b'CANNABIS CHRONICLESMobile Hemp Decortication is a Thing NowWith a new market in the United States, an Alberta-based hemp fiber manufacturer has ushered in an era of hemp fiber processing technology.Marc ZienkiewiczA LONG-TIMEhemp processing challenge in Canada is being solved by an Alberta-based company that manufactures building materials made from industrial hemp, with benefits for customers in the United States.Natural Fibre Technologies (NFT), based in Edmonton, Alta., has launched several mobile decorticators, helping to make hemp decortication easier and more economical.The decorticators are leased to hemp growers in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, who use them to separate the hemp hurd from fiber to make building materials like blocks, mats and boards by NFT. A lack of hemp decortication plants in Canada has resulted in a major supply chain gap, says NFT founder TamratIf you have a central operation, you Tekle. He says the mobile decorticatorsreally need to get all your material within are beginning to change that. a 75- to 100-kilometer radius, because Weve had to hold off on scaling upthe economics of delivery are very costly, our value-add business because therehe says.had been nowhere to get the material,The mobile decorticators can process and we need to make our products, heup to two tonnes of hemp stalks per hour, says. We have to establish that supplymeaning NFT can capitalize on the Hemp is increasingly being used to create chain. Making the decortication processburgeoning market for hemp products.fiber panels, fiber-reinforced cement, mobile is a game-changer. The recent passage of the United Statesstructural insulated panels, engineered Between 2016 and 2019, NFT wasFarm Bill means hemp is now legal in thefiber mats and fiber-plastic composites.involved in buildinga commercial United States, and markets are opening decortication plant Nisku, Alberta, Canadaup down south.in partnership with another company.Tekle adds that as the market takes Concurrently, the management wasoff, ripple effects could occur through-engaged in a strategic review on theout the ag industry, including the hemp viability of decentralized primary break- breeding side. Right now, NFT does down (decortication) business model innot have any preferred varieties, but he line with the future growth of the business.expects that to change with growth and This resulted in the fabrication of a mobilethe advent of hemp bred for stronger decorticator.fiber strength and better usability.SW36/ SEEDWORLD.COMJANUARY 2022'