IN THIS ISSUE:

MASTHEAD:

Publisher: AHEM
Editor: Arthur Hanks arthurhanks@hotmail.com
Sales, Sponsorship, and Distribution:
Jason Freeman jfreeman@ssm.net

CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE:

Mark Bologna greenman@lynx.bc.ca , Jon Cloud cloudmtn@interlog.com , Ryan Crawford crawford_ryan@hotmail.com , Brian James bjames@qac.ca , Terry Lefebvre hempmaster@hemptrade.com , David Marcus nathemp@interlog.com , Sasha Prytyk genx@net1fx.com , Dr. Alexander Sumach rheading@becon.org ; thanks to HIA, COHIP, Jim Geiwitz and "newshawk" Ann Hanks.

SUBMISSIONS: Submissions are most welcome. Please contact HCFR editor, Arthur Hanks, at arthurhanks@hotmail.com, with your story, research or information for inclusion in the HCFR.

EDITORIAL

Welcome to our fifth issue. We've been extremely busy putting this edition together while trying to stay on top of the current seizure at the border. Between issues we have sent out two press releases concerning the embargo and have generated a lot of response from our readership.

Not all of it has been positive. However, we do appreciate all communications, positive, negative or otherwise. Part of the joy in publishing a trade journal is to create dialogue amongst stakeholders concerning this and other important issues facing our young and exciting industry.

Although the border affair has captured much of our and the publics attention reserved for hemp many extremely positive things have taken place in the past six weeks. Among them are the launch of Ruth's Hemp Foods at the recent Canadian Health Food Show in Toronto, the announcement by HempNut Inc. of the largest advertising campaign ever for a hemp seed food, HIA's very successful annual meeting plus Gen-X Research's world record breaking FIN-314 yields.

So whether you think hemp is an important gift, a useful rotational crop, the sober cousin of marijuana, the next big thing, an over-hyped and questionable commodity, a poster child for natural fibres, flax with attitude, a farmer's saviour, the DEA's regulatory nightmare or Health Canada's puzzle, please keep your opinions, press releases and information coming. Your efforts are most appreciated.

Arthur Hanks
October 1999
Vancouver, Canada
arthurhanks@hotmail.com

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Top of the Crop

1) US Border Closing (and Opening?) on Legal Canadian Hemp Products

In probably the most reported incident affecting the industry this year, Kenex Ltd. of Chatham, Ontario is facing sudden American inflexibility over exporting hemp seed products into the United States.

The facts of the affair are well documented. On August 9^th, a tractor trailer hauling 20 tons of sterilised seed was seized at the border. US customs, backed up by the DEA, then demanded that Kenex recall previous shipments — 17 trailer loads worth of oil, horse bedding, granola bars and animal feed. The company is reportedly facing at least 500,000 in fines if this recall is not met.

Kenex Ltd. originally declined comment on the issue, hoping that the situation could be resolved privately and quietly. This situation increasingly frustrated customers as weeks passed.

"I took the business call on that, "says Laprise. "It was very important for me not to be wrong." Laprise notes that the controversial birdseed was the only shipment that had a detectable amount of THC — that is 14 parts per million or 0.0014 %THC.

As of late September, the animal bedding had been waived through, with the authorities refining the matter as an issue of THC in food for humans and animals. No resolution was in sight, and Kenex took the story public and began recruiting allies, among them the Hemp Industries Association, who now count the Canadian company as a member.

It appears that Kenex, who has been exporting to the US for the past two years, has not broken any laws. Clearly, Canada's Industrial Hemp Regulations allow for the trade of sterilised hemp seed. Of course they do not pertain to the laws of another country. "Zero tolerance is zero tolerance."

On the American side the legal issue is less straightforward. According to the US Controlled Substance Act, it is legal to import sterilised seed, oil, grain and other derivatives. As well, affidavits have been produced that affirm these exemptions. Rather it seems that the company has run afoul of a just-instituted DEA policy that now renders all THC as equivalent with the Schedule I drug, marijuana. Additionally, the DEA is claiming that any importation of products containing THC has to be under DEA license. No word has emerged on just how to get one of these.

