While supply chain issues have delayed its plant opening, the market for hemp products has grown rapidly, says Aaron Barr, CEO of Canadian Rockies Hemp Corporation.

Despite challenges, Alberta hemp plant nears completion

Canadian Rockies Hemp Corporation says its markets are rapidly expanding

Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s been one thing after another, but production is nearly ready to start at the largest hemp plant in North America. “We’re finally there at the end of the tunnel,” said Aaron Barr, CEO of Canadian Rockies Hemp Corporation. “We are now getting equipment inside and hope to get our first decortication production line ready […] Read more

Jeff Kostuik, director of Hemp Genetics International, presents variety improvements during a 2017 field tour.

With new markets opening up, demand for new hemp varieties emerging

New uses mean a new spectrum of genetic traits for hemp breeders to tailor for

Reading Time: 5 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – Canada has taken on a leading role in hemp production since the crop was legalized in 1998. Initially it was grain and products like hemp hearts and then nutraceuticals like cannabidiol. But now Canada is staking out a new leadership area in the hemp sector: genetics. It’s still comparatively early days for […] Read more


martin ekstrand hemp

Is the long-predicted boom for the hemp sector nearly here?

Hemp is versatile and has lots of boosters, but it’s never been more than a niche crop on the Prairies

Reading Time: 4 minutes The hemp industry on the Prairies is slowly making strides and many believe — once again — that the sector is poised to boom. “We believe there’s a strong case for hemp in the world,” said Andrew Potter, CEO of Blue Sky Hemp Ventures, a company incorporated in Calgary but based in Saskatoon. Potter, whose […] Read more

Sergio Rocha, executive director of a cannabis cultivation research project, works in a greenhouse at Brazil’s Federal University of Vicosa on Aug. 18, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Washington Alves)

Cannabis firms catch whiff of opportunity in Brazil

Canadian producers among those now supplying Brazilian market

Sao Paulo | Reuters — International cannabis companies are showing interest in Brazil, both its large consumer market for medicinal products and a proposal that could legalize planting of the crop. Major producers such as Colombia’s Clever Leaves and Canada’s Canopy Growth are developing and selling medicinal cannabis products to a Brazilian consumer segment estimated […] Read more



Alberta hemp variety commercialized

Alberta hemp variety commercialized

Reading Time: < 1 minute InnoTech Alberta has signed an agreement with an Ontario industrial hemp distributor for a hemp variety it has been developing over the past dozen years. The subsidiary of provincial funding agency Alberta Innovates says Silesia “is ideal for Canadian growing conditions and offers the agriculture sector exceptional fibre production and seed-quantity compared to other cultivars.” […] Read more


A hemp plant in Alberta. (Jennifer Blair photo)

Hemp poised for year of gains

Nationwide increase in acres expected

MarketsFarm — The hemp industry in Canada is set for a good year in 2021, according to Canadian Hemp Trade Association (CHTA) CEO Ted Haney. “It looks like we are looking at another 15 to 20 per cent increase in seeded acres nationally, which should take us over the 100,000-acre level for sure,” he said. […] Read more

There is a growing global market for both hemp fibre and hurd, says Canadian Rockies Hemp CEO Aaron Barr (on right, with company COO Spencer Tighe).

Bruderheim to be home to continent’s biggest hemp-processing facility

Canadian Rockies Hemp says its facility can produce 160,000 tonnes of fibre and hurd annually

Reading Time: 4 minutes [UPDATED: Feb. 22, 2021] The town of Bruderheim will soon be home to North America’s largest hemp-processing facility. Canadian Rockies Hemp Corporation says its under-construction plant in the community northeast of Edmonton is on track to be finished this summer. “Construction started last fall (in 2019), but it was put on hold for the last […] Read more


Signage on a Tweed retail outlet in Winnipeg. (Dave Bedard photo)

Canopy Growth to close Saskatchewan pot plant

Ontario company stepping out of other international plays

A major indoor cannabis grow site at Yorkton, Sask. is the latest casualty as pot producer/retailer Canopy Growth adjusts its worldwide footprint. Smiths Falls, Ont.-based Canopy Growth, whose cannabis brands include Tweed, Tokyo Smoke, Van der Pop and Spectrum Therapeutics, announced Thursday it will shut down its Tweed Grasslands production facility at Yorkton to “further […] Read more

(CanopyGrowth.com)

Canopy Growth may face challenges offloading assets, CEO says

Reuters — Canada’s biggest cannabis producer, Canopy Growth Corp., could face challenges offloading assets as it seeks to winnow its facilities down to focus on its most lucrative markets and products, its CEO told Reuters. The company, which reported a smaller-than-expected third-quarter loss on Friday, is conducting a “thorough strategic review” of its production facilities […] Read more