A Beautiful Day on the Hemp Farm

by Bruce Ryan
Source: dankr.ca

Harvest season is just about over down on the farm. What a great year. ArcadiaHemp.com turned in some record returns first time out: up to 2500 lbs per acre! New Brunswick hasn’t grown much industrial hemp over the years. This year two projects hit the ground: Global Hemp Group planted 75 acres and Arcadia planted 300 acres. Now the Provincial government is visiting and going “Wow, this will help the economy, the farmers and create jobs.” Yep.

I must say, the volume has really been turned up across the country. More and more farmers are getting into the market from coast to coast, north to south. Around the world, actually. This is exactly what’s needed to get the raw materials to make products. This is the bottom-line, bootson-the-ground, key-factor that the industry needs. The old saying, “You can make 50,000 products out of hemp.” Is true ONLY when you have enough crops in the ground.

This year also saw the first hempcrete block house construction project in B.C. courtesy of the folks at JustBioFibre.com in Alberta. They’ve worked diligently for three years bringing their hemp tech to the market. Their hemp blocks are structural, insulating and fireproof all at the same time. Walls up to R-40 insulation value and termites won’t eat it. A truly beautiful, two story luxury home has been built as the first commercial project using their innovative Lego-like hemp block system. Global News did a story on the house that has gone viral. Proves the intelligence of hemp farming, “Food, clothing and shelter from the same crop.” No wonder the global governments and corporations have worked so hard, for so long, to crush the entire cannabis sector. Frees the citizens.

Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance is holding their annual meeting in Ottawa this year to make a point. We are lobbying the government to change the draconian rules & regulations crippling the hemp trade. Most of these are really whacky: farmers can’t plant their own seed, can’t touch the leaf, can’t sell live seed, can’t feed their chickens or cows, criminal background checks (every year) to renew your annual permit…. which is not renewed automatically.And ya have to steamclean a combine borrowed from your neighbour.

Next year the goal is to plant 7,000 acres in New Brunswick. The idea is to have a large enough hemp crop to feed a hempcrete block factory. This increases the value chain, creates jobs and stimulates the local economy. You could put a block factory near large hemp farms worldwide and build houses that are green, “net-zero” and continue to absorb CO2 as the years go by. Beauty of this system is that all the seed and all the fibre goes to other uses while the core of the stalk builds houses. A triple return down on the farm. What a beautiful day!