iHemp Summit

InnoTechAlberta
Expert Researcher, Plant Sciences Bio Industrial Division

Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance
Director

Alberta Hemp Alliance
Director

Dr. Jan J. Slaski is an Expert Researcher with the Bio-Industrial Services Division of InnoTech Alberta, Vegreville, Alberta. He obtained a B.Sc. and a M.Sc. in agronomy from the Warsaw Agricultural University, Poland and Ph.D. from the Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute, Poland. In 1993 he arrived in Canada to continue his study as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta, Edmonton. After successful completion of his university training in 1998, Jan assumed a plant-soil research scientist position at the Alberta Research Council (presently InnoTech Alberta).

 
During the last 20 years Jan has been leading research aimed at introduction and breeding of industrial hemp varieties that suit the needs of industries utilizing fibre, grain and cannabinoids-laden crop parts. Jan has been also leading extensive studies focused on the development of best management practices permitting sustainable hemp production under changing environmental conditions. For over two decades Jan has been working for the hemp industry and with the hemp industry stakeholders to make this crop a viable and profitable cropping option for Alberta. To fully realize the potential residing within industrial hemp and to assure whole crop utilization, Jan has assembled at InnoTech Alberta a program offering solutions from “Seed to Final Product“ that includes three domains: breeding/agronomy, analyses/processing and product development. He is a very passionate advocate of hemp industry in Province and beyond and a prolific speaker delivering 15-20 hemp presentations a year to various national and international audiences that include the growers, hemp processors, academia, regulators and elected officials, entrepreneurs and general public.

 
Since 2012, Jan has been serving the hemp industry as a director of the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance and since June 2021, as a director of research and academia on the Alberta Hemp Alliance board. In 2003 for his contribution to agricultural industry in the Province, Jan received a Distinguished Agrologist Award from the Alberta Institute of Agrology. In 2022, Jan’s outstanding contribution to the development of the Canadian hemp industry was recognized in the form of Dr. Ernest Small Industry Leadership Award conferred by the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance and The Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Medal granted by the Province of Alberta.