Pubdate: April, 1999
Author: John G. White 
Source: Farm Industry News
Copyright: 1999 Intertec Publishing Corporation, A PRIMEDIA Company.
Vol: 32, No. 7
Contact:  http://www.homefarm.com/

MIRACLE CROP, OR BUST?

Why Should Canada And Europe Supply U.S. Companies With Hemp When We
Could Grow It Here?

Proponents of industrial hemp can get carried away, and it isn't hard
to get caught up in their enthusiasm. Here's why.

Hemp may be grown without expensive crop production inputs, including
herbicides. Typically, large tap roots bore deeply into the ground to
provide excellent soil aeration, and when the crop is rotted in the
field, a nice layer of organic matter is added to the soil. Some
agronomists are even suggesting that soybeans grown in a rotation
following industrial hemp show a significant reduction in soybean cyst
nematode.

Because of its hardiness, hemp may be grown from Texas to northern
Canada, in most types of soils, with little effort.

Although growing hemp is illegal in this country, processing raw hemp
into products is not. The number of products from hemp imported into
the United States is staggering, so much so that some are calling hemp
the "soybean of the new millennium." Environmentalists love it because
the fibers are considered better for the manufacture of paper than
wood fibers; they call it "treeless" paper. Hemp may be used in
plastics (that biodegrade), textiles (carpets, jeans, shoes, rope,
ship sails), paper and building materials, animal bedding, foods,
technical products (paint, solvents, printing ink) and oil (shampoo,
bath gels).

"We show that some 25,000 different products can be made from
industrial hemp," states Bud Sholtz, agricultural economist and chair
of the North American Industrial Hemp Council (NAIHC) in Madison, WI.
"We might have lost count. The list continues to grow."

And, finally, many farmers already have the necessary equipment to
plant and harvest industrial hemp. Fiber producers may use typical
haying equipment, and seed producers can turn to a combine. There is
little need to regear to produce the crop.

A viable crop. Is industrial hemp the "miracle crop" our nation's
farmers have been searching for? "The only miracle I know of in
farming is when it rains after a six-week drought," quips Andy Graves,
president of the Fayette County Farm Bureau and the Kentucky Hemp
Growers Co-op Association. "Is industrial hemp a viable and
environmentally friendly alternative crop? That's what we're banking
on."

That "we," however, does not include the federal government's Drug
Enforcement Agency (DEA).

Last year in his report "Hemp & Marijuana, Myths and Realities," Dr.
David West, a commercial plant breeder in Prescott, WI, wrote: "Feral
hemp, or ditchweed, is a remnant of the hemp once grown on more than
400,000 acres by U.S. farmers. It contains extremely low levels of THC
[tetrahydrocannabinol], as low as .03 percent. It has no drug
value....About 90 percent of the 'marijuana' being eradicated by the
federal government - at great public expense - is this harmless
ditchweed. Might it be that the drug enforcement agencies want to
convince us that ditchweed is marijuana in order to protect their
large eradication budgets?"

Changing minds. Andy Graves is trying to change the minds of such
groups as the DEA and the American Farm Bureau Federation. "I'm the
first farmer in my family's seven generations of farming U.S. soil who
cannot and has not grown industrial hemp," he states.

Graves believes that economics and a growing demand will change that
situation. "Actually, the Farm Bureau is taking a neutral stance on
the issue. And that's just the way we want it," Graves says. "While
the rest of the bureaucracy is trying to figure this out, we're going
full speed ahead in developing a market for hemp. We're now worrying
about economics and development," he adds.

Graves, who is also an NAIHC board member, notes that "the U.S. is the
only industrialized nation in the world that outlaws the growth of
industrial hemp."

The NAIHC is working with several states to research growing and
developing market opportunities for industrial hemp. Kentucky, Hawaii,
Illinois, Virginia, Wisconsin, Ver-mont, Colorado and North Dakota are
among the many states where legislators, university researchers and
farm organizations are trying to enact positive legislation.

The Minnesota Senate recently passed a bill that would allow
industrial hemp to be grown on experimental or demonstration plots.
Farmers would register with the state ag commission to grow it, as
well as provide plot location. If the bill is approved by the
Minnesota House and Gov-ernor Jesse Ventura, Minnesota will become the
first state to allow the crop to be grown for industrial uses.

