The relaxing of marijuana laws is also expected to help Canada’s hemp industry.
There are now about 400 farms, mostly in western Canada, growing the plant closely associated with marijuana.
Russ Crawford of the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance expects that to grow with new legislation removing several barriers.
Crawford says a pilot program twenty years ago saw farms in the Dryden and Fort Frances area test the plant’s ability to grow in northwestern Ontario.
He notes that one big change is being allowed to use the whole plant.
Crawford says its now been determined the most value in the plant is in the leaves and flowers which contain some of the active chemicals in marijuana like T-H-C.
Canada also exports nearly $100-million in food and fibre products using hemp every year.
