Fields of fibre

Despite red tape and less than ideal growing conditions in 1998, Ontario growers are staying high on hemp

BY JOHN MUGGERIDGE

Dover township farmer Stephen McGrail cash crops with his brother Pat in Ontario's southwestern banana belt. At 190-bushel corn and 55-bushel beans in '98, the young farmer can't complain about yields. But he does have a beef with something that lies even more beyond his control: commodity prices, set by the almighty Chicago Board of Trade.

That's the beauty of hemp, says McGrail, who grew 27 acres of the spindly fibre and oilseed crop in 1998 and custom combined with his cousin Paul 1,000 acres. It's low-labour, low-input and, best of all, CBOT-free.

"Our hemp [per acre] returns this year will exceed corn and soy returns," says McGrail, one of 98 farmers in Ontario to obtain a federal licence to plant 2,900 acres to the new wonder crop used in everything from cosmetics to car parts. "I have grown seed corn and would not back away from growing hemp and leaving seed corn. I know what the price will be....I'm really happy we don't have to deal with fluctuating prices."

It's been almost a year since the first legal hemp crop in 60 years went in the ground in Ontario. Despite the agronomic, harvesting, bureaucratic, processing and marketing growing pains experienced in Year One, McGrail and others in this infant industry remain high on hemp heading into 1999. The focus now shifts to improved crop management and opening up markets.

A dry year with over 4,000 heat units made "retting," or field curing, difficult, and growers had to rely on dew for moisture, says Bob L'Ecuyer, general manager of Pain Court-based Kenex Inc., which contracted 52 growers last year for a total 2,000 acres. The tough stalks that make hemp shine as a fibre crop created headaches at harvest, which began Aug. 15, says L'Ecuyer.

While McGrail was pleased with his yield, Ontario hemp results were all over the map. L'Ecuyer says fibre yields averaged 2.25 tons per acre, below the target of 3 tons, at a contracted price of $275 per ton. Growers with grain contracts, however, who accounted for three-quarters of Kenex's 2,000-acre crop, beat the 1,100-pound-an-acre target at a contracted price of 50 cents per pound and also neared two tons an acre of fibre priced at $200 per ton on grain contracts. Growers were responsible for all costs except transportation. The crop requires few inputs - the major pests are of the human variety. L'Ecuyer reports "some pilferage" of plants near major highways.

A satisfied McGrail says he beat grain yield targets by 40 per cent; on the fibre end, he needed 1.5 tons to break even and harvested almost two. He sees hemp eventually replacing his wheat in the rotation as a low-labour crop that would also allow him to do tiling work while the soil is still dry.

Ontario's other major hemp contractor, Delaware-based Hempline Inc., contracted 20 growers and 500 acres of hemp for fibre last year, says 32-year-old president Geof Kime. Hempline growers were offered an average $300 a ton for fibre, and some cleared $300 an acre on average three-ton-per-acre yields, says Kime: "As a business venture it was favourable for all of our growers. They like the simplicity, with no sprays and little work. Once it's planted, you cut it, turn it a couple of times and bale it. And it fits in reasonably well with other crops."

Despite weather and marketing challenges, McGrail has no hesitation about planting hemp in '99. "It was very trying, but we like a challenge of a new crop. You hate to make any conclusions after the first year. Most farmers are looking at a three-year program. The Kenex people treated us very fairly."

McGrail and his cousin custom harvested with two modified John Deere 9500 combines with regular grain heads. Some shielding was added to keep the tangly crop from wrapping. There was also widespread lodging. The crop is top heavy, and McGrail suspects a fertility hangover in the soil following corn may have contributed. Hemp fares better after soybeans, says McGrail, who will work with John Deere on combine modifications for next harvest.

The root systems were so dense even the plow had trouble. Kenex experimented with a lot of cutting equipment, including a European Kemper 3000 and a Gleaner combine. Showing most promise were a John Deere sidecutter mower and a modified MacDon swather. While equipment manufacturers are "hanging back to see what '99 and 2000 will bring," a New York corn picker company, Byron Equipment, is showing interest, says L'Ecuyer.

Kime says Hempline growers cut with sidecutter mowers, followed by rotary rakes and 4X5 round balers. Machines have to be kept in top working order to handle the tough crop, and knives have to be kept sharp, he says.

On the marketing end, mid-December Kenex was still negotiating with auto suppliers in Ontario and the U.S. Midwest, which have expressed interest in using natural fibres in car interiors. Kenex hoped to have a fibre and oil processing facility running by the end of last month, but was still sitting on 5,000 tons of fibre from the 1998 harvest. "The market is starting to open up for us," says L'Ecuyer.

For Kenex and Hempline, exact acreage for 1999 will depend on buyers. Kime says commitment from "a large Canadian apparel company" would justify expansion over the next three years. "Growing is the easiest part. Processing and taking to market is the hardest part," he says. To keep down transportation costs, Hempline will look for growers within a 60-km radius of London. As for other hemp wannabes, "they'll have to be patient until there's a processing plant in their area," Kime says. Despite some "short-term problems," Kime is bullish on the industry. He expects to expand to 1,500 acres this year and has opened North America's first modern hemp processing production plant at Delaware, Middlesex county. "Long-term trends bode well for hemp," he says. "As with any agricultural commodity, expanding use of the product is the key to expanding acreage."

© copyright 1999 Agricultural Publishing Company Limited.


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