How To Start An Ethical, Sustainable & Profitable Hemp Business

Transcription

1 HowToStartAn Ethical, Sustainable& ProfitableHemp Business Week5 Transcript HempFarming 2011PaulBenhaimandDionnePayn Page1of9

2 TRANSCRIPT Dionne Payn: Hi everybody and welcome to the How to Start a Hemp Business course.i mdionnepaynandinthisinterviewi llbetalkingtogordonscheifelean expert in hemp seed genetics, plant breeder s rights and hemp seed varieties. WelcomeGordon. GordonScheifele:ThankyouI mhonoured. DionnePayn:SoGordoncanyoujustgiveusalittlebitofanintroductionastohow yougotinvolvedwithfarmingindustrialhemp? Gordon Scheifele: Sure I would be glad to. I was already involved in the early NinetiesworkingfortheUniversityofGuelphinAgricultureteachingcoursesonnew andemergingcropsandassuchwasdirectingmyattentiontonewpotentialcrops forfarmersinontarioandwasintroducedtoindustrialhempin1994viakenaf,we firstlookedatkenafandmaturitywiseitdidnotfitourclimate. So we went and pursued a license with Health Canada, Mr. Joe Strobel was responsibleforthatandhasthedistinguishedlegacyofbeingthefirsthempfarmer or firmer in Canada to get a research license to grow industrial hemp since the 1940s.SoJoelgrewitin1994andthenin1995Iwasabletogetalicenseaswelland startedsupportingtheeffortforresearchlookingatvarietiesfromeuropeandthe agronomy and working with the interested support group from Ontario to pursue getting Health Canada to issue a permanent grower permit. So in 1998 we were successful in getting industrial hemp licensed for legal production of hemp in Canada.Sothatwasmyintroductiontoindustrialhemp. Dionne Payn: Wow. Gordon I just would like to ask you, I ve been speaking to severalpeopleinthestateswhoasi msureyouknowthattheycan tgrowhempin the U.S. at the moment. Why do you think Canada was able to recognize early on thatthiswassuchagoodopportunitywhereastheu.s.haven trealisedthatyet? GordonScheifele:Ibelieveitwastwoorthreefold,onewastheapproachwetook wasrealistic,scientificandnothingtodowithhistorical.herewasafibreresearch crop that has significant potential for the future industry, in the natural fibre industry.wedeliberatelydistancedourselvesasmuchaspossiblefrompasthistory and from marijuana and so we were also very fortunate and we had several politicians that were strongly in support of the effort and were very influential, so with that combination I think was and we had some extremely astute and professionalpeopleinvolvedinthegroupofpeoplethatwereworkingwithhealth Canada to construct the initial regulatory system. And there was an urgency put forwardatthattimetohaveitcompletedby1998whichitwas. 2011PaulBenhaimandDionnePayn Page2of9

