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IN THIS ISSUE:

MASTHEAD:

Publisher: AHEM
Editor: Arthur Hanks arthurhanks@hotmail.com
Sales, Sponsorship, and Distribution:
Jason Freeman jfreeman@ssm.net
Associate Editor:
Dr. Alexander Sumach rheading@becon.org

CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE:

Chris Bennet, Dave Cull nozone@uniserve.com , Terry Lefebvre hempmaster@hemptrade.com, Melvin Laidlaw italspin@hotmail.com, David Marcus nathemp@interlog.com, Peter Nelson fiber@netten.net, Eric Pollit eric@globalhemp.com, George Roy groy@portage.net , Gordon Scheifele gscheife@omafra.gov.on.ca

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. We are also looking for good quality pictures and photos.

EDITORIAL

Welcome to the 6th Issue of the HCFR. A lot has happened since our last instalment, most notably the reopening up of the US border to Canadian Hemp. Because of a combined effort of industry stakeholders on both sides of the 49th parallel, a quick and smart Internet strategy and some pressure from the Canadian government, reason prevailed. After only two years of commercialisation in Canada, it is a sign of strength to see the industry meeting this latest challenge. Everyone deserves a collective pat on the back.

On this side of the border, industry and government are communicating with regards to the current hemp regulations. Please pay attention to David Marcus' article "The Benefits of Regulation". Feedback on this article from both the government and industry is greatly appreciated.

With this issue, we are also taking a look back and a look forward. Dr. Sumach's article on "Traditional Uses of Culinary Hemp Seed" is another informative work by Canada's leading hemp writer. Peter Nelson's article "Performance-Based Industrial Hemp Fibres" is a provocative look at the future of hemp farming and industrial fibres.

We would also like to wish a warm welcome to some new additions to the HCFR cyber-community with this issue, HempCyberFarm and Global Hemp. We are excited that the HCFR will now reach a larger audience and we hope that with every webpage we add to our roster of internet partners, we will create more productive networking, more marketplace awareness and more product sales.

And as we enter the next millennium, watch out world, here comes the hemp industry.

Vancouver, November 1999

To the Editor:

 Impossible to Consider?

"Contemporary pulp mills operate on economies of scale where bigger is definitely better. These operations have to run seamlessly with little or no downtime for the mills to turn a profit due to their immense size and overhead expenses. If these mills do not operate at 90% capacity or more, they are losing money on each ton they sell. This fact makes the idea of conservation impossible to even consider. " Hemp Pulping: 101, by Mark Bologna, HCFR #5, October 1999

'Impossible to consider' for those managers with their feet firmly nailed to the present day bottom line. These mills have to keep running 24 hours a day in order to service the huge debts incurred in the process of constructing the facilities. The game plan, perhaps, is to have the loans paid down before the supply of easily 'harvested' trees disappears.

There are alternatives. Tigney Technology of Edmonton ( http://www.compusmart.ab.ca/tigney/ ) has designed a steam explosion technology that produces high-grade pulp from a wide range of fibre sources, including hemp or other agricultural fibres. The latest plan is to supply add ons for existing pulp mills that would allow them to utilise whatever sources are regionally or seasonally available. Tigney's process attains 97% recovery and instead of turning the lignin into dioxins and other toxics, separates it out into a commercial product, suitable for use as glue, etc.

John Stahl, at ' Church of the Living Tree' ( http://www.tree.org ) is working with the Krotov pulping technology from the Ukraine that obtains approx. 60% recovery from hemp, with a compostable slurry as the effluent. This equipment can be made in a smaller format, suitable for localised applications.

The problem with introduction of either of these applications is the economic/political opposition to anything that might interrupt the lucrative supply of chemicals to the existing pulp mills and fuel for the steady stream of 'chip trucks' that fill BC's interior highway system.

Perhaps this issue deserves a continuing examination?

David A N Cull, Vancouver, BC, nozone@uniserve.com

The HCFR invites commentary, opinions and letters to the editor. Feedback will be posted with the writer's consent, and may be edited for brevity, grammar and content.

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Top of the Crop

1) US Border Reopens as Kenex Resumes shipping

Kenex Ltd of Chatham Ontario quietly resumed shipping in November after a three-month hold-up by the Unites States Custom service and Drug Enforcement Administration. A deal was quietly brokered on November 4^th in Washington, DC.

Kenex owner, Jean Laprise called the agreement a guarded win. "An issue has been resolved for the entire industry," he said. "Getting the Canadian government involved was a major factor. The DEA didn't suspect we had so many friends in politics and the industry."

