b'McKay says most of these populations are grown hor- The breeding project was a multi-year endeavour that ticultural style.stumbled upon a strain of hemp that lacks genes useful Feminized seed induction requires quite a bit morefor THC and CBD synthesis, which is how the THC labor, McKay says. Therefore, the seed costs are higherbecomes undetectable. than other ways of making seed. For large scale produc- While we dont know much in terms of the medi-tion and a stable supply chain, such seed costs are notcal benefit of CBG, theres a lot of anecdotal evidence economically viable. If you are producing a hemp cropfor it, and were looking to offer this for clinical trials to for fibre, you would need to be paying dollars a poundCanadians seeking another cannabinoid with its own for seed, not tens of thousands of dollars per pound. medical properties, says Ghossein.By feminizing this product, Ghossein says they can Varieties to Match the Standard maximize the flowers yield, which is beneficial because While problems with feminized hemp seed productionthe CBG is produced in trichromes found in in the flower are just emerging in the U.S., Canada has been workingof the plant and to a lesser extent, the leaves of the plant. on strict regulations to maintain a proper hemp produc- To maximize flower yield for farmers, feminizing tion of CBD.seed ensures that 100 per cent of plants have flower from CSGA, in particular, created a new standard for femin- which cannabinoids can be extracted, he says. The fact ized hemp seed certification.that its non-psychoactive by having flowers that dont We looked at the landscape of demand, and whilehave any THC means that you dont have those side the traditional hemp varieties in Canada had some level ofeffects. You can truly focus more on the health and medi-CBD in them, they had not been bred by plant breeders forcal side.CBD, Scheffel says. This rapidly growing interest in CBDIn comparison, in the U.S., McKay says New West seem to be a potential opportunity for segments of theGenetics currently has a U.S. patent pending on hemp hemp sector to produce the specialized hemp varieties. varieties that produce greater than 50 per cent of female CSGA recognized that the preferred mechanism forplants. The patent was submitted on May 20, 2021, and creating hemp focused on CBD production is throughwhile not considered feminized seed, it is gender feminized hemp seed.skewed. CSGA is mandated by the federal government by legislation and regulations as the seed crop certification body for Canada, so the standards that CSGA establishes are used for the certification of seed crops, he says. Since hemp was legalized in Canada in 1998, weve had hemp seed production procedures in place, but we recog-nized a need to develop specific procedures for feminized hemp seed production.CSGA went through many versions of a guideline doc-ument with the help of an ad hoc working group made up of several plant breeders. The finalized guideline document was used to create the standards and require-ments to ensure companies could produce seed that was true-to-variety and didnt grow into hot crops. Part of the reason we developed these standards was so that Canadian plant breeders and seed growers would have the opportunity to develop these new varieties and grow them in Canada, Scheffel says. If we hadnt devel-oped the standards here in Canada, there was the possibil-ity that they would go ahead and develop them in the U.S., and therefore, U.S. seed would be imported into Canada.One such variety of hemp that was certified using these standards is a variety from Cannabis Orchards.Cannabis Orchards novel variety of feminized hemp seed has a higher level of cannabigerol (CBG). But what makes it novel? The THC is undetectable.HURV19PAN lacks functional enzymes for THC and CBD production, says Jamie Ghossein, CEO of Cannabis Orchards. That was done through careful cross and selective breeding with a partner in Spain, called Hemp Trading, and from the University of Valencia.NOVEMBER 2021 GERMINATION.CA 9'