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Do you even read the news?
All your questions have been answered in multiple news releases.
2500 acres slated for NC, open enrollment for potentially more than 50 lucky real farmers.
Quoting Rep. Larry Yarborough, Republican from Roxboro, NC:
"I represent an agricultural community and I have constituents that want to grow industrial hemp and medical marijuana," he said. "I am certainly not an advocate of legalizing marijuana, but I have constituents that are and farmers that want to grow it."
Facts:
1) Hemp is legal in North Carolina
2) The largest hemp decorticator in the US is located in North Carolina.
3) US hemp sales estimated over $500 million in 2015.
Are you disputing the facts??? HAHAHAHAHA AAHAHAHAAAA
LONG
Already posted source. Look before you leap, but here it is again.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/under-the-dome/article83598742.html#storylink=cpy
Don't u have some kind of earth shattering report? You been hyping it for a while.
Also, you could be providing sources of your own, but all I see is 'blah blah blah'; nothing meaningful to Hemp and the hemp movement.
There is no disputing, brace yourself, hemp is coming.
BUY LONG
It has spiked to new highs over and over. I was there last time and made over a years salary.
What makes you think it won't spike again, this time with a stronger industry AND stronger HEMP?
Something you are afraid to admit?
I'll buy more from VFIN, or whoever is selling, don't doubt it.
LONG
25 states now call marijuana ‘medicine.’ Why doesn’t the DEA?
June 10, 2016 12:01 PM
Gov. John Kasich signed his state’s medical marijuana bill into law Wednesday, making Ohio the 25th state (plus Washington, D.C.) to allow some form of medical marijuana use.
Ohio’s measure is more restrictive than medical marijuana bills in many other states. It does not allow patients to smoke marijuana — they must ingest it orally via edible products, or use a vaporizer. It doesn’t allow patients to grow their own marijuana, and only a handful of conditions, including epilepsy, chronic pain and cancer, qualify for a medical marijuana recommendation.
Medical marijuana advocates had launched a campaign to put a broader medical marijuana bill before voters this fall. But the bill approved by legislature and signed by Gov. Kasich was intended to stave off more permissive ballot measures. And it appears to have been successful: the group pushing for the ballot initiative recently suspended that campaign, calling the legislature’s bill “imperfect” but saying the bill’s passage represented “a joyous day for the thousands of Ohioans who will finally be able to safely access much-needed medicine.
This year has been a symbolically significant year for medical marijuana policy: with the passage of legislation in Pennsylvania and Ohio nearly 175 million Americans — over half of the population — now have access to medical marijuana.
These changes are putting pressure on the federal government to update a decades-old marijuana policy that most experts agree is out of step with current scientific understanding of the drug and its risks and benefits.
The Drug Enforcement Administration has, since the 1970s, classified marijuana under the most highly restrictive category of regulation: Schedule 1, meaning it has “no currently accepted medical use in the United States, a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision, and a high potential for abuse.” Marijuana shares this designation with heroin.
But drug science has come a long way since the 1970s. Researchers now know that marijuana is actually one of the least-addictive mind-altering drugs. Even chronic uses poses few serious risks to physical health.
Most importantly, at least for federal classification purposes, marijuana has been shown to have great promise when it comes to medical use. It’s been shown to be an effective treatment for chronic pain. Given that people with this condition are routinely prescribed powerful painkillers that cause tens of thousands of overdose deaths each year, broader use of medical marijuana in these cases would quite literally save lives.
But neither the research, nor more widespread public acceptance, have so far prompted drug authorities to relax federal restrictions on marijuana. The biggest marijuana-related change at the DEA in the past year was an acknowledgement by the administration’s chief that heroin is in fact more dangerous than marijuana. The DEA Administrator still believes that medical marijuana is “a joke.”
The DEA is currently in the final stages of reviewing a petition to re-schedule marijuana and has told lawmakers it will have a final decision by July. Advocates of medical marijuana reforms say the petition represents a chance to bring the agency more in line with public opinion, scientific consensus, and the lived experience of millions of medical marijuana patients.
Source: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article82885597.html#storylink=cpy
Petition asks DEA to quit treating industrial hemp like marijuana
Eric Mortenson•Capital Press
Published on June 13, 2016 4:59PM
A Portland attorney and a Southern Oregon environmentalist are asking the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to take industrial hemp off the federal government’s list of controlled substances.
The petition, filed June 13, is the latest move by people who believe industrial hemp could be a viable agricultural crop if the federal government didn’t classify it as an illegal drug. They have long contended hemp can be used to make food, medicine, clothing, lotions, construction material, oils and other products.
Some states, Oregon among them, allow licensed hemp cultivation but keep it tightly controlled. The petition notes that 30 other countries allow hemp cultivation, including Canada. The petition letter says state economies, the environment and national security “would greatly benefit from the re-commercialization of industrial hemp in domestic agriculture and manufacturing.”
Industrial hemp is a variety of cannabis, but lacks the THC level that makes pot smokers high.
The petition asks the DEA to declare a cannabis plant is industrial hemp, not marijuana, if its THC level does not exceed 1 percent. THC is the substance that gives users a buzz.
Industrial hemp is low in THC but has higher levels of Cannabidiol, or CBD, which some advocates say can be used to treat seizures.
West Virginia uses the 1 percent THC content level as its hemp definition, while other states, such as Oregon, say THC in hemp cannot exceed 0.3 percent.
The petitioners maintain that keeping the THC limit so low limits the number of cannabis varieties that can be bred and cultivated for traits that may be desirable in certain uses or products.
In an attempt to steer around controversy, the petitioners’ letter to the DEA says they take no position on the legalization or decriminalization of medical or recreational marijuana, or on whether CBD has medical uses.
The petition from Oregon residents is the second to hit the DEA in June. Earlier, the Kentucky Hemp Industries Council filed a petition to remove hemp plants from the Controlled Substances Act.
The chief petitioners are attorney Courtney Moran, of Portland, and Andy Kerr, a figure from Oregon’s spotted owl timber wars who now heads an Ashland conservation entity called the Larch Company. Others among the two dozen co-petitioners include the North American Industrial Hemp Council, Oregon state Rep. Floyd Prozanski of Eugene, and Anndrea Hermann, a Canadian cannabis and hemp technologies consultant who also teaches an industrial hemp course in the College of Forestry’s Wood Science Engineering Department at Oregon State University.
Source: http://www.capitalpress.com/Oregon/20160613/petition-asks-dea-to-quit-treating-industrial-hemp-like-marijuana
NC hemp pilot program calling for 2500 acres statewide. They are clearly serious about this hemp movement.
Good thing the nations largest decorticator is being assembled nearby.
LONG
Back in the 4's. News keeps piling on. Bears can't handle the truth.
LONG
NC House gives tentative approval to hemp pilot program
12:21 PM EDT Jun 14, 2016
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina House has backed a plan paving the way for the state to join 28 others in the burgeoning marketplace for industrial hemp.
The House on Monday gave tentative approval to a bill allowing for state land grant universities to grow industrial hemp through pilot programs. Growers could be charged with a low-level felony for growing marijuana on property designated for hemp.
Industrial hemp is a variety of cannabis with low levels of the psychoactive THC chemical. It has high nutritional value and can be used to make biodegradable plastics, fuels, clothing and rope.
The bill builds on a law passed last year that legalized the crop and created the Industrial Hemp Commission. Federal law opened the door to industrial hemp research in 2014.
Source: http://www.wxii12.com/news/nc-house-gives-tentative-approval-to-hemp-pilot-program/40047866
Alt: http://wnct.com/2016/06/13/house-gives-tentative-approval-to-hemp-pilot-program/
House committee approves industrial hemp research study
by: ANNA GRONEWOLD, Associated Press Updated: Jun 9, 2016 - 1:53 PM
RALEIGH, N.C. —
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) ??? North Carolina lawmakers are pushing a proposal to authorize the cultivation of industrial hemp with the goal of allowing researchers to begin planting next spring.
The House Agriculture Committee approved a bill Thursday allowing for state land grant universities to grow hemp through pilot programs after lawmakers said they felt comfortable it would not increase marijuana manufacturing in the state.
Industrial hemp is a variety of cannabis with low levels of the psychoactive THC chemical. It has high nutritional value and can be used to make biodegradable plastics, fuels, clothing and rope.
Federal law opened the door to industrial hemp research in 2014, and 28 states have since enacted laws for similar research or pilot programs. Last year North Carolina legalized the crop and created the Industrial Hemp Commission.
This year's proposal would expand the commission to nine members and allow selected growers through North Carolina State University and North Carolina A&T State University to maintain plots, conduct seed research and explore the markets for hemp products.
Dr. Ron Heiniger, professor of crop science at North Carolina State University, said the school is eager to facilitate the programs.
"We feel very confident that the land grant universities here in North Carolina, above and beyond all the other land grant universities across the United States, can actually implement this plan in a responsible and productive manner with help to farmers of this state, as well as the citizens, and grow the economy in rural areas," Heineger said.