In a statement released November 25^th, Laprise stated that "Kenex is very grateful for the support it received from the industry as a whole, both in Canada and the US. The NAIHC, the HIA, the Canadian Embassy as well as politicians from both the US and Canada were quick to realize the injustice that had been taking place. Their support and efforts were greatly appreciated."

While the 17 recalls have been rescinded the trailer load of birdseed that was seized in August remains in the custody of US Customs. A release offer was made to Kenex reported to be "a seizure cost" between $5,000-$10,000 range and requiring that the company sign a "hold harmless" agreement. Kenex refused the offer, and is considering legal action against the US government.

The 18,000-kg shipment was to a large company that has been importing hemp seed from China for their seed mixes for several years.

Kenex is also seeking formal documentation from the DEA to insure that there will be no recurrence.

The border is open for the time being. Speculation is that that the unwritten DEA policy on hemp goods that equates all forms of THC as a Schedule I substance will likely be posted in the Federal Register for public review, and then come into law. This law would apply to all hemp goods entering the country, regardless of country of origin.

Source: Kenex.org, Senator Milne's report, London Free Press, Detroit Metro Times
Related: Please see "the Benefits of Regulation" in this issue

2) The Novelty of Hemp Foods

Hemp foods in Canada are now to be regulated as a Novel Food. As defined in Health Canada's Food Program, a Novel Food is:

a) a substance, including a microorganism, that does not have a history of safe use as a food;
b) a food that has been manufactured, prepared, preserved or packaged by a process that has not been previously applied to that food, and causes the food to undergo a major change.

Newness to the Canadian marketplace is also relevant concern in determining food safety.

According to a letter by Eric Driscoll, Scientific Evaluator for Health Canada's Food Directorate, that was recently circulated to companies working with hemp foods, "because hemp containing foods do not appear to have a long history of safe use according to the definition of a novel food, it is our interim position that foods containing hemp-derived ingredients are novel foods and, therefore, proposed hemp-containing products will likely fall under the novel food regulations. "

So what does these regulations mean? This is unclear. Novel Foods as a regulatory category originated in 1994 in anticipation of GMO foods entering the marketplace. Foods that have entered the Canadian food supply under these regulations include Glyphosate tolerant corn and canola and the Flavr Savr ™ tomato. "Novel Foods" is essentially a form of self-regulation that allows for accountability in case of problems in the food chain.

In hemp's case manufacturers or distributors are required to forward a notification of the intention to sell products containing hemp-derived ingredients to the Food Directorate, including the analytical data for the level of THC and the amount of each ingredient used in the food product.

Health Canada's policy towards THC is still under review. If the existing standard allowing for hemp content of 10 parts per million is changed, then perhaps this legislation may become the basis for more stringent regulations.

For more information about novel foods please contact eric_driscoll@hc-sc.gc.ca

Or check out:

Harvest Notebook, Part II
(Continued from last issue)

Northern Ontario
Fasamo final stand was less than desired due to poor germination and seedling vigour. It was also subsequently very weedy. Regardless it yielded in excess of 1000 lbs. / acre. Grain samples yielded 27% oil (at extraction). The oil and meal will be analysed for essential amino acids and fatty acids. Botrytis head blight was again prevalent across northern Ontario from trace to light infection levels.

Gordon Scheifele, Northwestern Ontario Research Coordinator, email:gscheife@omafra.gov.on.ca

Chatham
Kenex's 1999 hemp crop was subjected to a significant amount of drought stress. Hemp does have some drought resistance like many other crops; however, it is not exactly a desert weed. Yields of fibre and grain were down from 1998 similar to what was experienced in corn and other crops in this area. The organic grain yields are approximately 20% less than the conventional pesticide free production. The quality of the grain is very good at this point. The fibre quality is expected to be better than in 1998 due to the more favourable retting conditions. Much has been learnt again this year on the production of this crop.

Kenex Ltd., http://www.kenex.com

Portage La Prairie
We recently harvested the variety USO 31 and were very pleased with a yield of 1040 lbs. per acre (before drying), its shorter height, short days to maturity, and ease of harvest. Considering the wet ground it was seeded into and almost drowning out after seeding, it did very well. Maybe a shot at 2000 lbs./acre next year.

George Roy, Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, groy@portage.net

Calling all producers! Please send us your harvest data for inclusion in the HCFR!

Manitoba Harvest Overview

Manitoba hemp farmers averaged between 750-850 lbs. of clean and dry seed, with an upper range of 1400 lbs. an acre in 1999. These yields are similar to last year, says Agronomist Bruce Brolley of Manitoba Agriculture.

