "The plant tends to wrap around the shafts of a combine,
and it's a very tough fibre. Every time you stop to dump a hopper, you
get in the habit of jumping off and cutting hemp off the external
shafts of the combine," he noted.

"When you take it off, you have to take it off tough. It's not a crop
you can go out and combine 150 acres a day, because you couldn't
handle the seed coming off. You have to air it down, you have to dry
it."

Despite these challenges, Ackland says his foray into hemp has been
well worth the effort, and he will definitely be continuing.

Although it's a fairly new industry with some growing pains, Ackland
says the hemp market is expanding, attracting greater interest from
farmers.

At current prices, Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food projects that
break-even yields for conventional and organic hemp production are 10
and five bushels per acre, respectively. Ackland estimates his crop
yielded 20 bushels an acre this year. "It's the only crop I know of
that has a decent profit margin," he said.