Rep. Mark Brody, R-Union, assured the committee that hemp grows differently than medical or recreational marijuana plants and would be easily visible to law enforcement. Brody said marijuana growers are unlikely to mix the two because hemp plants can damage the quality and potency of marijuana plants.
Growers could be fined up to $2,500 for growing marijuana on property designated for hemp.
Brody said an industrial hemp crop will promote economic activities and employment opportunities on agricultural land that could otherwise be lost in North Carolina.
"It's going to happen around the country. North Carolina would like to be a leader in that," Brody said.
Source: http://www.wsoctv.com/news/north-carolina/house-committee-approves-industrial-hemp-research-study/332961375
NC House votes to limit initial farming of industrial hemp
June 13, 2016 9:18 PM
The House voted 108-2 to approve additional regulations for aspiring hemp growers.
Lawmakers made industrial hemp a legal crop last year, but a regulatory commission must still be developed before farmers can plant the first seeds.
The bill would add four more people to the five-member Industrial Hemp Commission charged with developing a permitting process for hemp farms. It adds law enforcement to the hemp permitting process, requiring the new commission to notify the State Bureau of Investigation, sheriff’s departments and police about the location of all approved hemp farms. Those agencies would be allowed to inspect hemp operations at any time, and farmers would be required to maintain production records.
An amendment added to the bill Monday night would limit the amount of land that can be used for hemp farming. In the first year of the program, each farmer would be limited to 50 acres of hemp, with a cap of 2,500 acres statewide.
Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/under-the-dome/article83598742.html#storylink=cpy
NC Rep says concerns over links between hemp, marijuana aren't based in science
By Will Doran on Tuesday, June 14th, 2016 at 6:31 p.m.
It may look like marijuana, but hemp cannot get you high. They’re forms of the same species, although hemp has a negligible amount of THC, the high-inducing chemical found in marijuana.
Due to the plant's industrial and and agricultural uses, the General Assembly legalized hemp farming last year.
Yet many lawmakers fear the hemp industry will provide cover for marijuana growing operations, since the two plants look similar. That argument came up again before the N.C. House overwhelmingly passed further regulations on the hemp industry on June 13.
Rep. Larry Yarborough, a Republican from Roxboro, voted for those regulations. But he had previously said the using-hemp-to-hide-marijuana argument is flawed.
If a marijuana plant "gets the pollen (from hemp) and goes to seed, it becomes worthless," Yarborough said in a House Agriculture Committee Meeting a few days before the vote. "The THC goes away."
That’s a pretty sweeping claim that would seem to debunk many concerns. We contacted Yarborough, a chemical engineer and business owner, to ask where he heard that. He backed off the quote a little bit.
"The plant with seed would be worthless in the market," he said. "I don’t know for sure that all the THC would be gone but there would be very little, according to what I have read."
Unlike his original statement, that aligns with mainstream research. We spoke with two professors who have studied hemp in other states, and we read a 2015 report on hemp and marijuana compiled by the federal government.
All came to the same conclusion: Anyone who tries to hide marijuana inside a hemp field isn’t a very smart criminal.
Regulating hemp
The new regulations passed the N.C. House by a vote of 108-3. Next up is a vote in the Senate.
If they become law, they will limit the amount of land hemp can be grown on, require the location of all hemp fields to be disclosed to state and local law enforcement agencies, allow officials to inspect hemp fields at any time and make it a felony to use hemp to hide marijuana.
Yarborough, who represents Granville and Person counties, said he just wanted legislators to know all the facts.
"I represent an agricultural community and I have constituents that want to grow industrial hemp and medical marijuana," he said. "I am certainly not an advocate of legalizing marijuana, but I have constituents that are and farmers that want to grow it."
Why it won’t work
As any experienced marijuana grower will tell you, according to the federal government’s Congressional Research Service, it’s imperative that pollen-producing male plants be kept away from female plants.
(If you thought you could avoid discussion of gender segregation in a fact-check about hemp farming, and not North Carolina’s new bathroom law, we’re sorry to disappoint.)
Pollination creates seeds. The problem is hemp needs seeds to be worthwhile – they can be sold as food or turned into oil – but the opposite is true for marijuana.
"Marijuana growers would not want to plant near a hemp field, since this would result in a harvest that is seedy and lower in THC, and degrade the value of their marijuana crop," the Congressional Research Service paper said.
So people would need to smoke much more of the altered weed in order to get high – if they could still get high off it at all – and the smoking experience would also become much less pleasant.
That’s because of all the extra seeds, which pop when ignited, said Janna Beckerman, a professor of botany and plant pathology at Purdue University.
Legally, hemp can’t contain more than 0.3 percent THC. According to the Purdue Hemp Project that Beckerman is a researcher for, that’s about 60 times weaker than the legal marijuana being sold in Colorado.
And while hemp-pollinated marijuana likely wouldn’t see its THC content drop all the way to hemp’s virtually nonexistant levels, like Yarborough said, Beckerman said it would be drastically reduced.
Oregon State University crop and soil science professor emeritus Russell Karow said growing marijuana in a hemp field would lower the value of the hemp, too, providing further incentives against using the legal crop to hide marijuana.
The Congressional Research Service came to the same conclusion.
"The two crops are the same species and will indeed cross-pollinate," Karow said. "This results in seed that will not be useful for either purpose – hemp or marijuana."
Our ruling
Yarborough said that if you try to hide a marijuana growing operation in a hemp field, "it becomes worthless. The THC goes away."
Cross-pollination of hemp and marijuana will cause marijuana's buds to lose much of their high-inducing THC, but the THC won’t go away entirely. Researchers agree that while the drug won’t become completely impotent, it will lose much or all of its worth and would also likely damage the value of the hemp crop.
We rate this claim Mostly True.
Source: http://www.politifact.com/north-carolina/statements/2016/jun/14/larry-yarborough/fears-marijuana-inspire-more-hemp-regulations-stat/
Marijuana 4/20 Sales Set Record In Washington, Colorado As Cannabis Retail Surges From Legalization
By Clark Mindock @clarkmindock On 06/14/16 AT 9:16 AM
April 20 may one day be akin to the Black Friday of the marijuana industry — that is, if weed shops in America ever have any trouble moving their product during the rest of the year.
Sales of pot on the day — which is celebrated as something of a holiday by enthusiasts of the substance — increased dramatically this year in Colorado and Washington, both of which legalized recreational weed about four years ago, according to MarketWatch. In Colorado, retail sales spiked by more than 50 percent compared with the year before. In Washington, sales nearly doubled this year.
That surge in purchases broke sale records in Colorado, which were last set in September on a tax holiday. Weed sales reached $7.3 million April 20 of this year, up from $6.1 million Sept. 16. Those sales also led to a record-breaking month, with $117 million in sales beating out December, when $101 million worth of marijuana was sold.
Colorado and Washington are two of five states in the United States that have legalized recreational marijuana. They are joined by Alaska and Oregon, as well as the District of Columbia. As many as eight states could soon be added to that list: Massachusetts, Nevada, California, New York, Vermont, Minnesota, Connecticut and Maryland.
Many more states have legalized medical marijuana, which can be used to treat chronic pain, epilepsy and the side effects of cancer treatments. Less than a week ago, Ohio became the 24th state in the union to approve medical pot when former Republican presidential candidate and governor of the state John Kasich signed legislation to that effect into law.
The ballooning number of states with legal marijuana on the books in some form or another have created a huge industry. This year, it was estimated that pot sales in total account for a $5.4 billion industry in the U.S.
Source: http://www.ibtimes.com/marijuana-420-sales-set-record-washington-colorado-cannabis-retail-surges-2381951
New Report Blasts DEA For Spending 4 Decades Obstructing Marijuana Science
06/11/2014 06:53 pm ET | Updated Jun 13, 2014
The Drug Enforcement Administration has been impeding and ignoring the science on marijuana and other drugs for more than four decades, according to a report released this week by the Drug Policy Alliance, a drug policy reform group, and the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a marijuana research organization.
“The DEA is a police and propaganda agency,” Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said Wednesday. “It makes no sense for it to be in charge of federal decisions involving scientific research and medical practice.”
The report alleges that the DEA has repeatedly failed to act in a timely fashion when faced with petitions to reschedule marijuana. The drug is currently classified as Schedule I, which the DEA reserves for the “most dangerous” drugs with “no currently accepted medical use.” Schedule I drugs, which include substances like heroin and LSD, cannot receive federal funding for research. On three separate occasions — in 1973, 1995 and again in 2002 — the DEA took years to make a final decision about a rescheduling petition, and in two of the cases the DEA was sued multiple times to force a decision.
The report criticizes the DEA for overruling its own officials charged with determining how illicit substances should be scheduled. It also criticizes the agency for creating a “regulatory Catch-22” by arguing there is not enough scientific evidence to support rescheduling marijuana while simultaneously impeding the research that would produce such evidence.
