Canada’s industrial hemp plants produce sharply lower amounts of cannabidiol than those grown in the United States, and though the Cannabis Act has opened a new revenue stream for growers and processors here, those seeking to significantly feed the soaring CBD demand must wait as scientists race to develop new varietals of the crop that has primarily been used for food and fiber.
“It’s a race right now. Pretty much every breeder here in Canada is selecting toward higher levels of CBD. We are cross breeding with existing varieties,” said Jan Slaski, senior researcher for InnoTech Alberta who has worked with hemp for 16 years.
“It’s not absolutely impossible that in a year or two we’ll have varieties registered for commercial production of elevated CBD levels.”
CBD is a non-psychoactive compound found the flowers and leaves of hemp plants that has garnered attention for its medical and health benefits, and this was the first year that Canadian farmers were permitted to sell these parts to CBD processors. Previously, these bits had to be left to decompose on the farm after other parts of the crop were harvested for food and fiber.
So this year the country could potentially produce 1,950 tonnes of CBD from hemp, Mr. Slaski said, making a hypothetical calculation using last year’s industrial hemp acreage of more than 100,000 acres. This could increase up to 30,000 tonnes annually in the “foreseeable future” as new plant varieties high in CBD are expected to be developed, he said.
Other countries, such as the United States and China, are also cashing in on CBD extracted from hemp.
Sales are soaring in China, where hemp-derived CBD accounted for US$53-million in sales in 2017 and is forecast to more than quadruple to US$228-million by 2020, according to New Frontier Data, which pegs China’s hemp sales at US$1.1-billion, roughly a third of the US$3.1-billion global market.
The United States farms hemp varietals that are not grown in Canada and these can contain CBD levels of 10 per cent or more, while the ones in Canada produce around 1.5 per cent to 4 per cent, said Ted Haney, executive director for Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance in Calgary.
One of the challenges is that the hemp plant’s THC levels must not exceed 0.3 per cent in accordance to Health Canada’s rules.
Canadian hemp varietals are low in CBD because, up until now, the focus has been on food and fiber production, and plants high in CBD create a sticky substance that hinders the harvest, said Haney.
“Canadian cultivars are today optimized for food production. There has been no particular investment since 1998 in breeding or developing cultivars that have high CBD,” Mr. Haney said, adding that previously there was not a high revenue stream for CBD.
“So this year, the first year, everybody’s taking a look at the cannabidiol content.”
Breeding programs that are expected to take place over the next few years will mean Canadian hemp farmers will have the choice to buy seed varieties that are optimized for food, food and fiber, and fiber and CBD, Haney said.
“Food will remain the main product for the hemp crop in Canada with a very strong new revenue stream produced by CBD and increasing revenues also produced from processed hemp fiber. That’s going to be increasing by the increased number of acres being produced,” Mr. Haney said.