While this is the agency's policy, the question is does the agency have the executive authority to make this decision? It will be up to the lawyers and politicians to decide whether the DEA has this kind of power. Public and industry pressure and awareness will help push their decisions.

As of press time, what was initially feared to be a continent-wide crackdown, has since settled into a showcase with huge implications. So far, Kenex is the only Canadian exporter to have any problems at the border. There are no reports of any oil and grain shipments from China or Europe being stopped. It seems to be mostly, an issue of volume and public profile.

Canadian governments are now beginning to react to this issue. "Canada considers this seizure action to be contrary to the US NAFTA and WTO obligations," read an October 8^th statement from the Canadian embassy in Washington. "This company has acted in good faith and should expect to be afforded due process."

With no end to this showcase embargo in sight, Canadian and American hemp advocates and businesses are scrambling to keep legitimate trade open. Companies that are directly affected by the "Kenex Embargo" include Nutiva, The Ohio Hempery, Custom Blends/Hempzels, and Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps. Potentially, it's every company working in the food and cosmetic sector, and with their markets blown apart, every single Canadian hemp grain farmer.

Important tools and more information on this critical issue:

Kenex is at: http://www.kenex.com
HIA sponsored: http://www.hempembargo.com
Colorado Hemp Initiative Project (COHIP) action page: http://www.levellers.org/dea
And a humorous editorial page at BC Magic: http://www.bcmagic.com/newpage1.htm

2) Hempline Unwraps Staple Lengths for Spinning & the First Canadian Hemp Upholstery Fabrics

Delaware, Ontario's Hempline now offers hemp fibre in a variety of staple lengths suitable for spinning on cotton, woollen and worsted spinning systems. Hempline cites the expanding interest in natural fibres, particularly in the home furnishings market, has resulted in renewed market interest in hemp fibre. Its strength, durability, absorbency and resistance to rotting and UV degradation make hemp fibre an attractive new alternative in technically demanding applications. As it is grown without pesticides, hemp also maintains a strong, "earth-friendly" cachet.

The availability of commercial quantities of premium-quality, North American produced, hemp fibre now gives yarn and fabric producers and designers a consistent supply. Hempline cites their raw material grading system is in place to ensure the fibre is of consistent and premium quality.

60/40 hemp/polyester upholstery yarns are also available to industry.

As an example of the application of Hempline's fibre, a wide selection of hemp upholstery fabrics are now on display at the Building & Design Resource Centre at Designers Walk in Toronto. The hemp-blended fabrics are being introduced from Iguana Designs by Rose Fabrics of Montreal. These fabrics have a natural look and original dobby and jacquard patterns and are suitable for a wide range of applications.

Hempline Inc. was the first North American company to grow hemp in modern times when it planted its first test crop in 1994 near Tillsonburg, Ontario. Since that time, the company has implemented a modern hemp crop production and processing facility for hemp fibre suitable for textiles. Hempline's products also include bast fibres suitable for paper, non-wovens (hemp felts and biocomposites) and stable bedding.

For more fabric information, contact Hempline Inc. at: http://www.hempline.com, or Iguana Designs at: Tel (450) 464-3624.

The Building and Design Resource Centre is located at Designers Walk, 168 Bedford Road, Toronto. Tel (416) 961-1211

3) Anka update

Anka is a new cultivar under development by Peter Dragla of the Industrial Hemp Seed Development Company in Chatham, Ontario. This year IHSDC planted 10 acres earmarked for registered seed production. According to Dragla, Anka will be on the market in 2000 on a limited basis and will be available in mass quantities in 2001.

Anka is a monoecious early flowering cultivar bred for grain production. Stem height is 2.00-2.38 m.; flowers appear 78 days after seeding. Technical maturity for this strain is measured at 80 days. Seed maturity is 105 days.

Dragla notes that the disparity of female flowering (compact clusters at on top of primary branches) to male flowering (large clusters at insertion of primary branches with stem) is 8 days.

