b"Hemp in the Rotation?Several investigations in New Brunswick are looking at the suitability of this crop for the region.BY: TREENA HEIN POTATO FARMERS ARE always keen to include lucrative new crops in thevarious end uses is available or feasible within the potato-growing areas of New rotation, and various groups in New Brunswick are currently looking into theBrunswick.suitability of hemp.About 1,200 acres of hemp were grown in New Brunswick last year. Claude Ber-To start examining that possibility and all other economic growth opportunitiestheleme, director of the provinces crop sector development branch, notes European related to hemp, the leaders at the New Brunswick Department of Agriculture,corn borer was already identified in one hemp field grown outside the potato belt Aquaculture and Fisheries put out a request for proposals (RFP), explains Kevinthis year, which is a pest that can affect potatoes. There are not many registered McCully, the departments provincial director of agriculture.crop protection products for hemp, but he says more are projected to be registered We awarded the contract in December 2018 to a Quebec-based firm calledas hemp acreage throughout Canada increases. Expansion Strategies, he explains. As indicated in the RFP, by July [2019] thisDavid Joly, an assistant professor in the Department of Biology at the University firm will complete an asset inventory, a scan of funding possibilities, market scan,of Moncton, says as far as he knows, most hemp producers in the province dont infrastructure needs assessment, investment strategy, SWOT analysis, operation- spray anything on the crop. He is currently surveying fields planted by various al plan, and a scan of the regulatory and policy environment related to hemp. producers to see what diseases and pests are present. Whether hemp is a good fit in the potato rotation will depend on many factors,A team of research scientists at Agriculture and Agri-food Canada in Frederic-says McCully. This includes whether pesticide residues from applications onton are in the very early stages of studying hemp in the potato rotation. BioNB, a potatoes or other rotational crops the year before are a concern in the end productbioscience authority in New Brunswick, is also involved with a firm in conducting (e.g. CBD; more on that later), whether there are any common disease or pesta research trial related to hemp in the potato context this year, but project officer issues, and whether the infrastructure required for the processing of the potentialJennifer O'Donnell says further details are not available at this time.A hemp field in Carleton County, N.B.PHOTO: RETER SCOTT8 SPUDSMART.COM WINTER 2020"