WESTERN CANADIAN HEMP ACRES COULD BE HIGH AS A KITE

Winnipeg--Apr 20--(RESNEWS)--Good returns to pioneer hemp producers
and depressed prices for traditional crops like canola and wheat are
fuelling dramatic growth in that crop's production on the Western
Canadian prairies according to industry watchers.

Bruce Brolley, a new crops specialist with the Manitoba provincial
agriculture department, says he's estimating about 15,000 acres will
be planted in the province this spring - only the second year
producers can legally plant the crop.

That's up from approximately 1,300 acres last summer.

The explosive growth concerns Brolley, who says it's important that
any production jump be offset with market development.

"There's an old saying that nothing fixes high prices like high prices
- - people see a strong market and they jump in to service it," Brolley
said. "We want to make sure we're developing a sustainable industry
and if we grow slowly we've got a better chance than by jumping from
1,300 to 15,000 acres in one year."

Brolley also expressed concern that markets that have been touted for
the crop may fail to materialize.

"I'm not sure these potential markets will turn into actual [ones],"
he said.

Part of the Manitoba growth in hemp is fuelled by a recent
announcement by Consolidated Growers and Processors (CGP), a company
contracting hemp acreage with producers, that they would be building
a hemp processing facility near the city of Dauphin in northwestern
Manitoba.

Doug Campbell, president of CGP, says the company will be increasing
it's contracted acreage substantially in the three prairie provinces
this spring.

"We had about 600 acres (under contract) last year," he said. "We're
going to have over 18,000 acres this year. That works out to a
300-fold increase."

Campbell says about 80% of those acres have been contracted in
Manitoba, with the remainder in the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Of the Manitoba acreage Campbell says the lion's share will be within
100 kilometers (60 miles) of the plant site.

With the CGP plant announcement, it's expected most of the growth in
new acreage will concentrate in the province of Manitoba, Brolley said.

Campbell agrees that at least in the short term that's where the
growth will be, but says the other prairie provinces shouldn't be
counted out yet.

"It's not that producers there can't grow the stuff," he said. "It's
just been a little slower to take off."

Ray McVicar, a new crops specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture and
Food (SAF) in Regina, says he's expecting somewhere between 3,000 and
4, 000 acres to be planted in that province.

That's up from an estimated 500 acres last year.

In Alberta Dr. Stan Blade, a spokesman for Alberta Agriculture, says
roughly 2,500 acres of hemp are expected to go into the grounnd this
spring.

Campbell downplays concerns about market instability that could
accompany quick growth, saying CGP has large scale customers lined up
for its processed products.

End uses for the product include fiber going into pulp and paper,
cardboard manufacturing, auto parts and building materials. A separate
facility at the same Dauphin site will be dedicated to producing oil
for the food and cosmetic markets.

"There's tremendous opportunity in the big world-scale markets,"
Campbell said.

The Dauphin plant is scheduled to be completed by the spring of 2001,
though Campbell says there is a chance construction will be completed
by 2000.