HEMP GROWERS REGROUP AFTER CGP'S FALL

Manitoba hemp growers are plowing ahead with plans to form a
co-operative.

The Western Canadian Hemp Growers Co-op will represent about 230
Manitoba farmers who were growing hemp for Consolidated Growers and
Processors. The new co-op includes the Parkland Industrial Hemp
Growers Co-op which was hit when CGP suddenly closed its Winnipeg
office and cancelled plans for a Dauphin-area processing facility.

Lorne Hulme of Hulme Agra Products Inc. in MacGregor said growers
still have their 1999 hemp crop and they are putting a marketing plan
in place.

"Each farmer owns that grain and has the right to do with it what he
chooses," Hulme said.

But the new co-operative is encouraging farmers to team up and market
the crop together rather than drive down prices by flooding the market.

"We may have overproduced in 1999. The market cannot absorb the amount
of hemp if it's dumped in the market in the next few weeks," Hulme
said.

Hulme used to distribute hemp seed for CGP. He said reports of 38,000
tonnes of hemp seed sitting in storage in Portage la Prairie are
exaggerated because the seed came from the 1998 crop when only a few
hundred acres of hemp were grown in Manitoba. He said the seed could
more accurately be measured in pounds, not tonnes.

"This seed is sitting in a warehouse at Southport Aerospace Centre. It
is from the 1998 crop. It is owned and paid for by CGP. The farmers
have no interest."

However, between grain, seed production and fibre, CGP still owes
Manitoba farmers just over $6 million. Farmers are interested in that
payment, but there is some uncertainty about CGP's status.

The Calfornia-based CGP has declared bankruptcy in the United States,
but CGP Canada has not declared bankruptcy.

Hulme said farmers need the status of CGP Canada resolved because it
affects growing contracts.

The new growers co-operative will look at marketing the 1999 crop and
plant its 2000 hemp according to market needs.

Hulme does not expect any increase in the 2000 crop, but it could
expand again in 2001.

The co-operative will also evaluate opportunities for a fibre and
grain processing facility.

Hulme said the problems with CGP may push some farmers away from hemp
in the short term, but he said there is still strong interest in the
crop. The hemp co-operative will also welcome growers from smaller
entities like Prairie Hemp which has about 20 growers.

"In the end, farmers will be in control of production and have some
control over processing," Hulme said.