A spokesperson at the DEA declined to comment on the report.
The feds have long been accused of only funding marijuana research that focuses on the potential negative effects of the substance, but that trend appears to be changing.
According to The Hill, the National Institute on Drug Abuse has conducted about 30 studies to date on the potential benefits of marijuana. NIDA oversees the cultivation, production and distribution of marijuana grown for research purposes at the University of Mississippi in the only federally legal marijuana garden in the U.S. — a process through which the only federally sanctioned marijuana studies are approved.
The joint report comes less than two weeks after the House approved three amendments taking aim at the DEA and its ability to enforce federal marijuana and hemp laws in states which have legal marijuana operations and industrial hemp programs. The medical marijuana amendment was sponsored by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.).
“Nobody should be afraid of the truth,” Rohrabacher said Wednesday. “There’s a lot of other drugs that have harmful side effects. Is the downside of marijuana a harmful side effect? Or is there a positive side that actually does help? That needs to be proven.”
The federal government’s interest in marijuana certainly appears to be growing. Since 2003, it has approved more than 500 grants for marijuana-related studies, with a marked upswing in recent years, according to McClatchy. In 2003, 22 grants totaling $6 million were approved for cannabis research. In 2012, that number had risen to 69 approved grants totaling more than $30 million.
“The DEA has obstructed research into the medical use of marijuana for over 40 years and in the process has caused immeasurable suffering that would otherwise have been treated by low-cost, low-risk generic marijuana,” Rick Doblin, executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, said in a statement. “The DEA’s obstruction of the FDA approval process for marijuana has — to the DEA’s dismay — unintentionally catalyzed state-level medical marijuana reforms.”
Currently, 22 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medical use. Eight other states — Alabama, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin — have legalized CBD oils, made from a non-psychoactive ingredient in marijuana frequently used to treat epilepsy, for limited medical use or for research purposes.
A number of recent studies have shown the medical potential of cannabis. Purified forms may attack some forms of aggressive cancer. Marijuana use also has been tied to better blood sugar control and may help slow the spread of HIV. One study found that legalization of the plant for medical purposes may even lead to lower suicide rates.
Nadelmann said the DEA has “demonstrated a regular pattern of abusing its discretionary powers.”
“We believe this authority would be better handled by another government agency in the health realm, or even better still, by an organization that is truly independent, perhaps something that involves the National Academy of Sciences,” he said. “We will be working to encourage greater congressional oversight and also to call for reforms of federal law.”
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/11/dea-blocks-marijuana-science_n_5482367.html
Assembling a hemp decorticator in preparation for hemp is a scam?
Hahaha!
No one has been scammed. They are in development, preparing for the greatest new crop this country has seen in 70 years!!
Do you chose not to see that?
Oh so now the narrative is turning to 'Hemp Inc will fail, not a real company' to 'Hemp Inc will process hemp, just not tomorrow'.
Ur team running out of fantasies?
It's ok guys, join the Longs!
LMAO
It absolutely has correlations.
What about farmers wanting to grow, and the goods they could provide NOT have anything to do with hemp?
Did you even read?
Care to explain yourself?
It appears a lot of REAL farmers are interested in growing hemp.
Alabama program will allow testing of industrial hemp
Troy Herring Jun 4, 2016
A pilot program allowing the production and research of industrial hemp is coming to Alabama by sometime next year, thanks to passage of a recent bill.
Sponsored by Rep. Ken Johnson, R-Moulton, the bill authorizes the Department of Agriculture and Industries to work alongside the Alabama Cooperative Extension, which includes Alabama A&M and Auburn University, to research and develop industrial hemp for agricultural and production purposes.
The bill also redefines marijuana under Alabama law as to not include hemp.
The production of any by-product from cannabis still remains illegal at the federal level, but thanks to a provision in the federal government’s 2014 Farm Bill that allows for pilot programs in each state for industrial hemp research, 30 states are currently involved with programs that are looking into the validity of hemp as a serious cash crop.
“When you look at all the things that can be developed from this product, yes it is used in automobile manufacturing, but there are a lot of potential uses,” Johnson said.
Hemp can be used to make a variety of products such as clothing, cattle feed and rope.
Johnson said hemp could have a positive impact on the agricultural industry and benefit others, as well.
The implementation of the bill itself has been left in the hands of the Department of Agriculture and Industries, allowing the department time to get a comprehensive understanding of the effect of hemp production in the state.
Patrick Moody, legal counsel at the Department of Agriculture, believes that time will be an important factor to see where the program goes.
“We have had some meetings trying to decide where we are going with this thing,” Moody said. “The first few years we feel like it needs to be the extension service that is doing the growing, with the universities actually doing the growing and not having private growers in the mix.”
Moody and the Department are hoping that in the next two to three years a permitting process will be set in place that allows private growers to be a part of the program.
While growing the crop would take up valuable farmland for farmers in the state, and with questions regarding its effect on the industry as a whole, Moody says he has heard a growing interest in producing industrial hemp from farmers.
“I have been amazed at the interest from growers about this crop,” Moody said. “We have been contacted by a lot of individuals saying this is something they are interested in growing, and they want to get on a list if we start issuing permits.”
Industrial hemp advocates like Pike Road resident McMillan Arrington, co-founder of Bastcore LLC, sees hemp as an additional source of revenue for farmers and the industry as a whole.
“It’s an ideal rotation crop, and it gives our farmers another option,” Arrington said. “And we need to do research to find out what some of these other pros or benefits might be.”
Many farmers aren’t yet familiar with the bill, but at least some are open to the possibility of growing hemp.
“As far as any new crop production, we are always interested in new crops that could fit into our area,” said Doug Trantham, owner and farmer at Trantham Farms in Alexandria. “I wouldn’t take a stand against it until I learned more about it and have seen what comes out of it.”
Jerry Baker, owner of Old Baker Farm in Harpersville, said he would like to research the bill before making a judgment, but believes that it could be a positive thing, giving farmers another option for a profitable crop.
“Any kind of crop is good that will help us and is a productive thing for society,” Baker said. “Most farmers are going to be behind it.”
Source: http://www.annistonstar.com/news/state/alabama-program-will-allow-testing-of-industrial-hemp/article_8e0f728a-2ab2-11e6-8364-7f522f2b2c09.html
Growing hemp is a patriotic thing to do
June 08, 2016, 06:30 am
America wouldn’t be America without hemp. The sails on ships of discovery were made from hemp, the canvas that covered wagon trains were made from hemp. Our forefathers were hemp growers, even the original farm upon whose land the Pentagon building now stands grew hemp, and while the claim that the Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper is questionable, a new farmer’s declaration of independence from unwarranted government impediment should be. While government regulation and oversight is very necessary in the agriculture space, some draconian laws simply don’t make sense.
It has been illegal in federal law to grow hemp since the enactment of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. The law lumps this incredibly versatile food, feed, fuel, fiber, oil and construction material crop into the same category as marijuana. While hemp is part of the cannabis family, far from producing a drugged state (as defined in the 2014 Farm Bill, hemp contains less than 0.3% THC – tetrahydrocannabinol - by dry weight), hemp is a miracle crop from its soil remediation properties to its breadth of use.
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Due to the way hemp is grown so closely together, it suppresses weeds – so there’s no need to use herbicide. Its roots are long so it holds soil structure together and reduces erosion. It naturally fixes nitrogen to the soil so builds soil fertility. Photosynthesis is the easiest method to sequester carbon, and due to its leafy structure and long roots, hemp works in this regard adding to our tool kit of ways to approach rising C02 rates.
Hemp is one of the most nutritionally complete food sources there is. It has tremendous properties that support cardiovascular health, tissue, blood, immune system, organs, skin, it provides 11 grams of protein per a 3 tablespoon serving. Hemp also has a perfect ratio balance of 3:1 of Omega 6 and 3 linolenic acids and is the richest known source of polyunsaturated essential fatty acids.
Hemp fiber is used for paper which in turn can be recycled 7 times, compared to only 3 for trees, requires less chemicals for processing and grows with greater efficiency. Hemp is also a “mop crop” that can remove heavy metals and other pollutants in the soil, the resultant crop can then be used in building materials such as ‘hempcrete’ when mixed with lime. Hemp is lightweight and has tremendous thermal and tensile properties.
Outdated policy is clearly hurting our farmers as the hemp market grows and American consumers rely upon imports from countries such as China and Canada. 27 states in our union have passed varying forms of legislation permitting farmers to grow hemp, but there are issues with the Feds. It is not unheard for seed imports heading to these states to be stopped at the border.
Congress passing the Industrial Hemp Farming Act, S.134/H.R.525, would be a step towards economically and ecologically regenerative agriculture, permitting hemp farming in all 50 states and allowing American farmers to supply the largest consumer demand for hemp in the world — our own!
