Canadian farmers will be allowed to grow industrial hemp for the first time in 60 years. Health Minister Allan Rock made the announcement on Thursday at the annual meeting of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.

Rock said his staff is working to ensure farmers will be able to get licences quickly and in time to plant seeds this spring.

Hemp has been banned in Canada since 1938 because it is related to marijuana and contains small quantities of the same psychoactive ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol or THC.

Industrial hemp must have less than .3 per cent THC, which means it has no recreational value.