Hemp, the wonder crop

Weed control in hemp farming In general, weeds in hemp production are not a really big issue. This is because hemp grows rather fast and if put under the right conditions, hemp covers the ground shade with 90% in 3-4 weeks from planting hereby suppressing almost all the weeds. The key is to plant hemp early as soon as the soil is warm enough for the hemp to grow (Hemp University) Moreover, hemp is even used as a weed killer on fields over a hundred years. “Very few of the common weeds troublesome on the farm can survive the dense shade of a good crop of hemp… In one 4-acre field in Vernon County, Wis., where Canada thistles were very thick, fully 95 per cent of the thistles were killed…” — Lyster Dewey, Hemp. USDA Yearbook of Agriculture, 1913. “Hemp grows quickly, soon covers the ground and chokes out the weeds. So weed control is not necessary.” — Eddy A. A. de Maeyer. 1994 1 Because of the competitiveness of hemp with weeds, the chemical input need for herbicides is also...

Crop rotation There have been several experiments done concerning the use of hemp in crop rotation. And so far, the results have been rather positive. Hemp does not use a lot of nutrients, and thus does not need to be fertilised heavily. This reduces the pressure of the fertilisers on the soil and let it recover. Another advantage of hemp, is that it has a taproot, this penetrates the soil and allows for better aeration and ability to take up water by the soil. The deep penetration of the soil also reduces the presence of nematodes and fungi. Other advantages of using hemp in crop rotation, is the suppression of weeds due to the complete lack of sun, blocked by the high of the plant. In Spain, an experiment on the relation between of crop rotation between hemp and wheat and growth showed an increase of at least 1350 kg in wheat yield if it was planted after hemp. (Ecological benefits of hemp and flax cultivation and products, 2011) Another experiment conducted by Bócsa...

Soils The Agricultural production, is mostly located in the central-west lying against the US border, and the the eastern part of canada at the border to the US See picture below. What is noticible, is that the central-west agriculture, is concentretrated around the only place in Canada where there is Chernozemic soil. The name is Russian for black soil. This soil is high in humus matter and has a lime-rich layer underneath it. It is highly fertile and combined with the southern temperature, the best place to crow crops. Because of the fact that Hemp is from origin a pest, many people believe that it can grow anywhere under any conditions. And this is true until a certain extend, but there are some requirements that a soils needs to have in order for hemp to grow.  Hemp grows best on a loose, well-aerated loamy soil with high fertility and abundant organic matter, with a pH of 6.0-7.5. Well-drained or tiled clay soils can be used, but poorly-drained clay or poorly structured so...

Climate and environmental conditions Canada is the second biggest country after Russia with an area of 9,984,670 sq km (worldtravelguide.net) and with such a huge piece of land, you can expect much variety in climatic conditions. The funny part however, is that most people think of Canada as a yearly round snow covered mountain.And although a big part of Canada is 6-9 months covered with snow, other parts actually provide a nice habitat for humans. This also depends on the kind of people ofcourse, for example, whether you like cold weather and snow for most of the year with temperatures dropping below -25 degrees celcius, or if you prefer a softer climate. For the biggest part, Canada has a continental climate with high varietions depending on the location. On the costal sides, Canada's climate is softer due to the influence of the sea which makes it also more humid. Here, temperatures are gennerally on the lower side of 20 degrees celcius. When you go more inland, the temper...

Transgenic plants, love 'em or hate 'em The question on whether plant should be genetically modified is widely discussed. There are so many advocates on both sides that are completely convinced that what they think is best, that it is quite hard to determine who is right. On all topics where opinions are so divided, it is obvious that both sides have remarkable benefits, or drawbacks. In the case of transgenic plants, the proponents are right to be a big fan, there are many reasons why transgenic plants are viewed as the future of food security. Transgenic plants can be altered to make it a better crop in specific or general situations. Generally, is can be used to be more resistant to pesticides, or can be modified to be more resistant to plagues itself, thus decreasing the need of pesticides. Other more specific situations could include extra nutritional values for a certain target group that is vulnerable to a certain nutrient deficiency. On the other hand, there are m...

Hemp Breeding programs The industry of breeding companies in canada specialized in hemp seed is growing after industrial hemp was re-introduced in Canada in 1998 (hempgenetics, 2014). And so, the breeding of the seeds from European origin began. The Seeds from europe were mainly used for fiber so they were tall plants while the primary focus in Canada was grain production, but later, seeds for fiber, or dual purpose seeds were bred. The breeding mainly focusses on plant height  for fiber, and seed quantity, but also the to make hemp a "farmer friendly crop" (hempgenetics, 2014) Other traits include: - excellent harvestability - acceptable market quality - reliable low THC content - rapid development and multiplication of new improvements - improved herbicide tolerance To obtain preferable traits, non-GMO methods are used (hemptrade, R Crawford). They use advanced biotechnology platforms like – Genomics  – Reverse Genetics  – Molecular (DNA) Markers  ...