Vanclief's Ag Vision

[countryguy]

Vanclief was in Brandon yesterday and brought some pocket change to a few groups.I didn't quite hear all the details but the groups that received money were the U of M for pharmicutical research,the Manitoba organic growers,some group having something to do with pork production,and some other group having to do with beef production.It looks like these might be the areas of agriculture that have a future in Canada.

[cowman]

He should have given some money to the marijuana growers or some for magic mushroom research, as this is where agriculture really shines!!! There was an article in the western producer about how dope was the third biggest agricultural crop in Ontario! Right behind beef and dairy...ahead of pork and poultry!!!
In B.C. it was the number one crop!
Now think about it. A young farmer can get started cheap, make more money than all the factory farms around, and you only need a small acreage! Or green house! And if you get caught you get a vacation to club Fed and a chance to make some new business aquaintences! What do they call it...networking?
I mean the profits must be phenominal if it is the third biggest product in Ontario!
The old boys in the government must be wracking their brains trying to figure out how to make it legal so they can get in there and steal the profits through taxation. Of course once they got their dirty hands in the whole thing would become a disaster. I do believe the dope business might be the last free enterprize business in Canada!

[rodbradshaw]

Cowman
I jokingly refer to it as a security crop. If you get it grown and sold your secure and if not the government will keep you.
Rod

[Deb]

If gov't legalized it they could get a pile of taxes and regulate it like the liquor boards and then organized crime wouldn't have a black market anymore. Besides marijuana causes waaaay less trouble than alcohol does.

I think most farmers should stick to hemp though, so their fields don't get raided as much. We need a hemp processing plant in every province. Hemp could be used for making paper, too, and that would save some trees for me to hug, right Cowman?

[countryguy]

LOL,now I know what to grow on the back forty this year.If I get caught the gov't can have me.I wouldn't mind an all expenses paid trip to club fed!Don't be surprised if you see a bunch of "happy" elk cruising around this year,they might really take a liking to the stuff,as they do everything else!

[countryguy]

Deb,after fifty trips into the back of my combine and many bruised ribs I think I will stay away from hemp.And this coming from a shareholder in a hemp processing company!

[cowman]

Actually Deb, the government has legalized it after a fashion. If you can get a doctor to sign something saying you are in chronic pain you can legally buy marijuana from a licensed grower.This program is sort of just getting going but I guess if you can convince some doctor you have chronic back pain you are in! The government has licensed a couple of growers I believe. I know a young guy who is an "outlaw producer?" and he tells me that the government dope is not very good. Apparently the active ingredient in marijuana is called TCP or something like that. The government stuff is 6% while modern dope farmers grow 20% or better. It gets quite complicated with different crop strains, cloning, and elaborate hydroponic setups and special ultra-violet lighting. These "outlaw growers" are pretty sophisticated.

[Deb]

Maybe they'd give me some if I just said I WAS a pain in the neck.

Countryguy, tell me more about your experience growing hemp. Did you have to completely modify your combine and it didn't work? A neighbour of mine grew a beaut crop and managed to harvest okay but his bales of hemp sit in a stack by the road. Makes a good windbreak.

[cowman]

Well Deb, if that was all it took I suspect you just might qualify!!

[countryguy]

Deb our first year growing hemp was quite an experience.When it got 6 or 8 feet tall we had a raging wind come through and broke it all down.From where the stems broke it regrew after and was a twisted mess.Harvesting this stuff was a disaster.There were seed heads at many different heights and when you tried to get the lower ones you took in all the twisted stems and they would wrap around the beater in the combine.I learned how to make sentences out of swear words and even invented a few new ones!After the first day I actually wore hockey equipment while combining so I wouldn't get all bruised up when I went into the back.

We didn't have to do too much to the combine.All we did was get a special feeder chain with a belt around it to prevent the chains and shafts in the feeder house from getting wrapped up.It takes a couple hours to convert and then a couple hours to change it back.It also takes a few hours to remove all the fiber from every shaft after you are done harvesting the stuff!

The second year we grew the stuff went much smoother.We grew it on a field surrounded by bush so the wind couldn't get it.I did the whole 65 acres without a glitch.We didn't keep our fibre,just burnt it off so I don't know how the baling proceedure would go.If one was to grow this crop for fibre only it probably wouldn't bee too bad.There is alot of potential for hemp fibre.