b'HEMP4/19: FOR JAN SLASKI, April 19, 2021, will forever be the day that changed the hemp industry in Canada for the better.It was that day Health Canada released its updated list of A Red-Letterapproved hemp cultivars, and the new additions are significant.Its a game changer. For years farmers have been able to grow hemp for food and cosmetics and fibre, but these other Day for Hemp opportunities have been missing. Its really the dawn of a new era for us, explains Slaski, principal researcher at InnoTech Alberta. That other opportunity, of course, is cannabidiol (CBD) production.For nearly 20 years, Slaski has been leading research aimed With its latest list of approved cultivars,at introduction and breeding of hemp varieties which suit the Health Canada has opened the door toneeds of the fibre and food industries on the Prairies. Now, his breeding program is able to work in a space that holds much a new era in hemp. promise for breeders, growers, seed companies, patients, recreational cannabis users and more.The CBD market is exploding in Canada. A 2020 report conducted by the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy at the University of Ottawa estimated the CBD market in Canada at $1.9 billion.Hemp plants, which are a different strain of cannabis, can produce CBD without a high delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content. Cannabis containing 0.3 per cent or less of THC is considered hemp in Canada.Now, the Canadian hemp industry has access to varieties which produce as much as 14 per cent CBD, many times higher than the varieties they previously had to work with, which were in the two per cent range.This is extremely important because now, finally, we can fully take advantage of what is a multipurpose crop, Slaski says.Cannabinoid CrazeSince the new Health Canada list was issued on April 19, Alberta-based Tritium3H announced two major deals which will allow them to bring significant new CBD genetics to the Canadian market.52seed.ab.ca'