Hemp Research Explores Retting and End Processes

Farming Smarter’s latest study into hemp goes beyond growing practices to explore retting techniques to prepare the crop for processing.

Burdened by a wide range of environmental conditions and management options, growers can be inundated with decisions.

Together with SARDA Ag Research and InnoTech AB, this project aims to understand the best choices in a given scenario to achieve best yields. It explores fall field retting, an augmented retting, and winter retting and their effects on fiber quality. Additionally, it evaluates seeding rates and harvest timings to help growers make informed decisions with their crops.

To process hemp, it must first be retted to soften the fibers. Typically, growers leave the crop in the field for a couple months after swathing. Fall weather can put pressure on growers to expedite this process. This project hopes to inform these growers which option is the best for them.

Our augmented fall field retting trial will see teams spraying a microorganism on the crop to promote the retting process. This process stands to help growers hasten field work before an autumn rain or chill settles in. If weather interrupts operations between swathing the hemp and baling, overwinter retting could provide similar benefits come spring.

Winter retting observes the retting process if allowed to occur throughout winter, with the hemp being gathered in spring. The opportunity to try this practice gives the team one more reason to be excited for spring.

Other treatments in this trial include low vs. high seeding rates (200 seeds/m2 vs 450 seeds/m2), along with an early and late harvest timing. Harvest will be completed at early flowering (early) and at physiological maturity (late).

Growing pains growing hemp

Our team is excited for the opportunity to explore this new research. While they have an idea of what to expect, they’re looking to answer unfamiliar questions.

“We’ve always taken yield data, cut biomass sections, and checked tonnage with wet and dry weights, but we’ve never focused on the retting process before,” says Michael Gretzinger, Agronomy Research Team Lead and Coordinator at Farming Smarter.

Field operations were familiar and straight-forward for the summer team, however the first harvest timing arrived faster than they anticipated. These minor growing pains helped the team establish better plans to accommodate future years in their late-season workflow.

“Watching hemp week-to-week was a new experience for us. In the throes of wrapping up the summer student’s work, we realized we had to rush out and harvest the first timing,” Carlo Van Herk, Field Operations Lead at Farming Smarter, recalls with a laugh.

Teamwork makes the dream work

While the aim is to provide growers in southern Alberta with information, processing plants are elsewhere in the province. These plants have local growers who supply them with hemp as well, and data collected by SARDA Ag Research and InnoTech AB will provide these growers with local information to assist them as well.

“We wanted a real world representation for the producers,” says Gretzinger. “Our environment is much different than central Alberta, especially in the Peace region. If there is an environmental factor like drought or specific weeds, their research will better reflect the responses growers will see compared to ours.”

These partners are key to advancing hemp’s role as a crop in Alberta. They bring decades of growing experience and equipment expertise, which is vital in conducting effective research. Farming Smarter has worked with both researchers to study hemp for the past decade, most recently on Hemp Herbicide options.

Bookmark the Hemp Retting project page to follow spring updates!