After three years of trials, the University of Saskatchewan plant sciences department is harvesting its first crop of ceremonial tobacco.
The tobacco, grown in a rooftop garden will be presented to elders attending events at the U of S.
Grant Wood, an assistant professor in the department who was involved in the project, said he’s happy the university will be able to offer the garden-grown tobacco instead of store-bought varieties.
"It's kind of weird that you know to show respect to an elder you give him a pack of smokes, or her a pack of smokes. it just doesn't seem [as] respectful to me versus tobacco that we grew, locally grew we grew with respect for the plant for the land itself and we're presenting that,” said Wood.
Test batches of a more common variety of smoking tobacco were grown over a three year period before this year’s more traditional crop of nicotiana rustica seeds was successfully cultivated, Wood said.
Wood said the college has also shared the tobacco plants with five Saskatchewan First Nations and hopes to share more so communities can grow the traditional plant locally.
