A cargo jet full of hemp seed was but one of the unusual events last week involving Consolidated Growers and Processors, one of the biggest players in the fledgling prairie hemp industry.
The plane touched down in Winnipeg on June 3 carrying enough French seed for 12,500 acres. Farmer-distributors waited with their trucks to haul the seed to other growers.
The company had previously shipped 70 tonnes of Ukrainian seed to Canada, which it delivered to growers on May 28.
Alan Cade, a director with CGP Inc., said the company wanted to wait until its growers received Health Canada licences before it brought in seed.
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The company didn’t want to have seed left over, said Cade, because it is treated with fungicide that would hurt germination rates by next spring.
In total, the company has contracted 225 farmers to grow slightly more than 17,000 acres of hemp. Cade said this is higher than the 12,000 to 15,000 acres the company thought it could achieve.
Darrell McElroy, a Manitoba farmer who works with the company, told reporters the hemp was not going into the ground late. He said he planted hemp on June 3 last year with good results.
A Health Canada official confirmed most licences for growers were not issued until the planting season began.
Niels Hansen-Trip said the department hasn’t tallied up how many Canadian growers received permission to grow the crop. He said the department started issuing licences in February, but had received only 50 applications by March 1.
“The fact of the matter is that most people did not get around to issuing the applications until late March, April, May,” said Hansen-Trip.
Cade refused comment on how much it cost the company to ship the seed by air.
But he said the jet demonstrates the company’s financial health and intentions to build processing plants in Dauphin, Man.
“CGP has spared no expense in its commitment to Canadian farmers and the Canadian economy,” said Cade.
The company reported losses of more than $500,000 (U.S.) in its first year of operations.
Cade would not comment on the company’s current financial status.
However, the former president of the Canadian arm of the company said CGP has not been prompt with some payments.
Doug Campbell, who was fired May 20, said CGP was late in paying its Canadian employees in April, and missed its mid-May payroll.
Last week, Campbell circulated excerpts from a memo he faxed to contacts he had made while president of CGP (Canada) Ltd.
The memo said Campbell and the company came to have a “significant difference of views” about several issues, including the company’s failure to assure farmers they would have enough seed on time for planting this spring. In the memo, Campbell advised growers, distributors and creditors to “reconfirm” any commercial relationships with CGP Inc.’s board of directors.
Terry Rempel, a seed grower near Winnipeg who distributes seed for the company, said he is not concerned about the company’s ability to pay its bills.
“We had no problem with payment and getting things done,” said Rempel, who grew hemp for CGP last year, and is producing pedigreed seed this year.
Neither Campbell nor CGP Inc. officials would comment on the Manitoba Securities Commission’s investigation into shares sold around Dauphin.
Last week, securities commission officials were in Dauphin to return money to people who wanted to invest in the hemp industry.
