Budding potential for grain farmers could come in the form of cannabis oil, but it’s early days yet and the policy framework remains shrouded in a purple haze. “The cannabis thing – we are watching that with interest,” Tobias Doyer, the CEO of industry GRAIN SA/GRAAN SA group, told Daily Maverick at the annual Nampo exhibition near the Free State town of Bothaville.
What is of interest to the grain sector, which is in the food business, after all, is the potential for a cannabis oil seed market. Hemp and cannabis belong to the Cannabis sativa plant family, but the former has far less THC – the stuff that gets you stoned – than the latter. And oil, with a reportedly nutty flavour, can be derived from the seeds.
“A very interesting perspective is that cannabis is also an oil seed. When I looked at it the first time I thought the medical market is difficult for grain farmers,” Doyer said.
“Suddenly we sat up and thought that might be interesting as an alternative oil seed. We have sunflower, soybeans and canola. It might not be that far-fetched.”
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