History

By Michael Bachara, Hemp News

Beginning Spring 2013, Oregon State University will be offering its groundbreaking course on industrial hemp. The online course, WSE 266, is being spearheaded by the College of Forestry’s department of wood science and engineering. The department believes hemp is an extremely useful renewable resource which is worthy of exploration.

Described in the course material as “an introduction to the botany, biology and agronomy of the hemp plant, its origins, historical contexts and implications of contemporary legal and social issues surrounding its use for food, fiber and building products,” the course will be led by hemp consultant Anndrea Hermann, M.Sc, B.Gs, P.Ag, an instructor at the university. Hermann is the President of the Hemp Industries Association (HIA), and has recruited several guest lecturers in order to bring a multi-dimensional view to the curriculum.

Hermann has a wide range of hemp knowledge, from fiber and seed agronomy to building applications. She is also a partner at Hemp-Technologies, a North Carolina based company who produces eco-friendly hemp houses in the region.

“It’s an up and coming crop in the United States and we are going to need professionals coming out of academia who are experts in multiple areas,” according to Hermann. "Oregon can become a recognized leader in the environmentally conscience fiberboard manufacturing of the twenty first century."

By Beverly Fortune, herald-leader.com

For advocates of reviving industrial hemp production in Kentucky, the state's past as a leading hemp producer shows the crop's potential.

Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer and Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul are among those pushing to revive industrial hemp in the state.

It's ironic, Comer said in a recent interview, that until the Civil War, Kentucky led the nation in industrial hemp production.

The earliest settlers westward brought hemp seed in their baggage, James F. Hopkins points out in A History of the Hemp Industry in Kentucky. During the early 1800s, Kentucky hemp fibers were in demand for rope, sailcloth and rough fabrics used to wrap bales of cotton and make pants that were called Kentucky jeans.

Lexington was at the center of that production.

In 1838, there were 18 rope and bagging factories in Lexington that employed 1,000 workers, according to research by Lowell H. Harrison and James C. Klotter.

Lexington's John Wesley Hunt, the first millionaire west of the Alleghenies, made his fortune growing hemp and manufacturing the fibers into rope, said Jamie Millard, former president of the Lexington History Museum.

One of Hunt's factories was in downtown Lexington near North Broadway and West Third Street, Millard said.

Why Oregon, California and more are likely to follow Colorado and Washington toward legalization

By Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone

The Berlin Wall of pot prohibition seems to be crumbling before our eyes.

By fully legalizing marijuana through direct democracy, Colorado and Washington have fundamentally changed the national conversation about cannabis. As many as 58 percent of Americans now believe marijuana should be legal. And our political establishment is catching on. Former president Jimmy Carter came out this month and endorsed taxed-and-regulated weed. "I'm in favor of it," Carter said. "I think it's OK." In a December 5th letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) suggested it might be possible "to amend the Federal Controlled Substances Act to allow possession of up to one ounce of marijuana, at least in jurisdictions where it is legal under state law." Even President Obama hinted at a more flexible approach to prohibition, telling 20/20's Barbara Walters that the federal government was unlikely to crack down on recreational users in states where pot is legal, adding, "We've got bigger fish to fry."

By Amy Gillentine, Colorado Springs Business Journal

The Declaration of Independence was written on paper made of hemp. During World War II the federal government launched a “Hemp for Victory” campaign urging people to grow the plant to make ropes for the military.

Until the late 1800s, nearly all cloth and virtually all paper were made from hemp. It was so valuable that hemp could be used as money.

But that was then.

Today, industrial hemp isn’t strictly illegal, but farmers must get a permit from the Drug Enforcement Agency to grow it — something that’s proven impossible. Colorado and Washington have joined nine other states in legalizing the crop. But despite the passage of Amendment 64, the DEA still must give permission, even though states issue their own permits.

Colorado farmers could be able to grow industrial hemp as early as next summer, with state permits alone. It’s unclear if the federal government would raid industrial hemp farms operating without DEA permission.
Needless permits

Supporters say that it makes no sense to require federal permits. Hemp is harmless, they say, and can benefit the economy and environment. Hemp can remediate soil damage, be spun into clothing and bracelets, help create soaps and lotions, and even absorb tons of carbon dioxide a year. Currently, U.S. imports of hemp from Canada and China equal around $2 billion annually.

By Bailey Richards, Hazard Herald, Staff Reporter

Economic development is something we talk about a lot in the Herald office. Sure, it may not be the juiciest of water cooler gossip, but it is something we are all affected by and hear about almost daily.

