In late 1993 farmer Joe Strobel and engineer Geof Kime, formed Hempline, Inc., and applied to the Canadian federal government for a license to grow industrial grade cannabis sativa. Until this point no Canadian farmer had grown hemp for fibre -legally or illegally- for several decades. This is Joe Strobel's description of how the application process went and the result of the planting. The following is an only slightly-edited speech by Tillsonburg farmer Joe Strobel to the Canadian Hemp Association Toronto seminar in early September 1994. -Ed