MARCH 2018 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC
19
Weed will be an ag product unlike any other Bong show ahead as authorities learn to roll with cannabis production, sales
by PETER MITHAM
ABBOTSFORD – Growers hoping to cash in on Canada’s newest legal cash crop face plenty of challenges as government wrestles with how to treat a crop that has yet to receive legal standing. Cannabis is grabbing headlines in the mainstream media in advance of Canada legalizing recreational pot (expected by July 1), but Ottawa will continue to exert tight controls on growers, whether they’re producing industrial hemp for fibre, seeds and oil, medicinal strains with soothing cannabinoids or recreational strains with psychoactive tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). “Hemp and marijuana are the same plant – genetically identical; the only difference is they’ve been bred differently for different purposes,” Peter Scales told the Centre for Organizational Governance in Agriculture (COGA) on February 1. “[But] hemp is not marijuana.” Scales, a hemp grower who supplies seeds, oil and flours through his Abbotsford company ACI Foods, says this is where the fun will begin when recreational cannabis becomes legal. To date, the only licensed
producers have been growers of industrial strains, which have less than 0.3% THC, and medicinal varieties. Recreational producers will require licences and the current approval process is taking six to 18 months. Were the delay not long enough, a mere 18% of applicants are being approved. They’ll also have to source legitimate sources of seed and work with authorized retailers. Scales says he expects a
shakeout following legalization as producers adjust. “It’s going to change the landscape and it’s going to affect a lot of people in this room, and this is where we get into the, maybe,
confusing part of this discussion,” he said. On the one hand, licensed
producers of medicinal cannabis are securing existing greenhouse facilities to enable them to get rolling as soon as legalization of recreational cannabis occurs. Without naming names, Scales pointed to last summer’s arrangement between Village Farms Canada LP and Victoria-based Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc. to convert a 25-acre greenhouse into a federally licensed cannabis production facility. The greenhouse could produce up to 75,000 kilograms of marijuana annually – initially for medicinal use, but with the potential for recreational products. Canopy Growth Corp. is
also partnering with SunSelect Produce Inc. of Delta to develop three million square feet in two greenhouses at a 55-acre site in Aldergrove through BC Tweed Joint Venture Inc. Plans target having a crop ready in time for the legalization of recreational cannabis.
Shift in priorities Scales expects medicinal
producers will shift to recreational production because they’ll be able to work with industrial hemp producers to source cannabinoids. However, the use of greenhouses for cannabis could also impact food production. “It means that the
tomatoes and cucumbers that were grown there are not going to be grown there any longer,” he said. “There’s huge displacement on the horizon.”
The displacement of food
production for cannabis is an issue the BC Ministry of Agriculture is wrestling with, James Mack, an assistant deputy minister with the ministry and a member of the province’s cannabis
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Crop rich in history, controversy ABBOTSFORD – Abbotsford hemp
grower and processor Peter Scales gave a lesson in hemp history to participants in a workshop the Centre for Organizational Governance in Agriculture hosted on February 1.
Hemp has a long history, from a medicine in ancient Egypt to a kind of rebar in the enduring architecture of the Roman Empire. During the days of sail, it was vitally important for rope manufacture. The rise of iron ships following the US Civil War helped torpedo the industry, however. Scales said the US Marihuana (sic) Tax Act of 1937 dealt the final blow. A consortium of industrial interests saw hemp as a competitor to wood-based and synthetic fibres, and the new law led to a blanket prohibition on cultivating the crop in any form. Hemp was ultimately banned internationally as a narcotic by the United Nations in 1961. The crop’s resurgence in Canada began with the legalization of industrial hemp cultivation in 1998. The federal government permitted access to cannabis as a pharmaceutical the following year but it wasn’t until 2013 that the Marihuana for
secretariat, told COGA. “Legally, the Agricultural Land Reserve is reserving land for agriculture, but the public thinks of it as reserving land for food production,” he said. “When we start seeing a percentage of the ALR being diverted over to cannabis production, it’s going to provoke that public debate – is this actually what we have
Medical Purposes Regulations set the stage for a commercially viable industry. However, the regulations only governed dried marijuana; it wasn’t until 2015 that cannabis oil and fresh buds became legal items. With the legalization of recreational cannabis later this year, regulations are being drafted to govern the production and sale of edible cannabis products. These may not be ready until 2019, "leaving owners to bake their own if they want edibles." Scales company, ACI Foods, is also
seeking Canadian Food Inspection Agency approval of hemp husks, a byproduct of seed processing, in poultry feed. “Hemp husk is going to be very available
across Canada, to the tune of about five million pounds,” Scales said. “We know they like it, we know it’s good for them; what we don’t know is how long it will take for the government to realize that.” Hemp husk approval is being sought in
partnership with the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance, which was established in 2003 and represents producers who export approximately $135.4 million worth of industrial hemp products each year. —Peter Mitham
the ALR set aside for? It’s one that we’re going to have to get ahead of.” The issue is rearing its head in the province’s consultation on revitalizing the ALR, continuing a debate when medicinal cannabis was legalized as to whether pharmaceuticals are a legitimate farm product and if it should get the same tax
breaks – property and otherwise – as other crops. “It’s a farming activity and
you can’t ban it,” Mack said. “[But] we don’t want to give it the same incentives as farming.”
This means it has limited access to farm tax status, and as a federally regulated
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