Source: http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/lobbying-world/282514-growing-hemp-is-a-patriotic-thing-to-do
Senate Recognizes Industrial Hemp History Week
Date: June 10, 2016
Resolution by Wyden, McConnell, Merkley and Paul Commemorates Role of Industrial Hemp in the United States
Washington, D.C. –(ENEWSPF)–June 10, 2016. During “Hemp History Week,” the Senate today passed a bipartisan resolution recognizing the important role industrial hemp could play in boosting the agricultural industry and economy of the United States.
The Hemp History Week resolution passed the Senate by a unanimous voice vote today. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced the resolution Wednesday.
The United States is the world’s largest consumer of hemp, but current restrictions on growing industrial hemp in the U.S. force American businesses to import about $76 million worth of hemp to make retail products like clothing, food, soaps, paper products, and construction materials that are made in America.
“Another year has gone by and industrial hemp somehow remains on the controlled substances list,” Wyden said. “There’s no need to punish American farmers and entrepreneurs who stand to create good-paying jobs and countless products from this crop with seemingly endless uses. My bipartisan colleagues and I are working to lift this senseless ban during Hemp History Week and every week of the year.”
“I am proud to join my colleagues in this bipartisan effort to officially recognize this week as Hemp History Week,” McConnell said. “Given the important history of hemp in Kentucky and throughout the nation, we believe it is important to remember the role hemp has played in America’s past, and to envision a future where industrial hemp is once again a viable crop.”
“Industrial hemp has had a long and productive history in the U.S., and it’s time to revive that history now for the 21st Century,” said Merkley. “Outdated policy proscriptions should not stand in the way of our American farmers growing a crop that is already used to make products sold all across the U.S.”
“My vision for the farmers and manufacturers of Kentucky is to see us start growing hemp, creating jobs and leading the nation in this industry again,” Paul said. “Allowing farmers throughout our nation to cultivate industrial hemp and benefit from its many uses will boost our economy and bring much-needed jobs to the agriculture industry.”
The senators introduced the Industrial Hemp Farming Act last year to remove federal restrictions on the domestic cultivation of industrial hemp. The bill would remove hemp from the Schedule I controlled substance list under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, and would define it as a non-drug so long as it contained less than 0.3 percent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
Oregon and Kentucky are among twenty-eight states that have already defined industrial hemp as distinct from marijuana and removed barriers to production. However, under current federal law, farmers in states that allow industrial hemp research and pilot programs must still seek a waiver from the Drug Enforcement Administration.
In addition to Wyden, McConnell, Merkley and Paul, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act’s cosponsors now also include Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Steve Daines., R-Mont., Al Franken, D-Minn., Cory Gardner, R-Colo., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii., Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii., and Jon Tester, D-Mont.
Source: http://enewspf.com/2016/06/10/senate-recognizes-industrial-hemp-history-week/
Column: Ky. at forefront in hemp production
1:44 p.m. EDT June 8, 2016
The commonwealth has more than 150 pilot programs to grow hemp, with participation from seven Kentucky universities and numerous farmers on 4,500 acres of land.
As senators from Kentucky, we’ve been fortunate to meet many of the farmers who help make our state work. Agriculture is a vital part of Kentucky’s economy, and we’ve learned from Kentucky’s farmers that one way to keep our state’s agricultural sector growing is to explore new, viable cash crops for the state. This is why we’ve put our support behind expanding industrial hemp research.
Hemp is not new to our state. The first hemp plant was grown in Kentucky in 1775, and Kentucky led the nation in hemp production until the Civil War. Used as a fiber to make fabrics, textiles, construction materials, clothing, paper, and many other products, hemp was a staple cash crop in America for many decades. Famed statesman Henry Clay, who, like us, represented Kentucky in the U.S. Senate, grew hemp.
Under current federal law, however, industrial hemp is classified as a controlled substance like marijuana, limiting the ability of Kentucky farmers to grow it. This is despite the fact that, while industrial hemp and marijuana come from the same plant family, hemp plants contain virtually no THC, the chemical that causes the “high” associated with marijuana.
Furthermore, consumers across the country currently enjoy hemp products despite the domestic restrictions on farming industrial hemp. Each year, the United States imports over $75 million in hemp and hemp products from other countries – in fact, we are the world’s largest consumer of hemp, with a domestic hemp market of nearly $600 million annually. If Kentucky farmers can capture a portion of that market, those dollars could potentially flow into Kentucky.
That’s why in 2014, we advocated for language in the Farm Bill that allows Kentucky and other states with similar state laws and interests to begin growing industrial hemp again through research pilot programs at universities and state Departments of Agriculture. Last year, we built upon that success with legislation that now allows legally grown hemp from these pilot programs to be transported and processed.
The results have been encouraging – by 2016, the commonwealth has more than 150 pilot programs to grow hemp, with participation from seven Kentucky universities and numerous farmers on 4,500 acres of land. Former Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture James Comer was an early champion for industrial hemp in Kentucky and was instrumental in developing these pilot programs. Current commissioner Ryan Quarles is continuing his good work on this issue.
We’ve heard from countless Kentuckians that these initial hemp pilot programs are a great success, and we share that excitement. Industrial hemp has great potential to expand agricultural opportunities for farmers and grow our economy, which is why we want to continue helping our farmers and researchers further develop this potential market domestically.
In the Senate, we will continue to work to support the hemp pilot programs now underway, and to help them to flourish. We’ve worked to enact legislation that protects the importation of hemp seeds that are vital to our research pilot programs.
We’re also sponsors, along with Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden from Oregon, of the Industrial Hemp Farming Act, which would amend federal law to allow hemp to be grown for industrial purposes beyond just research pilot programs.
This week marks the seventh annual Hemp History Week. Given the important history of hemp in our state and throughout the nation, we felt it was important to remember the role hemp has played in Kentucky’s past, and to envision a future where hemp is a viable crop once again and represents a crucial part of our state’s economy.
In order to commemorate Hemp History Week, we’ve joined together with a bipartisan group of senators to introduce a resolution designating the week of June 6 the official Hemp History Week.
While research on industrial hemp continues, the commodity represents an opportunity to provide a shot in the arm for Kentucky’s agricultural sector. We are hopeful that hemp growth will help Kentucky farmers and create jobs. It’s an opportunity Kentucky must not miss, and based on the expanded growth of research pilot programs in Kentucky, it seems our farmers agree.
Source: http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/local/northern-ky/2016/06/08/column-ky-forefront-hemp-production/85603476/
Hemp in Mason County
MARLA TONCRAY marla.toncray@lee.net Updated Jun 10, 2016
It may look like similar to a marijuana plant, but industrial hemp is quite different from its relative.
Industrial hemp production in Kentucky is back under a pilot program introduced in the Farm Bill legislation of 2014. Under the language of that law, farmers in Kentucky and other states began growing industrial hemp through research pilot programs at the state's universities and Department of Agriculture.
Locally, Mason County farmer Joe Collins is growing five acres of hemp under the pilot program. As the guest speaker recently of the Maysville Rotary Club, Collins explained industrial hemp contains only 0.3 percent of THC (tetrahydrocannabinoids) while marijuana has anywhere from 5-10 percent of THC.
And therein lies the difference: industrial hemp doesn't get a person "high" and can be used in the manufacture of commodities like clothing and rope.
The first hemp was grown in Kentucky in 1775 in Danville on Clark's Run Creek. There was a reemergence of hemp production during World War II, but it wasn't long after that the plant was outlawed and considered a controlled substance.
Kentucky's earlier settlers brought hemp to the area. Hemp, as well as flax and wool, were the best options for fabric in a region of the country where cotton didn't grow well.
Counties producing the most hemp were located in the Bluegrass region of the state and were either near or along the Kentucky River. Fayette, Woodford, Shelby, Clark, Scott, Bourbon, Jessamine, Mason, Franklin, Boyle and Lincoln proved to be the largest hemp-producing counties during the 19th century.
During the 1830s, Maysville was the state's second largest producer of hemp products, bags, rope and twine.
The Old Hemp Warehouse once stood at the corner of Sutton and West Third streets. The building was constructed sometime in the 1840s and later became the Leslie H. Arthur American Legion Post 13.
Research on the property shows that William Phillips sold the property in 1837 to Thomas Shreve for $15,000. In his 1902 will, O.H. P Thomas left the property, then called Wells Warehouse, to his wife, Mary. It was conveyed to the American Legion in 1933 from the Maysville Produce Company.
In 1996, the building and its history were at the center of controversy, when the Mason County Fiscal Court, after seeking other alternatives, voted to have the building razed for a new justice center. The old courthouse was out of space and the Administrative Office of the Courts in Frankfort financed the construction of the new building.
Newspaper accounts at the time show a divided community, with members of the Mason County Historical Society and the community battling local officials or supporting them.
And although Danville had converted its old hemp warehouse into a student center, no alternative uses could be found for the hemp warehouse in Maysville.
The following history on hemp in Mason County is taken from History of Maysville and Mason County., Ky by G. Glenn Clift, published in 1936.
Unfortunately, the history is brief and doesn't illustrate just how much this particular crop infused the local economy until its gradual decline following the American Civil War.
