The hemp business in Manitoba may be growing faster than the weeds in your yard, and since the legalization of the industry in 1998, the province's growers, processors and retailers alike are getting high on profits.

Mike Fata, president of Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods and Oils, the leading processor of branded hemp products, has seen the company's sales grow from $50,000 in 1998 to just under $2.5 million in 2005.

"My interest in hemp was kindled when I lost 100 pounds, a third of my weight, by going on a no-fat diet," Fata explains. "However, the process rendered me unhealthy. I then found hemp contained Omegas 3 and 6, which restored my vitality."

Fata, along with colleagues Alex Chwaiewsky and Martin Moravcik, imported an oil press from Europe to press hemp seed when the commercial production of hemp was legalized.

Photo courtesy of Don Fata, Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods and Oils
Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods and Oils founders Martin Moravcik, Alex Chwaiewsky and Mike Fata, above, left to right, offer a wide variety of hemp-based products.

Since then the company has grown to manufacture a multitude of products.

"There are two main categories of hemp products: Seeds and the foods made therefrom, and fibre for construction materials, paper and fabric," says Fata. "Our annual turnover is about $5 million, including exports to Japan, Europe and New Zealand."

Founded in Winnipeg and with production facilities in Portage la Prairie, Harvest based its hemp cultivation processes on Old World knowledge of processing stalks and seeds into fibre and food products.

"Europe had the technology to process hemp seed, which we imported to make two products: Oil and seed. In 2001 we added shelled hemp seed, and the nut butter made from it to our product line. Then, in 2004, we added a hemp protein powder as well," explains Fata.

Hemp can be used in textiles, apparel, paper, home furnishings, food, personal care products and building materials, says Joe Fedorowich, chairman of Parkland Industrial Hemp Growers' Co-operative (PIHG) in Dauphin, the country's largest growers' organization.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada lists numerous nutritional benefits of hemp as a food source: It contains more essential fatty acids than any other source, ranks second in complete proteins only to the soybean, and contains gamma linolenic acid, which has been found to have many properties ranging from anti-inflammatory to anti-depression, lowering cholesterol and helping to correct dyslexia, dyspraxia and hyperactivity (ADHD).

The blossoming hemp industry has not been without its thorns, however. Hemp is a cousin of marijuana or cannabis sativa, which contains the psychoactive ingredient Delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

The Canadian government had followed the U.S. lead and banned the cultivation of anything containing THC, rendering the hemp industry illegal.

But Fedorowich of PIHG explains: "Marijuana has at least two-per-cent THC, enabling one to get high on it, while industrial hemp contains only 0.3 per cent THC - inadequate for that purpose."

After half a century of federally monitored university testing, Canada recognized hemp's difference from its cousin marijuana and legalized hemp cultivation in 1998. By the 2004 growing season, Health Canada approved 24 varieties of industrial hemp, sowing the seeds for Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario "hempreneurs."

Photo courtesy of Don Fata, Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods and Oils
The hemp-based products manufactured by the company

"Its limitless applications render hemp a high-potential crop for Manitoba," says David Elias, communications co-ordinator for the Manitoba Rural Adaptation Council (MRAC), a non-profit corporation that funds innovative agricultural projects in the province. "It could spell millions for the agriculture and manufacturing sectors," he says.

"Envisioning numerous economic, social and environmental benefits in the incorporation of hemp into consumer consumption patterns, we welcome project proposals advancing the hemp sector, and have provided some funding to PIHG and Hemp Oil Canada," Elias says.

Since the U.S. has yet to follow Canada's lead by allowing hemp cultivation, local producers have, at least for the time being, the advantage over our neighbours south of the border, who remain Canada's biggest hemp product importers.

American farmers are lobbying their government to legalize cultivation, pointing at the Canadian example and citing Washington and Jefferson as sometime hemp growers, but approval has not been granted.

Keith Watson, diversification specialist at Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives, says that in 2005 about 12,000 acres were producing hemp in the province.

"This is up from about 4,500 acres in 2004," Watson says. "The majority of this was contracted for about 50 to 55 cents a pound last year. The crop was variable in 2004, with yields ranging from 200 to 1,100 pounds of clean grain per acre.

"It is hard to predict, but the average yield is likely to be 400 to 600 pounds per acre this year. About 20,000 acres were licensed with Health Canada in 2005," he says.

Considering the increase in licences, Watson recommends production contracts, warning that overproduction could cause market and sustainability problems.

In the meantime, current industry players are growing bigger. Hemp Oil Canada Inc. is another hemp producer smelling sweet success. Founded in 1998, the company, spearheaded by Shaun Crew, offers products including hemp coffee, body-care products, oil and flour.

The company is relocating from St. Norbert to Ste. Agathe to accommodate an expansion of its capacity, and its new facilities will include a container packaging line and an automated oil-bottling line.

Parkland Biofibre Ltd., a recipient of MRAC funding, is planning construction of a plant in Dauphin that will separate bales of hemp into fibre and hurd.

"Fibre is used for blending with recycled cardboard and for specialty twine. Hurd is used for animal bedding," explains Biofibre president Don Dewar.

PIHG, one of Parkland Biofibre's owners, is another source of funds. The plant is scheduled to commence production in 2007.

Processors and farmers aren't the only hemp-happy Manitobans. Donald Groening, one of the owners of the Hemp Rock Cafe & Museum on Winnipeg's Notre Dame Avenue, is also singing the plant's praises. His restaurant serves hemp pizza, granola, hemp nut butter and salad dressings, as well as hemp coffee and tea.

"Hemp came to my attention through its cousin marijuana, which my late father took for medicinal purposes," says Groening. "The allopathic drugs he was taking for bone- marrow cancer were causing nausea and stomach problems, which were alleviated by the marijuana, stimulating his appetite as well."

Wondering why a beneficial plant should be illegal, Groening did some research and discovered Mary Jane's cousin hemp had about 25,000 uses worldwide. In addition, no chemicals may be sprayed once the crop is up, so hemp is mostly organic, although fertilizers may be used.

"The industry has great potential," Groening asserts. "Baby Boomers, today's largest demographic segment, watch their diet carefully. Hemp is bound to become part of our diet because it is high in protein content. Chemicals derived from hemp will also play a large part in the pharmaceuticals industry."

(Ashoke Dasgupta can be reached at ashoke@businessedge.ca)