Hemp is not a new crop in Manitoba. The February, 1929 issue of The Scoop Shovel, which later became the Manitoba Co-operator, featured an advertisement for rope made from Manitoba-grown hemp by the Manitoba Cordage Co. in Portage. Another local product advertised was Kirchner’s seeder plow, which “plows, sows and covers the seed,” with claimed yield benefits of five to 15 bushels per acre. Massey Harris advertised three implements for weed destruction, and a news item reported on U.S. dairy organizations attempting to have a law amended to prevent oleomargarine as being advertised as butter.