By David Swick

HEMP CROP IN HIGH DEMAND

Farmers trying to inform the uneducated

MIKE LEWIS GREW 11 million hemp plants last summer; they averaged more than four metres high. Placed end to end, his hemp would circle the world.

And to think it all started with granddad’s magazines. "Five or six years ago, I read an article in an old Popular Mechanics magazine of my grandfather’s," Lewis says. "The title of the article was: ‘Hemp - The Next Billion-Dollar Crop.’

"The magazine was from 1937. Later that year, hemp was outlawed." Hemp looks like, but is not, marijuana. Its popular cousin is loaded with the chemical THC, which makes you high; hemp has only an infinetisimal amount. Yet politicians seized on their similar look to outlaw hemp during the anti-drug crusades of the 1930s.

Now, hemp’s remarkable legacy, astonishing versatility, and ability to grow fast and pesticide-free has many farmers and businesspeople working for its legalization.

"Hemp is related to marijuana. So what? Most people laugh about that around here."

Lewis, 37, is one of two Nova Scotians licensed to grow hemp; the other is in Pictou County. Between them they grew 10 hectares (25 acres) last summer. Nationally, farmers grew 2,120 hectares. Lewis’s company, Annapolis Valley Hemp, has a five-year plan. This year it plans to grow, process, and market 400 hectares.

Within five years, that could jump to 8,000 hectares. The company has applied to the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Farm Loan Board for financing.

Growing hemp in the Annapolis Valley is not a problem. Lewis’s crop grew beautifully, despite a summer of heavy rain followed by drought.

"We got the crop in late: May 22. Within 60 days it had 21/2 inches of rain, but it grew like you wouldn’t believe. Then we had the worst drought in decades. The plant loved it. It’s such an adaptable plant, it adapts to anything you give it."

Hemp’s greatest problem, as stated in The Maritime Industrial Hemp Product Marketing Study, commissioned by the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick departments of agriculture and released in September, is that the infrastructure to extract hemp seed oil and fibre does not yet exist here.

Lewis is working on that problem now. Prospective clients include a fibreboard plant in Chester, a cardboard manufacturer in Hantsport, and a pulp mill on the Minas Basin.

"We have met with over 200 farmers and government people," he said. "We’re trying to involve everybody, and want to encourage the growth of our community, our county, and our province. So far, we’re trudging along nicely."

Lewis is not a career farmer; he operated an auto-body shop until a bad accident a few years ago. Laid up, he had time to read and think. Then he bumped into his grandfather’s Popular Mechanics and dove into research.

Hemp makes sense, he says, not just for its qualities, but because we can grow, process, and market it right here.

"Too often we grow and ship stuff out," Lewis said. "Then it’s processed elsewhere and shipped back to us and someone else makes all the money.

Canada is famous for that, and it’s especially true here in the Valley."