3 DionnePayn:Ohgood.AndGordonasahempfarmerwhathaveyoufoundtobe thehardestthingaboutgrowinghemp? GordonScheifele:Iwoulddescribemyselfnotnecessarilyasahempfarmerbutasa hempresearchscientistbecauseiamnotreallydoingthefarming,iworkwiththe farmers, I contract with the farmers. So the hardest thing is to reconcile that it is obviouslyveryeasytogrow.howevertogrowitsuccessfullyasamanagedcropit requiresagreatdealofcarefulmanagementandrecognizingitisuniquelydifferent thananyothercropwehavegrownincanadainthepastincludingflax.sothatis the first profound admission that has to take place. I don t know how to grow it, I havetolearnanditsgoingtotakemeayearto2yearsbeforeicanconsidermyself asuccessfulhempgrower.thosearethefirstcoupleofkeythingsthathavetobe admittedto. Dionne Payn: And what are the benefits to people that decide that they want to growhemp? Gordon Scheifele: Benefits? First couple of years, lose money. And many get discouragedandquit.ittakesstrongpersistenceandalmostareligiouscommitment ofdevotionanddedicationtothecroptomakeithappenandgrowit,cometothe point where you can manage it successfully and comfortably. And I think the first realbenefitsarejustthesatisfactionthatyouhavedonethat. Theotherthingisitcannotbegrownbyitselfinisolation,therehastobeacoreof growersinanareathatworktogetherandshareequipmenttogether.andgrowing the crop is one phase, processing the crop and marketing the crop is the next 2 phasesandthegrowershavetodeterminewhattheirmarketisgoingtobebefore theystartgrowingsotheycanmeetthemarketdemands.isitgoingtobeforfibre, isitgoingtobeforgrainandetc.andalsoveryearlyitwillbeessentialtodevelop theirowngeneticswhichisanotheraspectofdevelopingtheindustry. DionnePayn:TherewassomethingthatyousaidthatGordonthatIwasinterested in,whenyousaid, thefirstcoupleofyearsbepreparedtolosemoney.whyisthat? GordonScheifele:Wellhempisexpensivetogrow,it sahighfertilitycrop,it sanew cropandithastocompetewithconventionalestablishedcropsthatarebeinggrown inthearea.soithastocompeteforfirstqualitysoilandit ssuchadelicatecropto growforprofitthatyoucanhaveacropandbeexcitedaboutitbutitwon tbea cropadequatetobeprofitablenecessarily. And so to grow a profitable crop, a first class crop that s the difference and that s where experience and management comes in to identify those areas that require thatspecialattentionsothatyoucanhaveaprofitablecrop,verycore,basiccoreis having the right genetics to have a variety that is adapted and will perform economicallyprofitableandthat stheotherrequirementusuallyinthefirstcouple 2011PaulBenhaimandDionnePayn Page3of9

4 ofyearsthathasnotbeenestablishedyet.soyou reexperimentingwithallkindsof existingcommercialvarietiesfromotherareasthathavebeengrowinghemp. AndmostoftheEuropeanproductionisintheNorthernEuropean,northofthe48 th latitudesothey reveryearlyvarieties.andinontariowe rearoundthe42 nd latitude and require much later varieties than are normally grown in Europe. So we had to startabreedingprogramanddevelopourownvarietiesandthat syoursituationin Australia. DionnePayn:YesI veheardthattooactually.sogoingbacktotheflipsideofyou ll losemoneyinthefirstcoupleofyears.onceyouaresuccessfulandonceyouhave yourgeneticsworkedout,whatsortoflevelofprofitabilitycouldsomebodyexpecta coupleofyearsdowntheroad? Gordon Scheifele: Well we feel that we are today in Ontario for grain production thatafarmershouldbeabletomakeanetfieldprofitof$ thatshouldbe viable.thenetprofitthat spayingforlandrentalandalloftheexpensesinvolvedin growingandthat sforgrain.forfibrewe renottoosureyetbecausewestilldon t haveafibreindustryandaren tgrowingthecropexclusivelyforfibre. DionnePayn:Andjusttogetabittechnicalnow,inthevarietiesthatyouhaveinthe breedingprogramincanada,howmanyseedsdoyougetperkilogram? Gordon Scheifele: Ok the seeds per kilogram, the measurement we use is 1000 seedsper18grams,that sthedensity.sothemeasurementthatyou reaskingforis adensitymeasurementandusuallyalargehempseedfallsinthatrangeof18grams per1000seedsormore.wehavesomeseedsthatweigh20gramsper1000seeds but we want large seeds to facilitate processing. One of the big markets for hemp grainisthede hulledhempseedandde hullingwewantlargeseedsforde hulling toavoidasmuchwasteaspossible. Dionne Payn: And Gordon what type of varieties do you have over there at the moment? Gordon Scheifele: Varieties? Well the varieties that we have are developed in Ontario through the Ontario Hemp Alliance. Our full season variety is for southern Ontario,roundthe42 nd latitude.andankaisoneit smonoecious,itsdualpurpose bothfibreandgrainandproduceshighqualityfibreaswellashighqualitygrain.we have Carmen which is a strictly fibre variety. We have 3 new grain varieties being introducedutah,yvonneandhydronare3grainvarieties.hydronisdioeciousand the others are monoecious. We have focussed primarily on monoecious which is whatthehempindustryineuropeisfocussedon. Forthemonoeciousalltheplantsarefemaleinnature,themaleandfemaleflowers areonthesameplantsowewantprimarilyfemaleplantswithsomemaleflowers. Andsoalltheplantsareatthesamestageofmaturitywehaveasuniformacropas 2011PaulBenhaimandDionnePayn Page4of9