However, farmers in the north had tougher weather than their southern counterparts. Heavy winds in some areas caused significant lodging. Fields affected by a lot of lodging yielded between 200-500 lbs. an acre lower. Generally, farmers in the Dauphin/Parkland area had yields of 200-1000 lbs./acre (wet), translating as a wide ranging 150-850 lbs. of dry grain.

According to Brolley, there were also less fibre surprises in 1999, as forewarned producers have had success making adaptations to rotary combines. A bigger problem has been with wet seed; with larger acreages under production this year, producers have had to pay more attention to issues of drying, spoilage and storage, clumpage and chaff content

Complementing the commercial activity in the province (19,000 licensed acres) has been Manitoba Agriculture' s continued research efforts conducted on a variety of sites throughout the province. Provincial agronomists and commercial growers are still learning, Brolley says, as every year is different. Research has continued on breeding and cultivar evaluations. Pests that have been reported this year include corn borer, sclerotinia, botrytis, and lygus. Another question that has been raised is how seed drying will affect the oil's nutritional profile.

What's the ideal harvest window? Based on two years of production and research in the province, Brolley believes that the harvest window is fairly narrow: a range of 4-10 days may be optimal. Ideally seed moisture should be in the mid 20's to low 30's (%). Given a late May planting, "early" varieties should be harvested starting in early September and late varieties could be harvested up to mid-October. Harvesting too early means higher moisture, a higher amount of chaff and a tougher time drying. Harvest too late and seed is lost through shattering, and the fibre becomes tougher to work with.

Nature is always a wildcard, he emphasises. An early Manitoba frost in September, followed by 2-3 days of sunny warm weather, created an "oven-dried effect", causing green leaves to became brittle in a period of 4 days — harvest conditions moved from ideal to too late in 96 hours.

What are growers' thinking? " The mood is all over the board, " says Brolley, "' From I will never grow this again' to 'I grew some and I want to grow more.' " He's pleased with the recent establishment of the Manitoba Industrial Hemp Association but is uncomfortable with Canada (and Manitoba) being the #1 producer of hemp seed at this point. He would like to see more cautious development.

In the future, Brolley is thinking of advising farmers to think of hemp as more like a bean crop than a wheat crop. A good management move would be to plant a smaller acreage (say 50 acres rather than 100-200) and concentrate on good stewardship. "If you want to do high acreages, split it between early flowering and late flowering varieties to maximise yields, " he says.

For comparison's sake, other new crops that have received interest in Manitoba include buckwheat (45,000 acres this year), corn hybrids including canamaize (140,000 acres), caraway and Echinacea. Brolley emphasises that there is no "magic bullet" out there, but admits hemp as having the most potential, driven in part by the grain's exceptional nutritional profile, but also because of fibre possibilities. While research was focussed on grain production this year, Manitoba Agriculture will be spending more time and effort next year and in the future developing a balanced fibre and oil seed industry in the province.

Findings of the 1999 research are to be published and made available online though the Manitoba Agriculture website in January 2000.

Related: See Upcoming Events for the latest information on Hemp 2000 Speaker Series and Trade Show, February 29th and March 1^st, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The Benefits of Regulation
By David Marcus

The recent release of Canadian hemp seed shipments seized by US Customs under the authority of the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) was a critical victory in the long running battle to bring hemp back into the mainstream. For the majority of Canadian hemp farmers and processors whose primary product is hemp seed in its various forms, access to the US market is crucial. As these recent events have clearly shown, however, this dependence on the US market has a significant associated risk.

The question of why the DEA seized these birdseed (sterilised hemp seed) shipments in the first place is essential in understanding the nature of the risk facing the Canadian hemp industry with its focus on hemp seed products. It should be of no surprise that once again it is THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis, that is the culprit (or perhaps more correctly is made to be the culprit). Although hemp seeds themselves contain no THC it is inevitable that some trace amounts of THC are to be found on the casings of the seeds, and it is against these trace amounts that the DEA overreacted.

The levels of THC to be found in any hemp seed or derivative product are more than 1000 times lower than the levels required for any psychoactive effects. Rather, for the DEA the issue wasn’t people getting high from hemp seeds, but rather using hemp seed consumption as a viable defence against testing positive on a drug test. In fact, despite denying it initially, the DEA finally admitted "it was acting on concerns over the allegations that legal hemp products could affect the outcome of the commonly employed urine tests." That the DEA conceded and released the seized shipments of Canadian hemp seed was neither a sign of good will nor of tolerance but rather a concession that Canadian hemp seed cannot result in positive drug tests.

