Hemp products have huge health food potential
About six weeks after planting hemp seed the plants are more than four feet high in a farmer’s field near Burdett.
The crop is also self-pollinating. A slight breeze and pollen wafts off the plants, as if a fine mist is making its way through the crop.
Farmer Cory Nelson’s crop is primarily for “hemp hearts” - used in the nutritional food market for products such as hemp granola. It can also be used for hemp oil, which is on a par with a high quality olive oil.
“South Korea and the U.S. are our main market for hemp,” said Nelson.
Hemp seed is a popular product in health food stores. It can be sprinkled on salads, cereal, yogurt and included in smoothies, explained Bernice Bouman of Nutters in Medicine Hat. It is a high source of protein that appeals particularly to those choosing not to eat meat. It is also an excellent source of fibre.
Hempseed oil is cold-pressed from the seed and is high in unsaturated fatty acids. There are bottles of hemp oil at Nutters in the refrigerator. Bouman says it has a nutty flavour and would be suitable to use in making salad dressings, or simply drizzled over a salad as it is. Hemp products are more and more popular as people become aware of the health benefits.
In 2011 the U.S. imported $11.5 million worth of hemp products, mostly driven by growth in demand for hemp seed and hemp oil, according to Wikipedia.
Hemp production in Canada was discontinued in 1938, because it was confused with other kinds of cannabis, according to the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance’s website.
In 1998 Health Canada allowed commercial production of the crop under a licensing system. In 2003, more than 6,700 acres of hemp were grown across Canada, but mostly concentrated on the Prairies. In 2015, more than 84,000 acres were licensed for cultivation of hemp.
Botanically, hemp is classified as Cannabis sativa L. (Cannabaceae). Cannabis is a diverse plant species including more than 500 different varieties. Marijuana is a distant cousin. Under regulations hemp is defined as having less than 0.3 per cent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, according to online information.
Hemp is also used to make rope, textiles for clothing and paper, according to Wikipedia.
The inner two fibers of the plant are more woody and have industrial applications, such as mulch and animal bedding. Hemp was often used to make sail canvas, and the word canvas derives from cannabis. Hemp fibre was commonly used to make paper from 200 BC until the late 1800s.