"Hemp was formerly the staple crop of the county, reaching its highest yield in 1847. From that time the acreage gradually declined, and today cultivation has entirely ceased."
"Agricultural interests were boosted in Mason County with the introduction, in the spring of 1853, of a new species oh hemp, the seed for which was brought by L. Maltby from abroad."
Maltby was in France in 1851 and learned there had been introduced the So-ma or Chinese Hemp, which was found to yield much more than the Russian. It required longer and warmer seasons than those of France to mature the seed, and consequently the seed was raised in Algiers and imported into France to be sown for lint, as it gave a yield one-third greater than the Russian hemp.
He communicated this information to the Maysville press.
"...I brought the seed to this country and in the spring of '52, Mr. C. A. Marshall and myself both planted seed of it, and I sent some to Louisiana. Mr. M. succeeded in raising seed there, finding it mature about three weeks later than the native plant. In Louisiana it was easily raised...This spring (1853) Captain Peyton J. Key, near this place (Washington) sowed about an acre with this seed. The hemp is now standing, and is some two feet higher than the native hemp sown on the same day in an adjoining piece of ground. It will average nearly ten feet in height, stand thicker on the ground and will not be ready to cut till next week (September 1) - some ten days later than the hemp sown by the side of it. It is of a light green, with a narrow leaf, of deep indentation. It promises to lint very heavily. As far as any comparison can be made with the old variety, in the present green state of both, some farmers think it will give double the lints..."
In 1854, the area suffered a severe drought, which forced higher prices locally....in January 1855, an agent was sent (by farmers) to France and Russia for the express purpose of buying in those countries 30,000 bushels of hemp seed. So severe had been the drought that seed enough could not be found in the United States. The agent was able to procure only 4,000 bushels, which was imported to Mason County at Maysville..."
The following is taken from the Explore Kentucky History website:
"Kentuckians also manufactured hemp into marketable products. The largest use of hemp was in making rope and the woven bagging that bundled cotton bales. Ropewalks turned out thousands of yards of hemp cordage, and factory looms in Lexington, Danville, and Frankfort wove the bagging. Another significant consumer of Kentucky hemp was the United States Navy, which used the rope for ships' rigging.
Hemp production declined during the Civil War. Although some hemp was still grown in Kentucky at that time, the cotton market in the deep South, and, therefore, the market for cordage and bagging, was cut off. Farmers instead looked to other crops that were more marketable. After the war, the hemp market fluctuated with the cotton market. With slavery abolished, finding labor proved difficult.
Hemp made a strong comeback during the Spanish-American War and again during World War One and World War Two. Although the production of hemp became illegal during the latter part of the 20th century, recent years have seen an increased interest in producing industrial hemp in Kentucky."
Source: http://www.maysville-online.com/entertainment/hemp-in-mason-county/article_f7d08bef-1e6a-57a3-96c3-772ee5382055.html
Northeast Tennessee hemp farmer pleased by progress
Nathan Baker • Jun 11, 2016 at 5:31 PM
After a long overnight shift at an area hospital, Wayne Smith stood in the mid-morning sun looking over his small, hilly field.
In April, he tilled and planted the certified hemp seeds he received from the state last year on only a third of an acre, and of that land, plants of any notable size only grew on one half and along the edges, mostly where the county agricultural extension office advised him to fertilize. Still, Smith was proud of his crop.
“That’s a good example of a plant, right there,” Smith said to his hired hand, Mirko Heber, as he pointed to a 4-foot specimen.
The farmer’s mood is so light because he recognizes the progress. Last year at this time, Smith and 43 other growers in the state were receiving their highly controlled seeds.
Because of the delay in the delivery, blamed by most on the miles of federal red tape wrapping up the shipment of the seeds, Smith believes he missed the optimal planting window last year. The seeds went in the ground well after the spring rains, needed additional watering and had trouble competing with weeds.
With the abbreviated growing season, Smith’s plants last year only reached four feet, the size this year’s plants are now, by harvest time. He brought in 10 pounds of seeds in that harvest, a disappointing yield for the pilot program’s high expectations.
Many in Tennessee hope industrial hemp can be a cash crop on par with tobacco in its heyday. The oil pressed out of the seeds can be used in cosmetics and food products, and fibers from the stalks can produce strong fabrics and building materials.
More than 70 years ago, hemp was grown abundantly in Tennessee and many U.S. states, but it landed on the banned list because of its close association with marijuana, although hemp contains negligible amounts of the psychoactive chemical that makes pot a popular drug.
In 2014, the federal Farm Bill allowed industrial hemp to be grown for research purposes only, and only in states whose legislatures approve its cultivation. Last year, Tennessee lawmakers enacted a law allowing hemp to be grown in the state.
Eric Steenstra, Executive Director of the Hemp Industries Association, said 29 states have now enacted legislation allowing hemp to be grown, but not all have yet put the appropriate distribution and monitoring structures in place.
“We help a number of farmers who are members of our organization to coordinate with each other, and we continue to work with our sister organization, Vote Hemp, which handles more of the political side of things,” he said. “The goal is to have it legalized in all 50 states and at the federal level, including enacting two bills in Congress that would remove hemp from the controlled substances list.”
Delays importing seeds have been seen in most of the states allowing hemp farming, Steenstra said, which hinders the research intent behind the new Farm Bill.
“These pilot programs shouldn’t have these types of restrictions placed on them,” he said. “It’s frustrating to the farmers to want to take part in this, then to get the seeds too late and have poor crops.”
Perhaps learning from last year, Samantha Jean, Deputy Director of Communications for the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, said 20 licensed growers saved back some of last year’s seeds to plant earlier this year. The program also added 20 new certified farmers.
Jean said seeds from the same Canadian supplier the state used last year were held up by export licenses, but they have now arrived for farmers to pick them up. Seeds from a new Italian supplier are expected to be delivered soon.
Data from last year’s farmers are being used to help direct the program’s future.
Even with delays and restrictive regulations, Smith said he’ll probably plant again next year, hoping to learn new practices this year to make the yield even higher.
“It’s something I think is worthwhile to do,” he said. “It needs to be done.”
Source: http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/Business/2016/06/11/Northeast-Tennessee-hemp-farmer-pleased-by-progress.html
Senator: Smoking Hemp To Get High Akin To ‘Smoking Cotton From A T-Shirt’
Sen. Ron Wyden maintains that there is a big difference between hemp and weed.
06/09/2016 04:22 pm ET
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) renewed his efforts to end the federal ban on industrial hemp cultivation in a speech delivered Thursday.
Under the federal Controlled Substances Act, hemp is classified under marijuana, but according to Wyden, hemp and marijuana are “very, very different in key ways.”
“Industrial hemp does not have the psychoactive properties of marijuana. You’d have as much luck getting high by smoking cotton from a T-shirt as you would by smoking hemp,” Wyden said to his colleagues on the Senate floor.
The senator believes the ban on hemp production has prevented “hardworking American farmers” from having the opportunity to tap into the growing demand for hemp products like soap, lotions and milk.
“The hemp ban, in my view, looks like illegality for the sake of illegality,” Wyden stated.
In January 2015, Wyden introduced the Industrial Hemp Farming Act, which would reclassify hemp and exclude it from the Controlled Substances Act. A bipartisan group of 12 senators, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) have supported the bill.
If this legislation passes, it would have a significant impact on their states, as the federal ban has constrained local efforts to authorize commercial hemp production.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/wyden-hemp-senate-marijuana_us_5759bfdee4b0ced23ca7655e
Hemp could be a weed worth cultivation
Kentucky leads Indiana in race to grow industrial hemp
By Ted Booker South Bend Tribune
Indiana has tried for decades to eradicate a cousin of the marijuana plant.
But that long-time attempt has now come at a cost, as industrial hemp has the potential to become a new cash crop for farmers.
The Hoosier state's reluctance to reconsider its attitude toward ditch weed also has it losing out on revenue and jobs to Kentucky and other states that have been quicker to give farmers permission to grow the crop.
Just ask Gregg Baumbaugh, CEO of an Elkhart manufacturer that spends hundreds of thousands of dollars each year on shipping expenses to import hemp and other natural fibers grown in Canada, Europe and Southeast Asia.
With Indiana still on the sidelines of the emerging U.S. industry, FlexForm Technologies could strike a deal to buy hemp from a newly launched Kentucky supplier. Such a move could sharply reduce shipping costs.
“I’d love for Indiana to process this stuff, but Kentucky isn’t that far away from us,” said Baumbaugh, whose company uses hemp and other fibers to make a lightweight material that looks like a floor mat. Suppliers for auto manufacturers — such as Ford, Mercedes and General Motors — buy sheets of the material, heating it up to be molded into door panels, trunk liners and other interior vehicle parts.
People won’t get high by smoking the so-called ditch weed because it has only a trace amount of the same psychoactive ingredient found in marijuana. But some lawmakers, among other concerns, have questioned whether hemp fields will make it harder to find real marijuana because it can sometimes be difficult to tell the two apart.
