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Vol. 14, No. 16, Wednesday, March 6, 2019 www.LamontLeader.com
Farmers attend “Hemp School” BY JOHN MATHER Several Lamont area farmers gathered at Lamont Hall, Mar. 1 to learn more about growing hemp as a value added crop. Canadian Rockies Hemp, who plan to build a decortation plant in Bruderheim later this year, put on the seminar arranged by Lamont County Agricultural Fieldman, Terry Eleniak. Spencer Tighe told the dozen farmers at the meeting Canadian Rockies Hemp would help them grow the crop from start to finish. “Initially we would do a farm consultation so you know you’re putting it on the right land with no herbicide residuals,” said the Canadian Rockies Hemp chief operating officer. “We make sure you select your variety properly. We work with Manitoba Harvest for our seed, but you can purchase seed from other suppliers.” He added Manitoba Harvest would be opening a distribution centre south of Fort Saskatchewan sometime this year. “We want to set up a contract for your acres,” he said. Tighe added there is no spot market for hemp. The entire crop is contracted out to firms like Canadian Rockies prior to being planted. The next step in the process would be for the farmer to apply for their industrial hemp licence. This involves going online and outlining where it will be grown. He stressed the process has been very simplified by the government.
Seeding for hemp would take place in mid May once the soil has warmed to about eight degrees and all standing water is gone. Hemp does not do well if planted in standing water. The swathing would be done in August and after laying the field to dry it Lamont area farmers were at the Lamont Community Hall on March 1 to attend a learning seminar about would be taken growing hemp. Arranged by Lamont County Ag. Fieldman Terry Eleniak, farmers learned what they can to the plant for expect to make contracting a hemp crop out to a local decortation plant. decortation. Under fibre contracts Canadian Seed is planted at about half and Canadian Rockies CEO Aaron Barr Rockies is paying $100 per tonne. said the hemp processing done by the inch. He said Canadian Rockies Hemp Straw contracts would be $79-80 per plant would break the hemp into fibre, hurd and screenings. He added the was working with two varieties of tonne. “We don’t recommend you grown location of their plant would have hemp and the crop should grow to hemp without a contract at this time.” access to both highway and rail traffic. about a seven-foot height. He says hemp is a good tool for When he explained the hemp revenue He said they would also process some CBD, but the focus was on the fibre. In cleaning up some land, which had lain breakdown he did get some backlash from the farmers when he stated proja temporary facility they pan to begin fallow. Tighe said company representatives ects input costs. processing hemp this spring. “Your numbers of each farm will be Tighe said seed was about $2 per would come out at harvest time to different,” he said. “You have to ensure the crop was ready. pound and farmers should try to get include your input time.” “This is a new crop here, but not new 30-35 pounds per acres output. He was projecting revenues at $400 around the world. We will get harvest“You can use conventional seeders to $660 per acres, admitting that didn’t ing equipment from other sources and for hemp but you may want to keep your air speeds down a bit,” he said. modify it to work in our conditions,” include operational costs. “For fertilizer for fibre crops it’s very he said. ”In terms of hauling you get paid by weight.” similar to wheat.”
Earthquake near Red Deer LESLIE CHOLOWSKY According to Earthquakes Canada, a division of Natural Resources Canada, a magnitude 4.6 earthquake occurred just four km south of Red Deer Monday, March 4 at 5:55 a.m. The earthquake occurred at a depth
of 1 km. Typically, it is unlikely that an earthquake of less than a magnitude five could cause any damage, but there are reports of power outages in the region. FortisAlberta has not been able to confirm whether the power outage was
related to the earthquake. Earthquakes Canada says that the earthquake was widely felt in Red Deer, Sylvan Lake, Benalto, Eckville, Blackfalds, Lacombe, Springbrook, Penhold, and Leslieville, with many taking to social media to ask, “Did any-
one else feel that?” Prior to Monday’s earthquake, there hasn’t been one in the general region of the corridor between Edmonton and Calgary since 2014.