Slow and steady is winning the race for Manitoba’s hemp industry, following a company’s failed attempt to push the industry to full throttle in the late 1990s.
The province now has two of the largest buyers and processors of industrial hemp grain in Canada and it continues to lead in acres devoted to the crop.
“Things are really beginning to click,” said Shaun Crew, president and founder of Hemp Oil Canada. “The industry itself is maturing. It’s grown and learned by its own mistakes and hopefully it’s all upward and onward from here.”
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Hemp Oil Canada, a major player in the hemp industry, recently announced it was spending $1 million to relocate and expand in Ste. Agathe, Man.
Manitoba farmers planted 12,000 acres to industrial hemp this year. They were grown under contract, which meant an assured market for the hemp grain they harvested.
Things were not as rosy a few years ago. Soon after it became legal to grow industrial hemp in Canada, a company known as Consolidated Growers and Processors embarked on an ambitious plan to push hemp production in Western Canada. The company’s collapse in 2000 left growers with a large surplus of hemp grain in their bins and question marks hanging over the industry.
“Unfortunately the whole CGP fiasco did give the industry a bit of a black eye,” Crew said.
However, Manitoba farmers were tenacious in their faith in industrial hemp and companies such as Hemp Oil Canada and Manitoba Harvest were built from a more reasoned view on expansion.
“The industry backed up, looked at what happened, and then worked through it,” said Keith Watson, Manitoba Agriculture’s diversification specialist.
“The marketing is turning out to be solid and secure. The companies are growing at the pace they can handle and this Hemp Oil expansion is a result of that.”
Crew said there is worldwide demand for Canadian hemp grain and products derived from the grain. The demand is driven by consumers who are increasingly conscious of the nutritional value of their food, as well as the health benefits it can provide.
“Certainly the baby boomers are probably the biggest driving force,” Crew said. “It’s tied in with the whole idea of health and wellness and self care instead of health care.”
For the past six years, Hemp Oil Canada was located in St. Norbert, a suburb of Winnipeg. Crew said the move to Ste. Agathe, which was driven by the need for more processing capacity, should be completed by the end of November.
The relocation includes the purchase and renovation of four buildings that housed an implement dealership. They will provide more than 900 sq. metres of space and will lead to a large increase in Hemp Oil Canada’s ability to crush hemp seed for its oil and to produce hemp flour and protein powder. The construction of a 90 cubic metre climate controlled cooler is also part of the expansion.
The move will provide benefits in product quality and labour efficiency. The renovations are being done to the standards needed to maintain buyer confidence.
Hemp seed oil, hulled hemp seed, toasted hemp seed, hemp flour, hemp protein powder and hemp coffee are on the growing list of Hemp Oil Canada products.
“Manitoba has really become the hemp central in the country,” Crew said.
“Opportunities in this industry are huge. I think at this stage we’re still only touching the tip of the iceberg. I think we will still see quite a bit of growth in the production of hemp seed and hemp food products in Manitoba.”
