When Quebec tobacco farmers got smoked by globalization, they decided they wouldn’t just butt out of specialty crops.
A number are trying to light up their futures with hemp, an ideal crop on sandy soil.
“Hemp is quite a viable possibility to replace tobacco,” said Christian Boisjoly, a Quebec farmer and president of a local hemp growers co-operative.
“The revenue isn’t as good as tobacco, but you have less expenses, too.”
Boisjoly and other Quebec farmers and hemp processors attended the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance convention in Winnipeg recently to develop contacts and learn more about a crop for which they have high hopes.
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Their switch to hemp comes after decades of profitably growing tobacco, a crop they lost to changing world trade rules that opened borders worldwide. While some Canadian crops have benefited from easier access to foreign markets, tobacco farmers faced intense competition from Brazil, China and Malawi.
Boisjoly said Canadian cigarette manufacturers stopped buying Canadian tobacco at a high price, even if it was high quality and consumers liked it.
“They slowly changed their production to cheaper tobacco from elsewhere in the world,” Boisjoly said.
“Slowly they phased us out, lowering the quota year by year.”
Manufacturers also stopped making cigarettes in Canada. The world cigarette industry globalized and Canada fell off the production map.
“Now we’re trying something else,” Boisjoly said.
In his area near Montreal, many farmers grow acreage-intensive crops such as onions, potatoes, strawberries and blueberries.
However, two farmers have experimented with hemp since 1998.
Boisjoly grew only 70 acres of hemp this year, but he’d like to increase acreage once his co-operative develops more products and markets.
