WINNIPEG HEMP FOODS COMPANY ON A HIGH

Venture Capital Firm Helps With Expansion

Mike Fata says only the global recession has managed to slow the
company down.

When daytime talk show stars like Martha Stewart and Dr. Oz start
endorsing the health and nutritional benefits of hemp-seed foods,
chances are it's only a matter of time before middle America will
start queuing up to buy the product.

And that's exactly what's been happening with products like hemp-seed
oil, hemp milk, hemp-seed butter, shelled hemp seed and hemp protein
and fibre powder.

What that means for Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods & Oils, the largest
vertically integrated hemp food manufacturer in the world, is it needs
more capital to keep pace with that growth.

This week, the Winnipeg company announced Avrio Ventures, a
Calgary-based venture capital firm that specializes in industrial
bio-products, nutraceutical ingredients and food technology companies,
just made another multimillion-dollar investment in its operation. "It
is huge news for us," said Mike Fata, Manitoba Harvest's CEO and co-founder.

It's Manitoba Harvest's second placement from Avrio, a $75-million
fund that is partially backed by Farm Credit Canada.

Over the last 12 years, the Winnipeg company has quietly become one of
the fastest-growing companies in the country, with average annual
growth of between 50 and 75 per cent.

"We grew about 50 per cent over the past year and probably could have
done better but for the global recession," Fata said.

During the last five years, Manitoba Harvest's sales have grown more
than 500 per cent. In addition, the company has been on Canada's
Profit 100 list of the fastest-growing businesses for four of the last
five years.

The additional capital is going to go to marketing and new product
development.

As it stands, more than 50 per cent of its Canadian sales are from the
large grocery store chains. But more than half of its total sales are
now in the United States.

"Hemp foods and supplements are among the fastest-growing categories
in the natural products industry," said Jim Taylor, managing partner
of Avrio Ventures. "With additional funds, Manitoba Harvest is
well-positioned to solidify its position as the global hemp foods
leader and take advantage of new market opportunities."

The company moved into a new production facility 18 months ago that
has the capacity to quadruple current production.

And at the rate of growth hemp-seed food and nutritional products are
experiencing, that may not take too long.

Next month, Avrio and a New York investment banking firm that
specializes in sustainable agriculture ventures are hosting a
sustainable agriculture investment conference in Toronto. Kim Shuka,
executive director of the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance, said there are
more and more hemp products on grocery shelves.

"Before, it was just the early adapters, but now more mainstream
consumers are picking up on the health benefits like the Omega 3
features of hemp products," she said. "We are working at getting hemp
seed recognized as just as important as flax and canola."

While there is some work that remains in that regard, Manitoba is
clearly the heart of the industry in Canada and with Manitoba Harvest
and Hemp Oil Canada Inc. in Ste. Agathe, this province boasts the two
largest companies in the country.

Hemp acreage is up to 25,000 acres nationally, with much of it in
Manitoba. But Fata said that of the 10,000 acres Manitoba Harvest
contracted this year -- up from 100 acres 12 years ago -- production
is diversified throughout the three Prairie provinces.

Shuka said while serious efforts are being undertaken to grow the
market, care is also being applied to avoid unwieldy growth.

"We want reasonable, incremental growth so that supply and production
are in sync with what the processors want," she said.

[sidebar]

MANITOBA HARVEST HEMP FOODS & OILS

Founded -- 1998

Annual sales -- about $10 million

Employees -- 44

Number of different products -- 20

Founders -- Mike Fata, Martin Moravcik and Alex Chwaiewsky