Fibre content in 30-31%; potential seed yield is 1000-1100 kg. /ha with 1000 seeds weighing 18-19 grams. The EFA profile is unknown at this time.

IHSDC's breeding program includes plots in Romania, where work with varieties that read over 0.3% THC is possible.

Selection brings the THC down, to a point where the foundation seed can be imported and then planted and bred in Canada. "Selection has to be done every year; the hardest part is THC screening and selecting from hundreds and thousands of plants, " says Dragla, noting that screening for THC, even to bring down from 0.3% to 0.1%, takes at least three years.

The current delta-9 THC content of Anka is low, at most 0.2%.

For more information about Anka and IHSDC's breeding program. Please contact pdragla@kent.net

4) The Natural Order Launches Complete Line of Food Products

The Natural Order launching an only-in-Canada line of ready-to-eat hemp foods at the Canadian Health Food Association Show in Toronto on October 15-17^th. The Ruth's Hemp Foods line includes pasta, tortilla wraps, paté and hummous, three flavours of tortilla chips and four flavours of salad dressings

"This is the most complete and extensive launch of hemp foods so far that I am aware of," says the Natural Order's principal Ruth Shamai. According to Shamai, a hemp soda will be available very shortly; hemp oil, blended hemp/flax oil, and vegetarian softgel capsules will be kept off the shelf until a recommendation on THC in hemp foods is made from Health Canada.

To begin with, all products will be distributed in the east by Ontario Natural Food Co-op and in the west by Wild West Organics. The oil and soft gels will be distributed throughout Canada by Purity Life. The line will be brokered through Michael Theodor Brokerage. The line is expected to be launched in the US by the year 2000.

The Natural Order's sister company is R&D Hemp, who have grown several hundred acres of mostly certified organic hemp on the Prairies for the past two years. R&D 's products include sterilised, certified organic seed, certified organic oil, flour and seedcake.

For more information on The Natural Order and Ruth's Hemp Foods line, goto http://www.thenaturalorder.com

5) European Acreages 1998-99

Following are figures for EU industrial hemp acreages in 1999 (1998 figures follow in brackets); All figures are given in hectares.

Notably, there was a 10,000-h. drop in acreage from 1998, due to an EU crackdown on "subsidy" farming in Spain. All other relevant growers have maintained or expanded their acreage.

Source: Gero Leson, Les Echos de Chanvre

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Growers and Processors of textile grade Flax and Hemp Fibre
755 boulevard des Érables, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield,
Québec, Canada, J6T 6G3
Contact: Tim Niedermann, Tel: 450-371-0333, Fax: 450-371-2220 info@fibrexcanada.com

Developing sustainable alternatives in international agribusiness

______________________________________________________________________

Harvest Notebook, Part I

Editor's Note: We had hoped to include more data from Canada's hemp harvest this issue. However, as we "go to press," many producers were still harvesting. We are aiming to include more updates in our next issue.

A) A Record Breaker:
FIN 314 Harvests at One Ton per Acre

By Sasha Prytyk, GEN-X

We have a record breaking FIN-314 crop: the magic 2000 lbs. per acre hemp seed crop has been achieved!

This crop was harvested at the Hutterite colony in Belle Plaine, Saskatchewan. The 65-acre crop was planted on May 24th, on sandy soil pre-worked with conventional fertiliser. Seeding rate was 30 lbs./acre. The field grew to a very even, thick stand of about five feet. Weeds were not a problem, almost non-existent, as excellent coverage was achieved. The field was irrigated once during flowering with a quarter-section pivot system (irrigation was not practised during vegetative growth since rainfall was more than adequate). The crop was swathed on August 31st (after 99 days growth) without any incident, and then dried for a week. The Hutterites harvested on Sept.7th, with their five rotary combines at the same time. Again, no equipment modifications were necessary and the harvest was complete in two hours. The seeds look very good, plump and dry. Total yield weighed in at 130800 lbs., or about 59500 kgs. This represents 2012 lbs. per acre (2287 kgs/hectare or 45 bushels per! ! acre) on average over the whole 65 acres! There is very little dockage but I expect about 15% shrinkage after cleaning and drying.