Kentucky is among only a handful of states that passed laws allowing farmers to get licenses from their departments of agriculture to grow hemp. To do so, they established research programs that fall within the framework of the 2014 federal farm bill. Other states, including Indiana, allow hemp to be grown and researched only by educational institutions, which is also allowed by the farm bill.
Hemp versus pot
Though Indiana farmers can’t grow industrial hemp, its businesses can import it.
Hemp can be grown for its seed or fiber. Among other things, it’s used to make food products, clothing, paper, plastics and composite materials that can be found in skateboards, cars and aircraft bodies. In the grocery aisle, people can buy hemp oil, seeds and crackers.
Hemp is commonplace in northern Indiana, where it grows wild each year and has been difficult for authorities to eradicate. Its origin in the region goes back to the early 1940s, when the U.S. government planted it to aid the World War II effort. Its strong fiber material was used to make parachute cords.
Hemp can still be found amid farmland in the southwestern outskirts of South Bend. Local authorities have taken measures over the years to get rid of the plant, but they’ve largely backed off because getting rid of it is regarded as impossible.
Compared with cultivated pot, ditch weed has only a trace amount — less than 0.3 percent — of the psychoactive chemical tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. It is often described as a cousin to marijuana — not an identical twin — because one can’t get high smoking it.
“You may get a headache or get sick, but you won’t get high. You may as well smoke a cornstalk,” said Jamie Campbell Petty, president of the Indiana Hemp Industries Association.
The federal government has classified hemp as a drug since the Controlled Substance Act of 1970. Hemp advocates want the plant to be removed from that list so that all U.S. farmers can grow it, but Congress hasn't yet taken action.
Courted by Kentucky
FlexForm is among a handful of Indiana businesses that have been courted by Kentucky processors and growers of hemp, Campbell Petty said. Other Indiana businesses that use hemp on a daily basis include Angola-based Foods Alive, along with Indianapolis-based Real Hemp and Ultra Oil for Pets.
She said that although Indiana has made strides to legalize hemp farming, its “ultra-conservative approach" has put it at a "significant economic disadvantage" compared to Kentucky.
Last year, Purdue University started a three-year research project to study how farmers can best grow hemp in Indiana soil. Test crops are being used to find out optimal soil conditions, which nutrients to apply and what yields growers can expect. The U.S. government is expected to give Indiana approval to grow hemp after the research is done.
But Campbell Petty said the research project has come at a cost: Indiana farmers are waiting on the sidelines while farmers are licensed to grow hemp in Kentucky, Tennessee, Colorado, Oregon and Vermont.
In contrast to Indiana, “states like Kentucky and Tennessee said: ‘We’re going to hold hands with our farmers and pass memorandums of understanding so they can start growing hemp.’ Purdue wanted to be more slow and conservative, but we’re in year two and they’ve barely expanded their research,” she said.
Campbell Petty said Indiana, which has an abundance of fertile soil to grow hemp, has allowed Kentucky to “take the lead in something that we would do much better in." She said hemp would provide an alternative crop for Indiana farms of all sizes and attract new manufacturers to create jobs.
Finding a U.S. supplier
FlexForm’s Baumbaugh said that he can’t afford to wait several years for Indiana to start growing hemp. Each week the 34-employee company uses about 80,000 pounds of imported fibers including hemp, kenaf, flax and jute, which are blended with polypropylene to make its material.
Based on projected savings on international shipping, he said, FlexForm could save roughly $10,000 per week if it could buy hemp for a similar price in the U.S. In that scenario, the company would make most of its product for clients using hemp instead of other fibers. Auto manufacturers typically aren’t concerned about what type of fiber is used because their quality is similar.
FlexForm is interested in buying hemp from Louisville, Ky.-based Sunstrand, a processor of natural fibers launched in 2014.
Sunstrand’s CEO, Trey Riddle, said the company is now buying hemp from a handful of Kentucky farmers and can process up to 7 million pounds of hemp per year. In 2019, the company plans to expand its plant by adding a facility that would process an additional 44 million pounds per year.
Riddle said Sunstrand will need more production capacity to bring down the cost of hemp for FlexForm, which wants to buy fiber in high volumes at low prices. Currently, there is more demand in the U.S. for hemp to be processed into grain than into fiber.
“We could sell FlexForm material now, but I’d rather sell it to a higher-margin application because our production is limited,” he said, estimating that about 50 farmers are now growing hemp in Kentucky.
Riddle, who also serves as president of the Kentucky Hemp Industries Association, said Sunstrand is providing fiber on a trial basis to about a dozen manufacturers and is courting customers in several states. It is among several businesses that were launched in Kentucky to take advantage of the hemp law.
Legislative fix?
Indiana passed a law in 2014 that set the groundwork for hemp farming to begin, Campbell Petty said, but it won't take effect until federal restrictions are lifted. Her association, meanwhile, is working with state lawmakers on a proposal that would allow farmers to get a jump-start on growing hemp in spite of federal rules.
“That would allow us to move forward — independent of federal requirements — early next year,” she said.
But Baumbaugh, who closely watches the actions of state lawmakers, is less optimistic. “I’m not naive enough to think the state of Indiana is going to do something against the federal government,” he said. “They’re going to wait until industrial hemp is no longer regulated by the federal government."
Source: http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/business/hemp-could-be-a-weed-worth-cultivating/article_2fab0ae0-04f8-5905-a192-037f7309b270.html
Nebraska's hemp battle: farmers say officials are blocking a gold rush
Despite what farmers call ideal terrain, state lawmakers fear hemp is a gateway to recreational marijuana and block laws permitting cultivation of crop.
David Steen Martin in Eagle, Nebraska
Sunday 12 June 2016 08.00 EDT
Twenty miles east of his office at the University of Nebraska, plant geneticist Ismail Dweikat finds what he’s looking for at the fringe of a budding cornfield: wild hemp.
Mixed among other roadside weeds, the hemp bears the familiar narrow five-fingered leaves synonymous with marijuana but almost none of pot’s psychoactive component, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
But hemp is unlikely to be anything more than a ditch weed in the cornhusker state this year and possibly for years to come. Despite terrain that farmers say is ideal for growing hemp, Nebraskans haven’t been able to cash in on what they believe is a potential gold rush, caught in an epic battle with the government.
“There are so many obstacles,” bemoans Dweikat.
The only permissible means of growing hemp in the state is through university research. But even researchers have faced a series of hurdles that have meant not a single hemp growing operation has launched in Nebraska.
Dweikat was hoping to plant two acres of hemp this spring at a test plot but almost four months after the University of Nebraska sent paperwork seeking to import seeds from Canada to the Drug Enforcement Administration, researchers do not have all the permits necessary to import special seeds from Manitoba, Canada, with THC content certified at less than 0.3%.
If and when the seeds arrive at the university, they will receive the kind of security usually reserved for precious gems. Dweikat says the seeds will be locked in a metal safe inside a locked cage. The university was asked to add metal reinforcement under the safe when DEA agents worried someone could saw the wood beneath the strongbox to get to the seeds, he says.
“There is such a misunderstanding of hemp, it just dumbfounds me,” explains Jon Hanson, an organic farmer in Marquette, who says he’d love to grow hemp on his 480-acre farm.
Unlike neighboring Colorado, where it’s legal to grow such commercial marijuana strains as Purple Haze and Chemdawg, farmers in Nebraska and elsewhere are forbidden by law from planting industrial hemp for prosaic purposes such as fiber and seed oil.
The DEA considers hemp a Schedule I drug – the same as heroin and LSD. The US Farm Bill signed by Barack Obama in 2014 carved out an exception for research and pilot programs, if states pass laws permitting it. Twenty-nine states have done so, according to the Hemp Industries Association.
But in Nebraska, a state bill to allow farmers to apply for this exception was thwarted by senators and police officials who feared hemp would be a gateway crop to recreational marijuana. An amended bill passed that limits hemp to university research.
“Anything to get the ball rolling,” says former Nebraska senator Norm Wallman, a 78-year-old, fourth-generation farmer who sponsored the legislation. “You can plant it early in the spring, and it’s tough as the dickens.”
Dweikat says Nebraska has ideal conditions for growing hemp, which requires few pesticides and no herbicides. Driving around the state during a severe drought in 2012, he says the only green patches in the parched countryside were wild hemp plants.
John Lupien, who runs a company that separates hemp fiber from the rest of the plant, has been importing his hemp from Canada but would rather get his hemp from local farmers.
“We’re stuck in the mud,” Lupien says. “There are lots and lots of farmers interested in growing an alternative crop in the rotation. It would break the disease and pest cycles and have huge benefits economically and environmentally.”
The Hemp Industries Association estimates some $573m of goods containing hemp were in the United States in 2015, almost all of it imported. These goods included foods, supplements, body care products, clothing, auto parts, insulation and construction materials and medicine.