5 possiblegeneticallyforbothgrainmaturityaswellasforfibrequality.sothat swhy wearefocussingonmonoeciousandthenofcoursetheotheressentialincanadais lowthcandourvarietiesareconsistentlylessthan0.1%thclevels. DionnePayn:Okandintermsofgerminationrates,whattypeofgerminationrates areyougetting? Gordon Scheifele: That has been challenging for a while. We were struggling with whatweconsideredtobeunacceptablelowgerminationlevelsof60 70%andinthe last2yearswehaveincreaseditto85 90%germinationinjustalteringamethodof handling the grain from the combine to drying it. So the method of drying has changed and the way we handle it from the combine so we re getting now very acceptablehighlevelsofgermination. DionnePayn:Great.Andhowfarapartdoyouplanttheplantandtherows? GordonScheifele:Theplantingmethodologyiswehavebeenusingtheconventional graindrillthatthefarmerusestoplantgrainsotherowsare7 7½inchesapartand solid seeding and so the seeds are dropped roughly 1 1 ½ inches apart and at the rateofabout25poundsofseedperacre.sothere s2½acresinahectareandthe differencebetweenapoundandkilogramsoitsalmostthesame25kgperhectareis pretty close to the seeding rate. But we call it solid seeding, 7 ½ inch rows. The objectivethereiswedonotuseherbicides,wedonothaveanyherbicidesthatare registeredandwemusthaveaplantcanopythatchokesouttheweedssotogetthe densecanopyforweedcontrolthat swhatwegoto. DionnePayn:Arethereanypeststoindustrialhempanddoyouuseanypesticides? GordonScheifele:Nowehavenothingregistered.Andwehaven'ttodateanyreal significantdiseaseandpestsonhemp.thereareandweidentifythemregularlybut nothinghasbeenperformancelimitating. DionnePayn:Okandintermsofharvesting,whatmachinerydoyouusetoharvest thecrop? Gordon Scheifele: Harvesting is one of the more challenging areas where the crop clearlyidentifiesitselfasunique.anduptothispointplantingisnothingexceptional otherthanit sveryimportanttohavegooduniformseedingdepth,shallowseeding soyougetveryuniformemergenceagainalladdressingagoodsolidcanopystand in forweedcontrol. Whenitcomestoharvesting,ifyouwanttoharvestforgrainyoumustobviouslygo to something that can combine, thresh the grain and conventional combines will workandthisiswhereagainwhenseveralfarmersworktogetherinanareaaregion wheretheycancommutebackandforthandworktogether. 2011PaulBenhaimandDionnePayn Page5of9

