New Brunswick's budding hemp industry is celebrating modest gains despite a poor growing season and the theft of 1,000 plants.
“We’re going to have low to moderate yields this year just because of the environment,” hemp farmer Kevin Cain told CTV Atlantic on Monday. But Caine says there’s a silver lining to that struggle, because the smaller-than-normal plants can still be harvested for seeds. Those seeds can be used to make hemp oil or animal feed, or saved so they can be planted next year.
“We have some international markets that are interested in the hemp oil, and when you crush the seeds, you end up with… a cake,” added Allen Williston, who works with Cain at Modern Hemp Innovations in Bouctouche, N.B.
The company is working to establish hemp as an industrial crop on the East Coast, in an effort to catch up with other parts of the country. But it’s been tough going, and farmers are still experimenting with different strains to determine which ones perform best in the climate.
Modern Hemp Innovations’ efforts have also been hampered this year, by the loss of approximately 1,000 plants to thieves in Cocagne, N.B.
“We’re pretty sure it’s either teenagers or somebody that doesn’t know that this is an industrial hemp plant,” Cain said.
Cain says industrial hemp only contains a 0.3 per cent concentration of THC, the mind-altering ingredient in cannabis plants. That’s a fraction of the amount of THC in marijuana, but it can be added to a batch of marijuana to make it seem larger, he said.
Industrial hemp plants can be used to make a wide range of products, from food and clothing to plastics and fuel.
With files from CTV Atlantic