This clearly shows what can be achieved under optimum conditions. Compare this to other oilseeds: for example a 2000 lb./acre canola crop would be considered phenomenal in Saskatchewan. I have never heard of anything above 1500 lbs./acre for a commercial hemp seed crop, have you?

B) Moisture Chart Created for Harvesting Hemp

The Canadian Grain Commission has created a moisture chart for harvesting hemp. Contracted by CGP, Prairie Hemp and Manitoba Agriculture, this was a much-needed tool, as farmers were previously trying to modify the buckwheat and/or canola chart without much success.

According to Manitoba Agriculture's Bruce Brolley, hemp growers should direct combine the crop when seed moisture is between 25-30%.

One of the difficulties of harvesting hemp is the sheer mass of the plant. Though early flowering, "dwarf" varieties such as FIN 314 and Fasamo have been planted this year, other French and Ukrainian cultivars can reach 12 feet or more, and represent the bulk of western Canadian hemp production.

Hemp fibres represent a hazard on the field as they have a tendency to wrap around combine belts and bearings — pretty much any moving part. One solution is to move into the fields when the crop is still green, and this is earlier than many producers would like. Still, it does protect combines. After the first commercial harvest in 1998, Ontario producer Kenex has advised farmers that combining repairs could cost up to $7 an acre. A second method? Going slow. Consensus is that hemp harvesters should cut speed and go from 1.5 to 5 acres an hour.

Wet seed should be aerated within 24 hours of combining, says Brolley. Timing is more important than technique, as if hemp seed is wet it will spoil quickly. Essentially, you have 24 hours to dry the seed and the seed should be stored at a moisture level between 9-10%.

The moisture charts are available through Manitoba Agriculture, The Canadian Grain Commission, and the Manitoba Industrial Hemp Association.

Sources: The Western Producer; AHEM files

c) CHC Becomes North American Hemp Inc.

Want to generate some good news and good will in the community? Have a field day. Hemp fields have a visceral appeal that leaves people smiling and attracts good media attention.

Saanich /Vancouver-based Canadian Hemp Corp hosted a well-attended public event outside Chilliwack, BC on October 6^th. Close to 300 people from the community and the region were treated to free coffee, a healthy and still green 10-acre stand of Fasamo and a short combine demonstration from co-operator Tim Peters. Representatives from Ecosource Paper, Ferlow Brothers and Nature's Design did a brisk business selling product and answering questions.

CHC President Rick Plotnikoff was in good spirits explaining to the crowd the crop's seeding rates, planting costs, and harvesting. According to Plotnikoff, the company is close to opening up a functioning oil press facility in the area, and is looking at purchasing a second oil press and a dehuller. This year, CHC contracted over 300 acres in the Lower Mainland, and confirmed that they are buying grain from independents from across the West. CHC will also be pressing seed in Manitoba. Next year, the company expects to increase acreage on a large scale.

At the event, CHC announced that they will be merging into a new company, North American Hemp Inc. CHC will operate as a subsidiary of the new American-based parent corporation.

For more information on CHC and their grower's group, the Canadian Hemp Farmer's Association, check out their website at http://www.hempcorp.com

Processing Oil Seed Straw Options
By Arthur Hanks

Even as hemp based foods are poised to make big gains in the marketplace (that is, if the politics would get out of the way), arguably, hemp fibre looms largest in the public consciousness about hemp and offers the most tantalising possibilities for development of this emerging crop.

Ironically, when hemp became regulated as a new agricultural crop in Canada, most of this country's production was dedicated to oilseed. This trend continued in 1999, with a six-fold increase in licensed acres, most of it in western Canada.

Many grain producers are faced with burning or composting their hemp fibre for lack of a buyer, or storing their bales for future use at their own expense. So far, they are missing out on value-added opportunities.

Models exist of course. Ontario's Kenex and Hempline are vertically integrated operations that produce a variety of fibre outputs. Durafibre in Canora, Saskatchewan was established in part to help give value to Cargill's linseed and solin flax producers. Quebec's Fibrex mill is working with flax and hemp fibres. And Elie, Manitoba's Isoboard is making strong fibreboard out of the often overlooked and undervalued wheat straw.