Yes, it is important to note that this is the case specifically for Canadian hemp seed. Thanks to Health Canada’s stringent and demanding regulations, Canadian producers of hemp seed are required to test all hemp seed products to insure that they contain less than 10 parts per million THC. When Health Canada first came out with these regulations they were seen by many in the industry as overly constraining. Although it’s true that producers run some risk of producing a crop which is not marketable by virtue of being over the THC limits, practical experience has shown that these levels are indeed achievable. Moreover, they result in a uniformly high quality product which can be consumed in any quantity without running the risk of testing positive on a drug test.

Another potential risk that faces the Canadian hemp seed industry should also be effectively mitigated by Health Canada’s insistence on 10 parts per million THC. An as yet unreleased and non-peer reviewed Health Canada study points to supposed potential health risks of THC. Leaving aside the debate of the real or imagined heath risks of THC, it seems clear that at 10 parts per million, any potential risk has already been practically eliminated.

So, despite the criticism that has been levelled at Health Canada in the past for over-regulating the Canadian hemp industry, it should be recognised that these same regulations have not only enabled Canadians to grow hemp, but in this latest episode have actually protected the interests of the Canadian Hemp Industry.

David Marcus is an industrial hemp consultant now working with the Ontario Hemp Alliance. He can be reached at nathemp@interlog.com

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Traditional Uses of Culinary Hemp Seed

Notes from a work in progress

By Dr. Alexander Sumach, Hemp Futures Study Group, with material from Chris Bennet

Editor's note: Hemp-based foods may be a new entry into the national marketplace, but based on our present understanding of hemp's highly nutritious and EFA rich content, its presence in our diets is long overdue. In light of recent events, and ongoing regulatory discussions about the place and safety of hemp in our diets, it may be time for a short history lesson.

The following material is excerpted from an upcoming book project by Dr. Alexander Sumach that has also been supplied to Health Canada regarding hemp's place as a "Novel Food". This material has been supplemented with excerpts from author Chris Bennet's article "Hemp Seed, the Royal Grain", which can be read in its entirety at: http://www.island.net/~mama/HempInfo/Hemp-Hist-by-CB.htm.

Modern reporting of hemp seed being used as a traditional food can be found in vintage and contemporary overviews of industrial hemp prepared for review by government agencies charged with amending legislation to accommodate industrial hemp. Additional material appears from original research prepared for my book "New World Hemp History" to be published in Canada next year.

1) " Hemp seed used in all the oriental nations and in part in Russia as food. It is grown in their fields and used as oatmeal. Millions of people everyday are using hemp seed in the Orient as food. They have been doing this for many generations, especially in periods of famine."

Quote from Ralph Loziers, general council for the National Institute of Oilseed Producers, concerning the historic culinary uses of hemp seed, testimony presented before the US Congress Committee in 1937 reviewing cannabis legislation prior to enacting the Marihuana Tax Act.

2) " Prior to the end of WW2, hemp made a significant contribution to the economic and social fabric of society...(lists agricultural benefits of hemp)"
"... as well as food and oil from the seeds. "
"... it can be ground up and used in soups, cereals and other foods."

Quote from "Weekly Bulletin", publication of Canadian Department of Agriculture and Food, Vol. 7- # 22, December 1994.

3) "Four short years after the Marihuana Tax Act passed in the US, a researcher writing for a 1941 edition of Science lamented the loss of access to the hemp seed’s rare and important globule edestins; "Passage of the Marijuana Law of 1937 has placed restrictions upon trade in hempseed that, in effect, amount to prohibition.... It seems clear that the long and important career of the protein is coming to a close in the United States."

4) China, in ancient times referring to itself as " The land of hemp and mulberry" has perfected hemp culture for textiles and human food over the course of many centuries.

The consumption of raw or roasted hemp seed is as common as eating sunflower seeds or peanuts in many parts of China to the present day. Edible hemp seed continues to be available at food markets, as it remains a popular traditional food that has been enjoyed by millions of the Chinese people for many centuries. No instances of harm attributed to the eating of hemp seed in any quantity has been reported. Fresh roasted hemp seed remains a popular confection in contemporary China, and hemp seed continues to be enjoyed as a snack suitable for families attending cinemas and public events

5) Edible hemp seed was not initially popular with Europeans who regarded it as coarse fare, famine food to fall back during bad times. Hemp seed nutrition was better invested in feeding animals in better times and humans returned to more interesting entrees than survival cake. The humble hemp seed — nutritious but gritty — presents a prehistoric cross-cultural image of fortitude over want.

Before the introduction of the potato and maize from the New World, hemp seed - by necessity rather than choice - was a frequent staple food of the vegetarian rural poor in areas of the world where hemp seed was abundant because of escalated hemp cultivation for marine fibre in the 15th.century.

