HEMP, CANOLA STUDIED FOR B.C. BIOENERGY

VICTORIA - Even before significant increases in temperature, climate
change is starting to prompt shifts in B.C. agriculture.

Increased interest in carbon-neutral fuel sources has put the focus on
ethanol and biodiesel options for farmland. One of the crops that has
popped up around B.C. is industrial hemp, a fast-growing plant that
produces vegetable oil as well as tough fibre used in rope and textiles.

A 110-acre hemp crop was planted in the 100 Mile House area in 2006.
The agriculture ministry says smaller hemp plantings have been done at
Smithers, West Moberly near Fort St. John and on Vancouver Island.

B.C. Agriculture Minister Pat Bell said the 100 Mile House pilot
project is being increased to 200 acres this year, to get to a volume
where processing facilities could use it to produce fibre and
potentially ethanol. B.C. is following the lead of Manitoba, which has
28,000 acres in hemp, and Saskatchewan with 14,000 acres in
cultivation.

A fuel with greater potential is biodiesel, which can be used
full-strength in conventional diesel engines. It can be made from
recycled restaurant cooking oil, or from oilseeds such as canola.

The province provided $75,000 for a feasibility study of a biodiesel
production plant in the Peace region, where most of B.C.'s 45.000 tons
of canola is grown each year. The study found that production, along
with 11,000 tons from Alberta, would feed a "best-size" biodiesel
plant producing 22.7 million litres of the fuel per year.

"We wanted to see if biodiesel production was a viable option for
Peace canola growers, and it looks like it is," said Irmi Critcher,
president of the B.C. Grain Producers Association, which conducted the
study.

Ethanol in Canada is mainly produced today from feed grain. Husky
Energy has plants in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, both provinces that
have mandated ethanol use in gasoline. An unmodified engine can use
gasoline with up to 10 per cent ethanol, which is marketed by Husky
and Mohawk gas stations as a cleaner fuel with lower greenhouse gas
emissions.

Husky also has a refinery at Prince George, and Bell said the company
is studying the addition of an ethanol plant that would take advantage
of waste heat from the petroleum side.