Lacking intensive capital investment, there are some overlooked possibilities for straw processing at and close to the farmgate that involves relatively minimal infrastructure. A couple of inventive individuals in the West are working with some of these options.

Innerhemp

Casey Van Ginkel of Langley, BC leads a venture under development that is looking at the processing of straw for stable bedding. Innerhemp's predicament is interesting as they are trying to sell hemp as a lumber substitute to a wood saturated local market.

"We've had real positive feedback, and good potential at the upper end of the market," says Van Ginkel. However, timber chips are readily available at a half a dozen sawmills in the municipality. "It's incredibly competitive."

An electrician by trade, Van Ginkel and a partner have looked at other industries' equipment, and made adaptations in designing their own processing/decorticating line. He says that Innerhemp's line can pull through 2-4 metric tonnes an hour, with minor contamination. "Its an incredibly tough process, and very tough on the equipment."

He's happy with their product: "100% dust free after screening, with an average 55% core content."

Van Ginkel looks at his market and identifies two immediate obstacles: lack of product on the West Coast (a few hundred acres each year 98-99), and the need for a certain amount of volume to be able to compete. He also notes that no one in the West is letting the fibre ret, which in BC's rainy climate, shouldn’t be a problem

Processors elsewhere in Canada have found, as a by-product of other processes, bedding to be a pleasant surprise in the marketplace. Van Ginkel thinks a fair price to pay farmers would be $60-$100 a ton for fibre. However, given the hold wood chips have on the market, Van Ginkel thinks if the value of straw was brought down to $40-$50 a tonne, then money could be made on the mass market. But given the higher quality of bedding, a premium market exists right now in stable horses.

Applied Construction Technologies

In Calgary, Geoffrey Lyford of Applied Construction Technologies sees hemp straw as a prime material for use in building technologies. "We could use any fibre, but hemp is the premiere fibre, the strongest fibre and has the highest insulation value, "he says. "Flax is close, but it doesn’t have the insulation qualities."

Lyford says that the fibre can be used in construction straight off the field. "Hemp has strength and engineering properties as does any cellulose stalk, but hemp has greater size and strength than many plants," he says. Hemp fibres added to concrete, for example, increase tensile and competitive strengths, while reducing shrinkage and cracking. Lyford emphasises that "Building materials can use lower quality fibre, and to reach the final product, would take minimal processing."

Other products that can be made on the farm and in nearby urban areas with minimal processing include whole hemp stalk mats or lattice matrixes serving as skeletons for building panels; hemp stalk bundles used directly for structural use; and semi-decorticated hemp and hurds formulated into building materials; and hammermilled hemp mixed directly into concrete or concrete substitutes with clay and gypsum.

Lyford notes for many applications, bundled hemp stalks could be left directly in the field until use, so storage isn't necessarily an issue.

Hammermilling or decorticating hemp would allow for advanced uses; mixing into concrete or concrete substitutes with clay and gypsum, and mixing hemp's cellulose with mineral or binding agents to produce a superior, and light, natural fibre based panel that could compete with drywall. It is these kinds of applications that excite Lyford most, as he sees them as a fusion of ancient and modern technologies.

One idea he ponies up includes using a hemp concrete liner to buildings built with other materials. "Add a minimal coating to shed water and then add a binder... and you have Fort Knox!" he says. Another is partition wall systems for modern offices. "Companies have gone that way, because they can depreciate their walls as furniture," he wryly notes.

Lyford's formulas for materials and binders are evolving — the 1999 goal is to develop prototype buildings using some of Alberta's straw harvest.

"If you are producing hemp oil, there's hemp fibre of high quality that could be used, "he says. " I see these processes as a quick entry that could begin on a cottage industry level that could then be exported onto a global level."

Western Canadian hemp ventures will at some point evolve their outputs to be more than food crops. Adding value to their crop by using appropriate levels of technology for processing is one way farmers will receive extra incentive to keep growing hemp for 2000 and beyond.