“We can see a multibillion dollar market in the very near future,” says Eric Steenstra, executive director of the Hemp Industries Association.
Because hemp tends to grow well where corn grows, L Allan Jenkins, a professor of Economics and Agribusiness at the University of Nebraska-Kearney, sees a potential bonanza in the cornhusker state.
“There’s no reason Nebraska couldn’t be an absolute powerhouse in hemp production,” says Jenkins, who is editing a book on hemp.
Others also tout hemp as the source of a promising medical treatment. A non-psychoactive component of the cannabis plant, cannabidiol or CBD, has been shown to help young patients with intractable seizure disorders and is being investigated as a treatment for schizophrenia, cancer and other diseases.
Deb Palm-Egle, who splits her time between Denver and a 2,500-acre ranch bisected by the Wyoming-Nebraska state line, says she plans to lobby the Nebraska legislature to legalize industrial hemp. A self-described “staunch conservative”, Palm-Egle says she suffers from multiple sclerosis and has experienced first-hand the benefits of medical marijuana.
“I don’t think it’s a partisan issue. I think it’s an ignorance issue,” she says, adding that she’d like to plant about 200 acres on the Nebraska side of her farm next spring.
Thus far, Kentucky has taken the lead in hemp production, followed by Colorado.
“In Nebraska, we are falling farther behind every day,” laments Jenkins.
According to advocates, hemp is as American as apple pie. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams all grew hemp, which was used for paper, rope and cloth. The first flag of the United States, sewn by Betsy Ross, is said to have been made from hemp, and the Declaration of Independence was drafted on hemp paper.
In the 1930s, law enforcement and the media linked marijuana to madness and crime. Congress passed The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, which put a heavy tax on farming marijuana and declared “the term ‘marihuana’ means all parts of the plant Cannabis sativa,” including stalks, fiber, oil and seeds.
The US Department of Agriculture attempted briefly to revive hemp production during the second world war, when the Japanese cut supplies of hemp from the Philippines and jute from India.
Three quarters of a century later, farmers grow hemp in 30 countries, producing about 400 million pounds, with an estimated 25,000 products derived from it, according to a 2015 report by the Congressional Research Service.
Dweikat says Nebraskans who want hemp seeds have their own ways around the law, foraging wild hemp along country roads while waiting for the laws to change.
“It’s stupid not to grow it,” he adds. “You can’t find a major weakness in growing hemp.”
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/12/hemp-nebraska-farmers-government-block-growing-crop
Facts:
1) Hemp is legal in North Carolina
2) The largest hemp decorticator in the US is located in North Carolina.
3) US hemp sales estimated over $500 million in 2015.
LONG
You are incorrect.
Hemp is growing.
Takes money to MAKE MONEY!!!
Haha, bears don't like the news.
Newly legal industrial hemp could face extra regulations in NC
June 9, 2016 6:06 PM
Industrial hemp became a legal crop in North Carolina last year, but its quick legalization is prompting lawmakers to add more regulations before the first seeds are planted.
Advocates for the crop hope to start growing it early next year.
Hemp hadn’t been legal in part because the plant is a relative of marijuana and looks similar. But it lacks the active ingredient that makes marijuana a recreational drug. Hemp is used in fabrics, paper and car parts.
The legislature approved a legalization measure last year. The bill passed just days after it was introduced, attracting little notice in the busy final days of the session. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Jimmy Dixon, a Duplin County Republican, said he was “upset and perturbed” that the bill wasn’t reviewed by his committee first.
On Thursday, Dixon’s committee approved a bill that adds further regulations for aspiring hemp growers. The bill would add four more people to the five-member Industrial Hemp Commission charged with developing a permitting process for hemp farms. Three of the additional members would be agriculture professionals appointed by the state’s agriculture commissioner, currently Steve Troxler. The fourth would be a university professor appointed by the governor.
“We recognized from the very beginning that the commissioner of agriculture has an integral part in the implementation and establishment of this commission,” Dixon said. “When the commissioner of agriculture is satisfied, then Chairman Dixon is going to be satisfied.”
But Rep. Charles Graham, a Lumberton Democrat, said he wanted to see a member of the clergy added to the commission. He said he’s heard concerns from the religious community about the possibility that hemp production could result in marijuana production.
“I’m really concerned about the public perception and how this will be perceived,” Graham said.
The bill reviewed Thursday adds law enforcement to the hemp permitting process, requiring the new commission to notify the State Bureau of Investigation, sheriff’s departments and police about the location of all approved hemp farms. Those agencies would be allowed to inspect hemp operations at any time, and farmers would be required to maintain production records.
Still, Graham said he worries that a renegade hemp grower might try to illegally grow marijuana plants hidden in the center of a hemp field.
Rep. Larry Yarborough, a Roxboro Republican, assured Graham that anyone who tries that scheme would fail because the hemp would ruin marijuana plants.
If a marijuana plant “gets the pollen (from hemp) and goes to seed, it becomes worthless,” Yarborough said. “The THC goes away.”
The bill also requires N.C. State University and N.C. A&T University to oversee the hemp research program, which all licensed hemp growers would be required to join. Violations of the hemp regulations, including the placement of marijuana plants on hemp fields, would be Class 2 misdemeanors with fines of up to $2,500.
“This product hasn’t been really available in this country for about 70 years, and it’s a whole new field now,” said Rep. Mark Brody, a Monroe Republican and the bill sponsor. “We have an opportunity to be a leader, not only in production, but in the processing.”
A processing plant – currently handling a related plant called kenaf – has opened in Spring Hope, about 45 minutes east of Raleigh.
The N.C. Industrial Hemp Association, which has lobbied for hemp legalization, said it’s supportive of Brody’s bill. The group recently finished raising the $200,000 in private donations required to fund the state’s hemp commission. And it’s hosting its first Hemp Fest this weekend at a farm in Wallace to raise awareness for the crop.
“Any movement is good movement from where we stand,” said Jeff Cartonia, director of the hemp association.
Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article82852797.html#storylink=cpy
It's legal. Read the news.
WNC’s budding hemp industry
Posted on June 9, 2016 by Virginia Daffron
It’s been seven months since North Carolina passed legislation allowing industrial hemp to be grown in the state for the first time in nearly half a century, and excitement is growing.
But an agricultural industry doesn’t bounce right back after such a long hiatus. Farmers must search out the best seeds and growing practices for their land. Hemp processing plants must be built within a reasonable distance of growers. And government regulators must be satisfied that hemp isn’t providing cover for its psychedelic cousin, recreational marijuana.
Senate Bill 313, which legalized hemp production in North Carolina and established the Industrial Hemp Commission, said the regulatory body wouldn’t become active until donations totaling at least $200,000 had been received. Hemp industry advocates, including Asheville-based consultant Timothy Sadler, mounted a statewide grassroots fundraising campaign, and on May 11, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler received the required funds.
Now, however, the commissioners must be appointed, regulations drafted and public comment on them solicited and reviewed. If all goes well, says Eric Mathis of BioRegen Innovations, a farmer-owned seed cooperative, the state Legislature will approve the rules in time for farmers to plant North Carolina’s first commercial hemp crop next year.
And while farmers representing over 100,000 acres of agricultural land in the eastern part of the state form the core of BioRegen’s initial membership, Mathis says Western North Carolina has an important role to play in the emerging hemp industry. Asheville already boasts a strong medicinal herb and nutraceutical industry, which he believes positions this area as a prospective processing center for hemp-based foods, supplements and other wellness products. And for farmers in the region, he continues, industrial hemp could eventually replace tobacco as a high-yield crop for small parcels.
Not pot
Although industrial hemp is a variety of the cannabis plant, smoking it doesn’t produce a high. Industrial hemp contains only trace amounts of THC, the substance that gives marijuana its psychoactive effects. Even so, the federal government lumps hemp in with marijuana as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, meaning the plant’s production and use fall under the watchful eye of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
According to a 2015 report to Congress, the DEA remains concerned that commercial hemp cultivation could hinder efforts to detect illegal production of high-THC marijuana, complicating the enforcement of drug laws.
Nonetheless, federal legislation passed in 2014 allows states to create their own regulatory systems to manage industrial hemp cultivation. Over half of all states now permit farmers to grow the crop, says Lauren Stansbury, public relations manager for the national Hemp History Week campaign, which was launched in 2009.
Hemp History Week
At its May 10 meeting, City Council proclaimed June 6-12 Hemp History Week in Asheville. “It’s long past time that we returned to the days of our Colonial ancestors in embracing a crop that is really good for the world,” Council member Cecil Bothwell declared, noting that he’s advocated legalizing industrial hemp cultivation for at least 30 years.
Asheville’s Hemp History Week will include a Thursday, June 9, showing of the documentary Bringing It Home at the Grail Movie House. Created by North Carolina filmmakers Linda Booker and Blaire Johnson, the film was inspired by Asheville resident Anthony Brenner’s quest to develop hemp building techniques. In 2010, he constructed the nation’s first house made primarily of hemp. A panel discussion will follow the screening, and hemp-based treats such as hemp ale from One World Brewing, hemp milk ice cream from The Hop and hemp hummus from Roots will be served.