Hemp seed was the sole source of edible vegetable oil in the northerly and mountainous areas of Eurasia where hemp crops could be grown but where imported luxury vegetable oils such as olive were unavailable or prohibitively expensive. This was especially so before WW2.

6) Locally grown and pressed hemp seed oil was used for household cooking oil in the outbacks of Nepal — observed in the1970's by a National Geographic expedition documenting traditional Nepalese village life. Locally harvested hemp seed was the only local source of vegetable oil for these ancient people living in modern times.

7) In the former USSR, North Eastern Europe, and the Baltic nations, traditional hemp growing zones that supplied fibre hemp for western European shipping expansion in the 15^th C., turned to locally abundant hemp seed for vegetable oil and made good use of the whole hemp seed ground fine in the home kitchen. Seed was often fashioned into a smooth paste, similar to peanut butter to be spread on bread or toast and eaten. This hemp seed butter was a particular favourite of children. In the Baltic nation of Latvia, hemp seed is traditionally included in festival foods eaten during St. John's Day, June 21. A soup made from hemp seeds called semientiatka is eaten ritually on Christmas Eve in Poland and Lithuania, and in Latvia and Ukraine, possibly in remembrance of the Persian King’s Grain, a similar meal is eaten in the celebration of Three King’s Day.

Commercially manufactured hemp butter is currently available in jars sold in eastern European speciality food stores, but it is not available in Canada.

8) Eastern European immigrants growing such old country herbs as Cannabis in backyard gardens in Canada came to the attention of Metro Toronto police officers in the 1970s. The culinary intention of the cultivators, producing a few handfuls of tasty hemp seed for the winter soup kettle was accepted as an explanation.

9) There is anecdotal evidence that the Doukabours, a Christian vegetarian freedom sect living in western Canada since the turn of the century had prepared hemp seed paste for food as part of their Spartan lifestyle in Russia. These Sons of Freedom apparently resumed growing and using hemp upon arrival in Canada and consumed a small portion of the hemp seed harvest on a regular basis prior to and somewhat after prohibition measures in the 30's.

10) In 1955 the Czechoslovakian Tubercular Nutrition Study concluded that hemp seed was the "only food that can successfully treat the consumptive disease tuberculosis, in which the nutritive processes are impaired and the body wastes away. "(Rowan Robinson, The Great Book of Hemp, 1996).

End Notes: These notes of traditional use of hemp seed as a human food in the Old World imply that the whole seed, hard seed jacket and all was eaten as food. Hemp seed is favourable, but when traditionally prepared produces an objectionably gritty edible paste, as the small hard shell cannot be easily removed. About 20% of the weight of hemp seed is comprised of the hard seed coat.

It was not been practical to dehull hemp seed during times of traditional use, and only gritty dark hemp seed meal has ever been available on the world market. Recent advances in factory scale hemp seed dehulling using mechanical separation produces a smooth white gritless hemp seed meal that requires no further treatment before it can be eaten.

This important modern innovation that separates the seed jacket from the nutritious meal produces a more acceptable product than had ever been eaten in times passed.

Hemp is an industrial cultivar of Cannabis sativa L. The hemp plant is known by dozens of regional traditional monikers. Old World language groups tend to share a single common root word describing cannabis — the cane. Each language, over many centuries modified the ancient root word only slightly to derive their own national word for "hemp". This suggests a pattern of long commonly shared knowledge of hemp by the European Community.

Traditional Regional Names for Cannabis in the Old World

Kannab...Persian
Kanop...Armenian
Kanas...Celtic
Canamo...Spanish
Alcanque...Old Portuguese
Canapu...Old Italian
Konople...Old Russian
Konopj...Polish
Hanf...German
Hennip...Dutch
Hampa...Swedish/ Danish
Hemp...English
Chanvre...French
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Feral Hemp wanted.... Any reader with knowledge of wild hemp habitat is urged to contact Dr. Sumach for more information about collecting viable wild hemp seed and forwarding it correctly. Please Contact: Dr. Sumach, Hemp Futures Study Group, PO Box 1680, Niagara on the Lake Ontario, Canada, LOS IJO, 905 468 3928, rheading@becon.org
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HempCyberFarmTM at HempCyberFarm.com is your source for hemp farming information. HempCyberFarmTM is a hemp farming discussion platform since 1995. Sell your harvest here! Find hemp seed vendors here! Exchange hemp farming experiences. Our on-site library contains a large selection of articles related to hemp farming to further one’s knowledge. Website: http://HempCyberFarm.com  e-mail: Matthew@HempCyberFarm.com © Copyright 1999 All rights reserved. HempCyberFarm® is a registered trademark of HempWorld, Inc.

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