A million-dollar industry. Six North Dakota State University
professors collaborated on a study that showed that, since 1995 when
industrial hemp could first be imported into this country, imports
have increased 215%. Worldwide hemp sales were $5 million in 1993 and
jumped to $75 million in 1995. Hemptech, a California company that
tracks the industry, estimates sales will top $600 million by 2001.
"You want economic growth?" Graves asks. "In Kentucky alone we have
already developed a fish meal substitute using industrial hemp called
Nutra Hemp. It's a major savings on fish meal, which quite frankly
we're in danger of eradicating from our oceans. We're feeding Nutra
Hemp to hogs and cattle right now at a significant savings, and we are
finding we are producing livestock that is hormone-free, steroid-free
and antibiotic-free. This is essentially organic beef. And right near
us here in Kentucky we have a paper recycling company that has figured
that it can use industrial hemp in its processing right now and have
an appetite for 25,000 acres."

And this doesn't include the seed market, which Graves believes will
compose the heart of Kentucky's economic gain. "Look, we're in an area
where the tobacco industry is going to change. Every farmer knows the
situation with corn and soybeans," Graves says. "Industrial hemp that
is field retted [rotted] is so bulky after it's baled that it almost
has to be processed locally. This lends itself to rural economic
development by creating jobs. That is good for everyone."

Industrial hemp offers the world of commerce a variety of raw
materials - long-bast fiber, medium fiber, short-core fiber, seed,
seed oil and seed meal. Approximately 30% of the plant's tall, thin
stalk is made up of long-bast fiber that competes so favorably with
wood and cotton.

The real dope. Proponents of the legalization of industrial hemp have
two main preambles: Industrial hemp is the crop for the times, and
their product is not to be confused with marijuana in any way, shape
or form.

Though both marijuana and industrial hemp have been categorized as
Cannabis, especially by the DEA, there is a significant difference
both in plant physiology and propagation.

Marijuana is high in THC, the mood-altering chemical. Marijuana
contains from 3 to 25% THC. Industrial hemp, on the other hand, is an
"industrial-sized" headache for smokers. Not only does it have less
than one-half of a percent of THC, it contains a significantly high
percentage of something called cannabinoid (CBD). CBD actually blocks
a marijuana high, according to West.

Growers of marijuana want buds and leaves. That's where the THC is at
its highest levels. Growers of industrial hemp want stems. They aim
for tall, spindly plants that stand 6 to 8 ft. high. It's the stems
that contain the valuable fibers.

"Basically, marijuana is an 'inside' crop. Get it around industrial
hemp," Graves says, "and it cross pollinates, and the CBD eventually
overpowers the THC. That's the last thing a marijuana grower wants to
have happen."

"We're not proposing the legalization of marijuana at all," snaps
Sholtz. "The NAIHC is totally against that. Don't get us mixed up with
that."

Actually, it was a B-grade movie that is credited with the demise of
industrial hemp - that and an overreaction of a drug enforcement
agency. With the end of Prohibition, a movie called Reefer Madness was
released that ballyhooed the evils of marijuana. The Marijuana Tax Act
of 1937 placed an extremely high tax on marijuana and made it
effectively impossible to grow industrial hemp. Although a prewar
push, Hemp for Victory, was made to help produce clothing and other
materials for the war effort, by the 1950s the U.S. hemp industry was
virtually dead.

What's next? Graves and others seem content with the development of
the wholesale market for industrial hemp, although they would
definitely prefer that the crop be grown here. "Canada started
production last year, and we're importing that. More and more
industries, and more and more people, are discovering the benefits of
this fiber. We're just getting started. The infrastructure is
beginning to emerge," Graves says.

Sholtz would prefer, if and when hemp is legalized, that growth of the
infrastructure and the propagation be slow. "Somehow it must be
controlled. With an open market, industrial hemp won't exist within
five years. If the price is $75 per ton, if we let this go the way of
corn or soybeans, the price will drop to $25 a ton and never recover.
We do not want to destroy our own market before it has a chance to be
developed."

Interestingly, industrial hemp has quite a strong historical
significance for this nation. Sails on the ships that brought the
original immigrants to this nation were made of hemp. In Jamestown and
other colonies of the 1600s, "must grow" laws were passed to keep the
struggling villages clothed and protected. Two of the first versions
of the Declaration of Independence were printed on hemp paper, and
Betsy Ross sewed the first U.S. flag with hemp. Settlers crossing the
country used wagons covered with hemp tarps.

Graves asks, "And, we can't grow it here?"

For more information about industrial hemp, contact NAIHC, Box 259329,
Madison, WI 53725-9329, 608/258-0243, or contact the Industrial Hemp
Information Network at www.hemptech.com. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake