This past Wednesday marked this year’s annual meeting of the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance. The meeting was held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and this year’s event saw the announcement of a national plan to promote and advance the industrial hemp industry in Canada. The plan mapped out the responsibilities of the private and public sectors, including both the provincial and federal governments in Canada. As Country-Guide.ca reported:
Market research and development, quality control and processing capacity are among the goals of a new national strategy mapped out by Canada’s industrial hemp growers.
The strategy was rolled out Wednesday at the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance’s meeting in Winnipeg, mapping out the market potential and obstacles in the food, fibre and oil markets, as well as in hemp production and plant breeding.
[...] The provincial and federal governments funded the strategy’s development through their joint Agri-Food Research and Development Initiative (ARDI).
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The strategy’s recommendations were drafted in consultations with stakeholders including farmers, processors, marketers and researchers across Canada, the province said. The initiative was backed by joint support from the federal and provincial governments, the CHTA and the Composites Innovation Centre.This strategy will be shared between provincial governments, hemp industry groups and other stakeholders across Canada to help guide future initiatives and investments, Wowchuk said in the province’s release.
Industrial hemp has been being cultivated in Canada since 1998. This is in stark contrast to its neighbor to the South, the US, where hemp products are legal, but growing the plant is not. Although some individual states have legalized the cultivation of industrial hemp, any farmer who does so is still subject to prosecution under federal law. This kind of catch-22 is precisely what’s behind the current North Dakota case where two farmers are fighting for their right to grow hemp.
With a decade head-start on their neighbors to the south, however, Canadian hemp producers are beginning to truly consolidate their industry, from the growing of hemp to the processing of it. Much of the drive behind their efforts, moreover, is a growing demand in the US for hemp products, but no rival supply — i.e. Canada is the closest source of hemp fiber and seeds to the US.
A plan like this one, then, is both unexpected and overdue. As the Canadian industry has matured, it is only natural that various players will get more organized, form farmers to regulatory bodies. As evidenced from government involvement in this strategy, the Canadian hemp sector is approaching the point where it will become an institutionalized part of Canadian economic policy. This is evidenced by both the Manitoba government investing $4 million in a processing plant, as well as a number of Canadian farmers considering hemp as a stable recession crop.