6 Onecombinecanbesetuptodotheharvestingbyhavingsomemodificationsmade. Usually the best fit combine models are John Deer, the larger models 9500, 9550, 9600modelsofJohnDeercombinealargecapacityandsomeminormodifications and the head should be a draper head which is also unique. I don t know how prevalent they are in the grain industry in Australia, they are quite prevalent and popularincanada.butadraperheadshouldbeseriouslyconsideredaspartofthe machinery.sothereyougoforharvestinggrainwithpropersettings. Afterthegrainisharvestedthentheremainingstrawinthefieldcanbeharvested for fibre, usually a haybine used for cutting hay with a sickle bar or a discbine will worktoswaththestrawintoswathes.theyaredriedandthenconventionallarge roundbalerusedtopackagethestrawintolargeroundbales. DionnePayn:AndGordonyoumentionedthatitwaschallenging,what schallenging abouttheharvestingprocess? GordonScheifele:Wellhempishemp,ithasamindofitsown,there snoothercrop likeit.itsfibre,thebastfibreandthereissomedaysithasamindwhereitjustwon t let you harvest at all. It would just wrap, wrap, wrap and give you nothing but headache. And then another day, tomorrow it might work fine, it s very temperamental and the big thing is to respect that it doesn t tear, the straw does not tear but it wraps. So anything in the equipment that would lend itself to wrappingiswhereyouhavetogiveattentiontoforadditionalprotection. DionnePayn:Andthefarmersthatyouworkwith,howbigaretheirhempfieldson average? GordonScheifele:InOntarioourhempfieldsarerelativelysmallbecauseeverything isonasmallerscale.wehaveaminimumof10acresorasmuchas50or60acresor 100acresiftheindustryislargeenough.ButinManitobatheywillbedoingitwith large acreage a 1000 acres or larger like sections. So it varies very much on the agriculturalcommunityandthereissomeareasincanadawhereyouknow10acres arefairlylargebutaccordingtotheregulationstheminimumis10.anditjustgoes uptherelargerandlargeritdependsentirelyonthesituationandonthemarketand theindustrywhereit sat. DionnePayn:Intermsofpreparingthecroponceitsbeenharvested,you vetalked aboutdrying,cuttingandbaling,doesthecrophavetobecleanedaswell,doesthe strawhavetobecleaned? GordonScheifele:Thestrawinthefielditwillbetettedorrakedacoupleoftimes anditisessentialtogetridoftheleaves,thefoliageandthedebristhatwillshatter outbyitself.sothatbythetimeyou rereadyforbalingjustthestrawprettywellwill bebaledanditisdryanditisessentialatthistimetorecognizethatthestemsare dryandhavebeenbrokenfromgoingthroughacombineandthengoingthrougha haybinecuttingandhavingbeenrakedacoupleoftimesandthecentrecoreofthe 2011PaulBenhaimandDionnePayn Page6of9

7 stem, the core material will shatter very readily so you want to avoid aggressive handlingofthestrawatbalingtimetolimitasmuchshatteringofthecorematerial aspossiblebecauseithasrealmarketvalue.andusuallyineuropeandinenglandis thefirstmarkettopayoffthecostoftheprocessingofthefibreisthecorehasthe first market. And in those countries it s for the horse bedding, animal bedding. So that swhatneedstobedonethere. Forgrainwetakeitfromthecombineandwehave,ifwe vehadfieldsthatarevery, veryweedy,wehavecleanedtheseedoutinthefieldbeforewehavedriedit,we haveconventionalgraincleanersthatcanbeusedinthefield.ontheotherhandif it snormalwewilljusttakeitfromthecombineanddryitandthenstoreitdryit until its ready to be processed. When it s processed it s cleaned to meet the standardrequirementsforcleangrain. DionnePayn:Andwhodoyousellthegrainto? Gordon Scheifele: Well the market for the grain is for the food industry and there hastobesomebodyprocessingthegraininthefoodindustry,processingitrefersto usually the main processing is extracting the oil so having to have a setup with a Kometpressorsomeothercoldpresstoextracttheoilandthennowyouhave2 products, oil and meal. And the meal can go into the food industry as non gluten flour,theoilintofoodindustry,cosmeticindustry,hairindustry,younameit. Theotherprocessingisde hullingtheseed,takingtheshelloffandthenmarketing thehempflesh,wecallithempnutsorthere savarietyofothernamesinthefood market.butit sthehempfleshlikede hulledpeanutsorde hullednutandtheyare very, very delicate and sought after in the food market. Also the de hulled hemp seedisprocessedfurtherintohempmilk,soasanondairybasedproduct. DionnePayn:Italwaysamazesmehowmanydifferentproductsyoucangetfrom onesmallseed. Gordon Scheifele: Well yeah as I have said repeatedly many times its God s most incrediblecreationformankindbecausethegrainisnotonlyflexibleinbeingableto be used for so many different products its one of the most nutritionally balanced grainsinthefoodmarketavailableformankind.withregardtoomega3andomega 6fattyacidsandtheninproteinandithasaverydelightfulnuttyflavour. Sothat sonthegrainsideandwehaven tevenaddressedthelivestockindustry.we haven taddressedthecommercialindustry,manufacturingindustrywiththegrain. Butthenthefibreonthefibresideisalsosouniqueandthemostuniquefibrethat we have in the natural plant fibre. So it can be applied to just so many different applicationsinourcurrentindustrythatit sphenomenal. DionnePayn:AretheremanyprocessingcompaniesinCanada? 2011PaulBenhaimandDionnePayn Page7of9