Next Issue: "High End" Fibre Processing and Textiles
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The Rhizosphere
The Space of Magic and Mystery

By Jon Cloud

The Rhizosphere is the zone of life where plants obtain all their nutrients. It is technically called "the rhizosphere."

The rhizosphere can best be understood by comparison with the Earth's atmosphere. We know that the atmosphere surrounding the Earth is essential to life on the planet. The rhizosphere is like the earth's atmosphere as it surrounds the roots and is essential to plant life. Without an atmosphere or a rhizosphere, no life can exist. The roots of a plant in relation to the rhizosphere are like the Earth in relation to the atmosphere.

The nutrients which feed our crops are held in place in the soil by pairing up their small electrical charge with an oppositely charged soil particle. When the root's rhizosphere comes in contact with the nutrient, the electrical bond which held the nutrient to the soil particle is broken. When this electrical bond is broken, the nutrients are released to the plant. Nature has provided ways to allow the nutrients to be warehoused until the plants need them. Without this electrical bond, all nutrients in the field would be lost. The plant, through its expanding root system and the root's rhizosphere signals the nutrient to break its electrical bond with the soil particle and make itself available to the plant. Phosphorus and potash are two of the most important nutrient that the plant can get from the soil. They bond readily with other soil elements and organic matter and consequently, are not moved from the soil by rain.

Lets talk about phosphorus, specifically that phosphorus which is available to your crop and will be shown on your soil test as P₁ -phosphorus. What happens in the rhizosphere when phosphorus, in the form of rock phosphate, is added to the soil? The larger particles of rock phosphate that need to be broken down are broken down by microorganisms. The micro-organisms begin to incorporate from rock phosphate or organic matter into their bodies much like earthworms that pass pieces of rock phosphate and organic matter through their digestive systems and release the processed material in their castings. This material, which is ready to be used by the plant, is held in place by an electrical bond to the soil particles until neutralised and released by the mildly acidic environment of the rhizosphere. These highly soluble nutrients are made available through the accumulating bodies or excretions of the microbes. I like to think of it as "microbe manure."

Phosphorus tends to bond with calcium; however, when your organic matter is over 5% on your soil test, the activity of all the creatures in the soil is high enough to assist in breaking the bond and making the phosphorus more available to the plant. P1 phosphorus, for example, is 7 times higher after passing through an earthworm than prior to ingestion.

A practical farmer once said to me, "All this theory is nice, but supposing the soil on my farm is deficient in phosphorus, how much rock phosphate should I apply to my field?" Let’s say your soil test shows your P1 - Phosphorus results at 16 PPM and you want to raise it to 20 PPM. You have learned from the workshops with me that your P1 soil test will increase 1ppm for every 60 lb. of rock phosphate per acre, thus applying 250 lb. of rock phosphate 0-30-0 per acre will provide you with approximately 4 PPM of available phosphorus (P1 ) a year for the next 3 years. This is because rock phosphate requires 3 years to dissolve totally and therefore you can expect 1/3 of the new application to be available each year for three years. Ultimately you want your P1 phosphorus to show test results over 40 PPM. A smart farmer, then, will apply rock phosphate for a few years in a row, helping to build his P1 soil text number to the 40 PPM or over which is his goal.

This is the 4^th part of Jon Clouds 4-part series on soil. A recognised authority on organic farming, Jon Cloud can be reached at cloudmtn@interlog.com

Cloud Mountain Inc. contracts with certified organic farmers for hemp grain and fibre production to produce hemp oil as well as a line of hemp, and hemp cotton socks and sweaters. Everything is Canadian Made.
Check out the Iron OX fibre and fabric line at 416 762 0940.
US dealers and representatives wanted.

END OF PART I

© 1999 AHEM, ARTHUR HANKS. INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES REMAIN PROPERTY OF THE AUTHOR (S). NOT TO BE DUPLICATED FOR FINANCIAL OR PERSONAL GAIN. CONTACT US ABOUT REPRODUCTION RIGHTS.