OYEN, Alta. – There’s no secret about the crop Jerome Scory has growing on his Oyen farm.
Scory applied to Health Canada earlier this year for a permit to grow hemp on 10 acres. Treating the crop like canola, the seed cost $8.50 per kilogram. It was seeded at 21 pounds per acre.
This fibre type hemp has low measures of the hallucinogen found in its cousin, marijuana. If the level of THC (delta 9-tetrahydocannabinol) exceeds the allowable level of 0.3 percent, Scory’s crop must be burned. Marijuana contains levels of three to 15 percent THC.
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When the crop matures, it will be harvested for seed and the vegetation will be cut with a hay mower, raked and baled after freezeup.
Fibre quality will be evaluated although there is no ready market for it, said Trevor Wallace of Alberta Agriculture. Based at the Oyen office, Wallace is helping Scory with this special project.
The fibre may be sent to a press board plant to see if it works as well as wheat straw or wood pulp.
The seed could be marketed as an oilseed that carries a high level of unsaturated fats. It also has potential as an industrial oil like petroleum-based products, said Wallace.
Plots at Lamont yielded 11 to 14 tonnes of straw and 1,400 kg of seeds per acre. Hemp needs moisture and in good conditions it can grow 2.7 metres tall. The stand at Oyen was about a metre high in mid July. When there is no moisture, the plant stops growing.
While conditions at Oyen have been less than ideal, they have learned a few facts.
“The grasshoppers seem to like it,” said Wallace.
They also know hemp is a long-season crop that needs to be in the ground by May 1. The seeds come off in September.
It competes well against weeds because hemp grows rapidly, so heavy herbicide use is not necessary.