8 GordonScheifele:WehaveseverallargegrainprocessingcompaniesinCanadaand in1998ihavetosaythatouraspirationandexpectationwasthattheindustrywould takeoffforfibreandthatwasourexpectationinthefirstcoupleofyears.however we had no infrastructure for fibre and the technology had to be modified being brought from Europe because our industry in North America is so different than Europeanindustryandtheeconomics.Sothefoodindustry,thegrainindustrytook offasagrowingmarketandtodaywehaveseveralverylargefoodgrainindustries thataremarketinggloballyandiknowsomeofthemhavemadetheirpresencein Australia.Butinthefibremarketwe restillemerging,we restilldeveloping. DionnePayn:Andisthatdevelopingtheprocessingmachineryorthecapabilityto beabletogrowenoughfibretomakeiteconomicallyviable? GordonScheifele:Itsduetoprocessingmachinery,developingtheprocessingplant. Dionne Payn: And Gordon we re almost at the end of the interview so I ve got a coupleofmorequestions.butijustwondered,inthenext5to10yearswhatdoyou hopetoseeinthehempindustryincanada? GordonScheifele:Wellit smyaspirationandmydevotiontotheindustrytoseeit beinggloballylaunchedasaviableindustrygloballyinthenext10yearsandtohave theamericanonbaseformanufacturingandproduction,haveaustraliaonbaseand having South America on base, that s my aspiration. And it baffles me that these countriesthatimentionedarejustnotmovingalongbutsobeit.everyonehasto learntoworktogetherandithinkthatwasoneofthekeysuccessesincanadawas workingtogetherwiththegovernmenttogettheregulatorysysteminplace.noone groupcanmarchforwardontheirown.ithastobeacountrywideefforttoconvince thegovernmentit sworthwhile. DionnePayn:AndGordonfinallyifourlistenerswantedtogetincontactwithyou, howwouldbethebestwayforthemtodothat? Gordon Scheifele: By , is certainly the easiest and the friendliest and telephoneasweare,but istheeasiest.andforspecialoccasionswecan,by telephone. DionnePayn:Andwhatwouldbethebest addresstogetyouon? GordonScheifele:TheonethatIhavelistedIjusthaveoneandit sappropriateto givemy address? DionnePayn:Yeahabsolutely,ifyouwantto. GordonScheifele:gscheifele@rogers.com 2011PaulBenhaimandDionnePayn Page8of9

9 Dionne Payn: Alright well Gordon thank you so much for your time, thank you for suchanenlighteninginterviewandi msurethatthelistenersaregoingtogetalot outofthecall. GordonScheifele:Wellyou rewelcome. 2011PaulBenhaimandDionnePayn Page9of9