Hemp, Inc. this morning highlighted ongoing hemp industry
media coverage as the State of Pennsylvania shows favorable interest in
legalizing industrial hemp and North Carolina awaits the signature of approval
from Governor Pat McCrory to legalize industrial hemp. More states are
recognizing the enormous environmental and economic benefits of industrial
hemp, and in response, state officials are positioning their states to reap the
economic rewards.
The buzz surrounding the legislation also provides an important
measure of public education on how industrial hemp can boost the economy.
“As more people become educated on the myriad benefits of
industrial hemp, including how it can help the economy, I believe many more
states will vote in favor of legalizing hemp,” Bruce Perlowin, CEO of Hemp,
Inc., stated in the news release. “Our multipurpose hemp processing plant is
the first and only commercial factory to be built in the United States in
almost a century. We have been meticulously building the infrastructure to be
able to vertically integrate growing, decortication, and milling and this is no
small feat. We aim to spark a new clean green American Agricultural and
Industrial Hemp Revolution for the American farmers and hemp product
manufacturers.”
As the Richmond County Daily Journal pointed out in the
article below, “Linking hemp and marijuana was a knee-jerk reaction based on
misinformed public sentiment rather than science.” Thus, “Allowing industrial
hemp cultivation corrects that mistake.”
If you missed the latest news covering the industrial hemp
industry, read the re-prints below:
Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives Loves Hemp Posted on
October 9, 2015 by DJ Pangburn
Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives loves hemp.
Industrial hemp. In fact, they love it so much that the Agriculture and Rural
Affairs Committee approved the newly-introduced House Bill 967 within minutes
of introduction, sending it to the house floor for debate and vote.
House Bill 967, introduced by Representative Russ Diamond on
Tuesday (October 6), would allow industrial hemp to be grown or cultivated by
special programs in Pennsylvania. Currently, American companies must import
industrial hemp from countries such as Canada and China, blockading what has
historically been one of America’s largest markets.
Pennsylvania’s move, which mirrors those taken by other
states, could potentially open up a number of doors for commercial uses, which
would benefit the planet given hemp’s low impact on the environment.
“The feds are catching on to the enormous environmental and
economic benefits of the use of industrial hemp, and this pilot program
anticipates the full legalization of hemp crops for industrial purposes in the
future,” said Diamond in a statement. “My bill will put Pennsylvania in a
position to reap the economic rewards that will come when further barriers are
removed.”
Hemp, an incredibly resilient crop, can grow in a number of
climate and soil types, and is largely pest-resistant. It can be used in
everything from clothing and home installation to oils (including fuel), food
items and paper production. In fact, paper products can be made with very few
chemicals unlike with conventional paper mills, which use chlorine bleach to
brighten products. A bit more obviously, hemp grows much faster than trees used
in paper products, which would be a major coup for the environment. And these
are just a small fraction of its existing and potential uses.
As with other states, Pennsylvania’s House Bill 967 grew out
of an amendment to the 2014 federal Farm Bill. Signed into law by President
Obama, this bill legally redefined industrial hemp as distinct from marijuana,
opening the doors for states to pursue academic, state department and
commercial research into its benefits as an agricultural crop.
If House Bill 967 passes the Pennsylvania house, the state
will join 24 other states in industrial hemp research, including California,
Hawaii, West Virginia and New York, amongst others.
OUR VIEW: Hemp holds promise for N.C. farmers Posted:
October 9th, 2015 By: A Daily Journal Editorial
North Carolina lawmakers cooked up an appetizing bit of
sausage in the closing days of their marathon regular session last month,
though the process used to make it left us feeling a little queasy. Senate Bill
313, which is awaiting Gov. Pat McCrory’s signature, clears the way for farmers
to grow industrial hemp after obtaining a permit from a state study commission.
The bill also rewrites the N.C. Controlled Substances Act to distinguish hemp
from marijuana.
The move is a leap forward for agriculture, already our
state’s No. 1 industry. A versatile and sustainable crop, hemp is grown for its
fibers, which are used to make paper, rope, building materials and clothing.
Hemp grows without the use of chemical pesticides and the
plant even filters out toxins already in the soil, according to the North
American Industrial Hemp Council, an advocacy group. The United States banned
its cultivation “based on its biological connection to marijuana,” the council
notes, a blunder that shows ignorance of plant science.
Though the crops are cannabis cousins, hemp contains only
infinitesimal amounts of the THC found in marijuana that creates the drug’s
psychoactive effect. Smoking hemp will not produce a “high.” It is grown by
farmers for commercial use, not by users of medicinal or recreational
marijuana.
The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, which marked the U.S.
government’s first step to regulate the drug, lumped hemp in with marijuana for
no good reason. The feds followed suit with the Controlled Substances Act of
1970, and state legislatures largely mirrored the congressional template in
their own drug laws.
Hemp is not, as some would suggest, a Trojan horse that will
inevitably lead to the wholesale legalization of marijuana. It is a cash crop
grown throughout the world, and struggling farmers in Richmond County and
throughout North Carolina deserve the opportunity to see it sprout in their
fields.
Linking hemp and marijuana was a knee-jerk reaction based on
misinformed public sentiment rather than science. Allowing industrial hemp
cultivation corrects that mistake.
In its first iteration, SB 313 was an innocuous bill
introduced to add five more specialty license plates to the N.C. Division of
Motor Vehicles’ already long list of customized tags. The full text was
replaced with the unrelated hemp bill as a House Rules Committee substitute on
Sept. 28.
