It's been 20 years since the commercial production of industrial hemp was legalized in Canada.

That fact was being celebrated in Winnipeg this week at the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance's national convention.

Executive Director Ted Haney explained how the industry has changed since the Cannabis Act came into effect on October 17th, 2018.

"The new Cannabis Act has allowed a streamlined process for licensing and regulation for the production, the growing of industrial hemp," he said. "No more requirement to go through a criminal background check to grow hemp. Production licenses are now issued for five years instead of annually. Export permits are good for three months rather than a very short 15-day period. We're getting through the process of normalization of regulation."

Haney says the biggest change in regulation is the industry now has the ability to harvest the flowering materials from the hemp plant and extract CBD (Cannabidiol) from that product.

With the break down in regulatory barriers, Haney is hoping to see more hemp used in the food industry, with extra revenue streams flowing in from areas such as fibre and livestock feed.

In 2017, there were about 138,000 acres of hemp grown in Canada.