Industrial hemp, Sadler told Council, is “the love child of economic development and environmental protection,” citing the crop’s ability to improve soil quality and sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide while yielding a wide variety of valuable products.
Sadler introduced Will Oseroff, founder of the Blue Ridge Hemp Co., which manufactures products infused with cannabidiol. CBD, he explained, is a nonpsychoactive substance found in the cannabis plant; it has many therapeutic properties and can help relieve chronic pain. Selling, purchasing and using CBD became legal in North Carolina last August.
Entrepreneur James Hammel told Council about his efforts to develop a state-of-the-art facility in Asheville to process raw hemp into various kinds of powder, oil and meal. Although he’s lived in Black Mountain for eight years, his manufacturing operation is in upstate New York. TerraVare processes ancient grains like chia, quinoa, amaranth and others for use in foods, supplements, body care and animal care products. Hammel hopes to relocate the plant to West Asheville by early next year and add hemp processing to TerraVare’s capabilities.
Local prospects
“This area has a deep appreciation for holistic wellness and food products,” notes Hammel, making it an ideal location for TerraVare. Asheville also boasts a well-educated workforce, and prospective employees can take advantage of food science and manufacturing technology courses at local institutions to train for skilled positions at the new facility.
Hammel expects his business to create between 50 and 100 jobs over the next several years. In addition to the skilled positions, he’s exploring collaborating with the nonprofit Green Opportunities and the Department of Veterans Affairs to train entry-level employees. And though Hammel hasn’t yet explored living wage certification, he says he believes in sharing with employees and helping them become company owners and leaders. Certification, he says, “will be a good conversation to have when we’re located here.” Hammel’s handful of New York-based employees, he reports, don’t intend to relocate with the company.
Hammel stresses that his plans aren’t final and “a lot of things still have to happen,” but he says he’s signed a letter of agreement with a building owner in West Asheville. He needs a specialized type of industrial space to comply with his operation’s strict manufacturing standards. “TerraVare is certified as achieving good manufacturing practices, as well as being organic, gluten-free, kosher and non-GMO. Not just any building will work for those requirements,” he explains.
To be ready to process the 2017 hemp crop, notes Hammel, his plans will have to come together quickly. “We have to have the facility in place and functional by February. It’s quite an endeavor to move some pretty big machines.” His largest piece of equipment, a packaging machine, nearly fills a semitrailer all by itself.
To add hemp processing capability to his existing operations, Hammel will buy a dehulling machine, which extracts the heart of the hemp seed. TerraVare plans to process hemp grown by the farmers of the BioRegen cooperative, which Mathis says he hopes will eventually represent farmers in seven Southeastern states. Thus, comments Hammel, “Asheville is more centrally located than people think.”
And though his focus will be on processing raw hemp, Hammel also expects to continue working with ancient grains from a variety of sources. Having a diversified portfolio of suppliers, he explains, is just sound business practice. Eventually, Hammel expects to add CBD processing capabilities, but initially, he’ll focus on hemp-based food and supplement products.
Last year, the Las Vegas-based company Hemp Inc. purchased one of the nation’s only decortication machines — a specialized piece of equipment used in processing hemp for fiber — and installed it at a subsidiary in Spring Hope, N.C.
Step by step
Eric Mathis of BioRegen sees unlimited potential for the hemp industry to branch out into food, apparel, bioplastics and even energy markets. But pilot growing programs conducted last year, he concedes, yielded disappointing results due to higher-than-normal rainfall. Nonetheless, he says North Carolina offers ideal conditions for growing hemp, including loamy soil, high humidity and warm temperatures. The state’s sophisticated agricultural infrastructure and savvy farmers are also important assets, he continues.
BioRegen member Bert James, a farmer who’s the president of Homegrown Agriculture in Bethel, believes North Carolina could also become a center for developing different strains of industrial hemp seed. The state’s diverse climate, he maintains, could give seed breeders an optimal testing ground “for adapting their seed to a variety of environmental conditions.”
Most of the hemp seed now available to American farmers comes from Canada, which has been developing its industry since 1994. But while the Canadians are happy to sell seed to the U.S., it’s not yet clear, says Mathis, that those varieties will produce the same yields here. Even getting the seed to American farmers has proved tricky at times: The DEA has held up some shipments for additional testing, causing farmers to receive their seed after the recommended time for planting. BioRegen, he continues, is working closely with the federal agency to ensure that its members can get seed in the ground next spring.
Meghan Baker, a Buncombe County agricultural extension agent who specializes in small farms, says she’s received a steady stream of calls since last November from local farmers interested in hemp as a potential crop. This area, she says, is home to innovative small farmers who are eager to explore new markets. The trick will be figuring out the right cultivation methods and varieties for WNC’s smaller farms and hilly or mountainous terrain. “We don’t have a lot of flat bottomland that’s accessible to cultivating or harvesting equipment,” she explains, so local farmers will need to find niche markets that are a good fit for their smaller yields.
Farmers are also asking about such logistical considerations as optimal row spacing, planting depth, soil fertility and strategies for managing pests and weeds. “It’s virgin territory,” says Baker. “We know this crop was historically grown across the U.S., but that knowledge base has been lost.”
As with any new crop, Baker and her colleagues are advising farmers to start small. “We do want people to think ahead to new crops,” she says, but she also cautions growers to move slowly and make sure they have a plan for marketing their harvests. Baker says she expects that the state’s Agriculture Department and land-grant universities will launch pilot growing programs in 2017 to begin the research that will help extension agents answer farmers’ questions.
Mathis, however, emphasizes the critical role farmers have played in getting the new industry started. “They have spearheaded the fundraising effort to establish the regulatory commission, and they’re moving ahead in the face of the risks inherent in a developing market.”
Still, says Hammel, it won’t happen overnight. “This is a process, and it’s going to take some time. While there is a lot of excitement around industrial hemp, there are some technical issues we need to work through.
“Hopefully, this will be a big economic boost for the farmers who’ve struggled for the past 20 years.”
Source: http://mountainx.com/news/wncs-budding-hemp-industry/
NC Lawmakers Push to Authorize Industrial Hemp Growth
By TWC News
Thursday, June 9, 2016 at 07:30 PM EDT
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- North Carolina lawmakers are pushing a proposal to authorize the cultivation of industrial hemp with the goal of allowing researchers to begin planting next spring.
The House Agriculture Committee approved a bill Thursday allowing for state land grant universities to grow hemp under the guidance of a nine-member commission and the Department of Agriculture.
Hemp is a variety of cannabis with low levels of the psychoactive THC chemical. It has high nutritional value and can be used to make biodegradable plastics, fuels, clothing and rope.
The bill would allow the commission to fine growers up to $2,500 for growing marijuana on property designated for hemp.
Rep. Mark Brody, R-Union, assured the committee hemp grows differently than medical or recreational marijuana plants, and growers are unlikely to mix the two.
Source: http://www.twcnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2016/06/9/nc-lawmakers-push-to-authorize-industrial-hemp-growth.html
The weekly 200ma speaks for itself.
Everyone must know you don't think he's a good CEO, but since I'm a level-headed man, I'll extend the dignity in answering that highly subjective question.
First: yes, he is doing a fairly good job at putting together the largest decorticator, under limited resources.
Second: the quality and effectiveness of CEO to any company could be debated. Steve Jobs - too brash and condescending; a glorified A-hole, later deemed unfit and overwhelmed with sickness. Steve Ballmer - did the guy know anything about consumer electronics? Mark Zuckerberg - too young. Marissa Mayer - cannot bring a once thriving company back to massive growth. Rupert Murdoch - too old.
Here is why I think Bruce is most suited to fill the role as CEO for Hemp Inc.
1. It's his company, and
2. It's his business.
Care to find someone else with over 40 years experience with cannabis, with a business network as large? He's had his hands on pretty much every aspect of the trade from logistics to marketing.
Ok, let's now suppose 10-15 years have gone by, Hemp Inc has established itself as the industry standard, and it's time for Bruce to move on. Would I like to see a 'Jeff Bezos' or 'Elon Musk' caliber executive take the helm? Absolutely. But, at this moment in time, Bruce is most qualified for the job, and I can't complain with how far we've come, from the first harvest in China to acquiring the only decorticator of it's size, positioning it in a state that soon after would legalize hemp, and now we look forward to the first hemp harvests NC has seen in decades.
Yea, I'd say he's doing just fine.
Any more rhetorical questions?
You said it best
Here are three simple, undisputable facts:
1) Hemp is legal in North Carolina
2) The largest hemp decorticator in the US is located in North Carolina.
3) US hemp sales estimated over $500 million in 2015.
I have some spare time this afternoon - watch as I insert a bonafide nuke into your logic, bit by bit.
Basing your analysis off a cartoon? "credible" s/