Rules Chairman David Lewis, R-Harnett, is a farmer and farm
equipment dealer. We’re sure he understands the value and importance of
industrial hemp. A stand-alone bill would have been preferable, but the end may
yet justify the means.
Though the practice of hollowing out a bland bill and using
it to pass legislation that might not survive full debate is common in the
General Assembly, this legislative legerdemain undermines the function of
representative government and deprives residents of the chance to weigh in.
The sausage-making isn’t pretty, but the end result in this case
is palatable. We urge McCrory to sign the bill and add hemp to North Carolina’s
agricultural roster.
2016 Industrial Hemp Project Applications Sought Posted: Oct
09, 2015 By: WBKO.com
FRANKFORT, Ky. (WBKO) – Farmers, processors, universities,
and others interested in conducting an industrial hemp pilot project in 2016,
are invited to apply, Agriculture Commissioner James Comer has announced.
“The industrial hemp pilot projects have yielded valuable
information the past two years,” Commissioner Comer said. “We look forward to
another successful round of projects and encourage applicants to submit
proposals to research hemp production, processing, manufacturing, and
marketing. This work will help establish Kentucky as the epicenter of America’s
industrial hemp industry once the remaining legal barriers to hemp production
are removed.”
Applicants must complete an application and submit it to the
Kentucky Department of Agriculture no later than Nov. 5, 2015. Applications and
instructions are available on the KDA’s website at www.kyagr.com/hemp.
The department received 326 applications and approved 121 in
2015.
This year’s planting intentions totaled more than 1,700
acres, of which more than 922 acres were planted. In 2014, the first year of
industrial hemp pilot projects, projects totaled just over 30 acres. The 2014
federal farm bill permits industrial hemp pilot programs in states where hemp
production is permitted by state law. Legislation passed in the 2013 Kentucky
General Assembly established a regulatory framework for industrial hemp
production in Kentucky. Commissioner Comer led a bipartisan effort in support
of the legislation, known as Senate Bill 50.
For more information, contact the Kentucky Department of
Agriculture’s Industrial Hemp Program at (502) 573-0282, Option 1, or
hemp@ky.gov.
Hemp Harvest Posted: Oct. 9, 2015 By: Bette McFarren
(bmcfarren@ljtdmail.com)
On 30 acres of land just south of Swink, David Williams and
Billy Seamons are harvesting hemp, first the seeds and later the stalks, to be
used in a variety of ways.
“I have 30 acres in hemp. We are all clear with the state
inspection, which means we can sell our seeds,” said David Williams, a farmer
just south of Swink. Hemp has to have less than .3 percent of THC (the
intoxicating element in marijuana) to be legal in Colorado. Hemp cultivation is
now legal in Colorado, California, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, North Dakota,
Oregon, Vermont and West Virginia, for the purposes of academic research and
marketing. “We would have had to plow it under if it didn’t pass,” said
Williams. Williams’ partner in the venture is Billy Seamons, and he is also
good friends with the folks at Whole Hemp in La Junta, although their
cultivation methods differ.
Whole Hemp’s seeds are being used to extract the medicinal
oil, which is high in cannabidiol, an ingredient in many drugs used to treat
such conditions as epilepsy, multiple scleroses and skin cancer
(experimentally).
Leading the movement to legalize hemp cultivation is Ryan
Loflin of Springfield, son of Sheila LeRoy of La Junta. “He has been planting
hemp for five years now,” said LeRoy. Loflin has attracted the attention of
national media for his experimental work. He believes hemp could be the
financial boon to take southeastern Colorado out of its economic slump.
“Hemp is the new superfood,” said Hal Holder, retired farmer
and wholesaler, who is helping Williams and Seamons with the farming operation.
“Hemp seed is 28 percent protein. It is higher in omega oils than fish.” The
Williams/Seamons crop now being harvested will be dried and separated in Rocky
Ford with equipment manufactured by Oliver. This seed is destined primarily for
planting.
Hemp seed is still expensive because its transport among the
states is difficult due to federal regulations. Dwayne Sims, who did the
testing on these fields for the Colorado Department of Agriculture, likes this
operation because it is real farming, said Williams.
The seed being harvested in the Swink fields now is just the
first crop. Inside the stalks, now drying in the fields, is a white substance
called hurd. It will be chopped and marketed to high-end automobile
manufacturers such as BMW and Mercedes Benz for use in dashboards. “They are
working on an all-hemp car,” said Williams. It is mixed with an adhesive and
becomes an extremely hard and durable substance after it has been molded into
the desired shapes.
Hurd is also used to plug fracking wells that are producing
too much oil and running over. “They like to use it,” said Williams, “because
it is a natural substance which will not harm the soil around it.” It expands
naturally to form the plug. Hemp fibers are used to make rope, which is
durable, flexible and resistant to salt water damage. Hemp may also be used to
manufacture durable cloth, building materials of all sorts and paper.
The planting season begins traditionally on Mother’s Day,
which is the day on which George Washington planted his hemp fields. “Probably
Thomas Jefferson, too,” said LeRoy. Here’s hoping a lot of seed from Otero
County will be going into the ground next May. Williams expressed his gratitude
to the Otero County Commissioners (Kevin Karney, Keith Goodwin and Jim Baldwin)
for their encouragement in getting the industry started here.
For more information visit www.hempinc.com
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