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Announcing a hemp building project at Kiza Park starting May 11th

Kiza Park is located 3 miles north of Manderson SD, on BIA 33, near Wounded Knee, on the Pine Ridge Reservation. A hempcrete building project/workshop will be conducted at this site from May 11th through June 15th, supervised by American Limetec. We're calling this project Maka Akan Wicoti (Community Upon The Earth), or Eco-Wicoti.

Members Links
Spirit Stream and NuHemp are offering 15% discount to all internet customers.

2007 ONTARIO HEMP ALLIANCE ACTIVITY REPORT
Please have a look at this report. It indicates what your association has been doing and the important projects that your membership fees and involvement are supporting.

Ontario Hemp Alliance Annual Meeting
2008
Was held March 7, 2008 10:00am - 3:00pm
Woodstock, Ontario

The latest of note is a phone conversation I had today with Ross Fair, professor of History at Ryerson College (university?) in Toronto. He is a friend of John Baker of Stonehedge (who was a main focusing person for Elorin and the BioFibres Symposium in August). John's work with old "feral" hemp seeds led him to learn some of the history of hemp in his home area-----' .

Next, a link to a biography of one John Covert who,
'----- In an effort to break free of what he considered Upper Canada's single-minded dependence on wheat production, took up the cultivation and processing of hemp.-----'
http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=37455&query=%93John%20AND%20Covert%94

And in a similar vein, a link to a referance to Charles Frederick Grece who,
'-----immigrated to Montreal in the autumn of 1805 as part of a costly but fruitless endeavour by the imperial and colonial governments to launch the cultivation of hemp in Lower Canada at the turn of the 19th century. Various factors underlay this interest: a growing scarcity of supplies from Europe because of war and the continental blockade, the British navy's urgent need of hemp for rope, and the necessity to diversify agricultural production in Lower Canada so that it would fit the Atlantic market economy better-----'
http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=37536&query=Charles%20AND%20Frederick%20AND%20Grece

Farmers and prospective farmers, you've been looking for a place to start....

Next.....Cost of Production from an OHA member (with some editorial modifications) providing an example of costs and potential returns. A rough guideline only - modify to fit your situation. For example, cost of land varies greatly; licensing and testing fees don't increase as field size increases; fertilizer costs may be higher; etc., etc.

The International BioFibres Symposium in Kingston, Ontario on Wednesday/Thursday (15/16 August, '07) was a great success.

Attendees were given an up-to-date overview and details of the present state of industrial hemp in Canada and Europe.

Sponsored by the Ontario Hemp Alliance. Stonehedge BioResources, ELORIN (Eastern Lake Ontario Regional Innovations Network) and several others, it drew over 100 people from the worlds of hemp, agrology, processing and industry. 25% were from out of province, while 10% were from out of country.

Member Grant Moorcroft and The Premier's Awared 2007
Grant Moorecroft has been recognized and awarded the PREMIER'S AWARD FOR AGRI-FOOD INNOVATION EXCELLENCE. The five-year, $2.5-million Premier's Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence, announced as part of the 2006 provincial budget, recognizes that farmers have always been innovative in the running of their businesses and will foster even greater innovation across the province's agri-food sector. Fifty-five regional awards, valued at $5,000 each, will be presented. Congratulations Grant for your Innovation and Excellence.

Moorcroft Hemp Farms Hastings County Working with a crop that's easy to grow but challenging to harvest turned farmer Grant Moorcroft into farmer-fabricator. After growing hemp for seven years, the owner of Moorcroft Hemp Farms decided to modify his existing equipment to improve his hemp harvest. Now he is running trials on a new fibre extractor and chopper that, he hopes, will prove to be better and faster. This new equipment would allow Moorcroft to process part of the hemp's fibre and hurd, and provide commercial factories with a better product.

First U.S. Industrial Hemp License Expected in North Dakota.
North Dakota's Agricultural Commissioner has accepted the first application from a farmer for a state industrial hemp license. The license, which is expected to be granted, will go to farmer and North Dakota Assistant House Majority Leader David Monson (R-Osnabrock). Representative Monson operates his farm in Osnabrock, ND and is only 110 miles from the nearest hemp seed processing facility, Hemp Oil Canada, in Ste. Agathe, Manitoba.
Health Canada statistics show that 48,060 acres of industrial hemp were produced in Canada in 2006, while VoteHemp estimates that the total value of hemp products sold in the U.S. is now $270 million annually, a market in which US farmers hope to be allowed to compete.
(VoteHemp, January 15, 2007, http://www.votehemp.com/PR/01-15-07_nd_farmer.html)

Better Farming
The Business Magazine for Ontario Agriculture
Interesting article for those contemplating hemp farming.
Go to www.betterfarming.com and click the link   Hemp - Ontario's new 'wonder crop'

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