HEMP CROP IN HIGH DEMAND

Farmers trying to inform the uneducated

MIKE LEWIS GREW 11 million hemp plants last summer; they averaged more than
four metres high. Placed end to end, his hemp would circle the world.

And to think it all started with granddad's magazines. "Five or six years
ago, I read an article in an old Popular Mechanics magazine of my
grandfather's," Lewis says. "The title of the article was: `Hemp - The Next
Billion-Dollar Crop.'

"The magazine was from 1937. Later that year, hemp was outlawed." Hemp
looks like, but is not, marijuana. Its popular cousin is loaded with the
chemical THC, which makes you high; hemp has only an infinetisimal amount.
Yet politicians seized on their similar look to outlaw hemp during the
anti-drug crusades of the 1930s.

Now, hemp's remarkable legacy, astonishing versatility, and ability to grow
fast and pesticide-free has many farmers and businesspeople working for its
legalization.

"I've lived here all my life," says Lewis, of Billtown, near Wolfville,
"and thought a couple of the oldtime farmers might have a problem with it.
But I can honestly say I have not had one person say anything negative to me.

"Hemp is related to marijuana. So what? Most people laugh about that around
here."

Lewis, 37, is one of two Nova Scotians licensed to grow hemp; the other is
in Pictou County. Between them they grew 10 hectares (25 acres) last
summer. Nationally, farmers grew 2,120 hectares. Lewis's company,
Annapolis Valley Hemp, has a five-year plan. This year it plans to grow,
process, and market 400 hectares.

Within five years, that could jump to 8,000 hectares. The company has
applied to the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Farm Loan Board for
financing.

Growing hemp in the Annapolis Valley is not a problem. Lewis's crop grew
beautifully, despite a summer of heavy rain followed by drought.

"We got the crop in late: May 22. Within 60 days it had 21/2 inches of
rain, but it grew like you wouldn't believe. Then we had the worst drought
in decades. The plant loved it. It's such an adaptable plant, it adapts to
anything you give it."

Hemp's greatest problem, as stated in The Maritime Industrial Hemp Product
Marketing Study, commissioned by the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
departments of agriculture and released in September, is that the
infrastructure to extract hemp seed oil and fibre does not yet exist here.

Lewis is working on that problem now. Prospective clients include a
fibreboard plant in Chester, a cardboard manufacturer in Hantsport, and a
pulp mill on the Minas Basin.

"We have met with over 200 farmers and government people," he said. "We're
trying to involve everybody, and want to encourage the growth of our
community, our county, and our province. So far, we're trudging along nicely."

Lewis is not a career farmer; he operated an auto-body shop until a bad
accident a few years ago. Laid up, he had time to read and think. Then he
bumped into his grandfather's Popular Mechanics and dove into research.

Hemp makes sense, he says, not just for its qualities, but because we can
grow, process, and market it right here.

"Too often we grow and ship stuff out," Lewis said. "Then it's processed
elsewhere and shipped back to us and someone else makes all the money.

Canada is famous for that, and it's especially true here in the Valley."