It is part of our jobs to know the news, and lately the news about the local economy has all been negative. We hear about layoffs, cut backs, and people being forced to move away for employment.

Someone recently asked me why people are poor, and my answer was surprisingly similar to why I believe I am. I know what I like to do and being in a creative field, be it in an office, on the street, or in front of an easel, was always something I was going to do.

The people of Eastern Kentucky are no different; they know what they want to do. Many of them want to stay close to home, have lucrative employment and be a part of their community, but as jobs move away from the area this becomes harder and lower paying jobs replace the formerly high paying employment. This creates a question, do you become poor but live where you want to be and who you want to be around, or leave and take a chance at making more money? This isn’t a choice I wish upon anyone, but there may be another way.

Right now, the commonwealth of Kentucky is in a hot debate over the legality of growing hemp. While this could be a great way for Kentucky to fight back against job loss, it remains a controversial crop.

American Lime Technology, the North American leader in sustainable hemp and lime-based green building construction materials is proud to announce construction is underway at the first green home in Florida utilizing Tradical Hemcrete.

By PRWeb

American Lime Technology, the North American leader in sustainable hemp and lime-based green building construction materials is proud to announce construction is underway at the first green home in Florida utilizing Tradical Hemcrete.

Located just blocks from the coast, this green home will offer extraordinary benefits to occupant health, comfort, fire resistance, pest resistance, sustainability and energy consumption, as well as protect its occupants from Hurricane force winds. With a design typical of single family homes in Florida, this house is subtle, practical and quietly makes a bold statement about green construction for mainstream consumers.

Hemp and lime-based binder are cast over a largely conventional wood frame. Lime render (think breathable stucco without portland cement) exterior finish will be directly applied to the Hemcrete walls. The interior of the Hemcrete walls will be a coated with a thin layer of breathable natural hydraulic lime plaster that will allow the beautiful organic hemp aggregate texture to show through. The plaster will be finished with a limewash color coat.

By Susan Mcguire, The Gazette
Photograph by William Eaves, Jr.

Hemp breakfast cereal, hemp clothing, hemp hand cream - all available in perfectly respectable stores. Is this the same hemp that is illegal to grow in Canada? No, not at all.

These products come from what is called industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L), a distant cousin of the marijuana plant. Both are part of a diverse plant species of more than 500 varieties that includes the hops used to make beer.

Farmers have been cultivating industrial hemp for 10,000 years, starting in Mesopotamia (Iraq) and in China's Yellow River Valley. For centuries, people used hemp fibre to make clothes, rope, sails and paper; they stewed, roasted and milled the grain for food; and used the oil for cosmetics, lighting, paints and varnishes.

In the 1660s and 1670s, Jean Talon encouraged the farmers of New France to grow hemp by giving them free seed, which they had to plant immediately and replace with seed from their next year's crop. So important was hemp that he confiscated all the thread in the colony and gave it back only in return for hemp. Women needed thread, and he knew that would put pressure on their husbands to grow the crop. However, production collapsed when Talon went back to France.

State Sen. Joey Pendleton, D-Hopkinsville, says as an agricultural product, its time has come

By ROBYN L. MINOR, The Daily News

One area lawmaker believes the state is ready to approve growing hemp as an agricultural product.

State Sen. Joey Pendleton, D-Hopkinsville, said Congress also must be on board after outlawing the production of the crop decades ago.

"But for once, I'd like to see Kentucky proactive rather than reactive," he said. "That way, once they release it, we would be ready to go."

Hemp is already widely used in the manufacturing of clothing, cosmetics and even the auto industry.

"Most of what we use or sell here is grown in Canada," Pendleton said. "Eighty-five percent of what Canada produces comes to us."

Pendleton is headed to Washington, D.C., today to talk to congressional leaders about the need to produce hemp and to get a White House briefing on the Farm Bill.

This is the second time Pendleton has made an earnest attempt to allow the production of agricultural hemp. This time he has the support of Republican Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, he said.

"So I'm hoping that's going to help me on the other side of the aisle," Pendleton said. "I want to try to at least get a hearing and get it moving."

Comer's office said he would be interested in discussing the issue, but he couldn't be reached by press time today.

The photo below show the company's employees, mostly area farmers in 1917. The company owner is pictured in the back row at the far right.

By Michael Bachara, Hemp News Correspondent

Established in 1916, the Fairwater Hemp Company was one of the upper midwest's largest hemp producers. It was located adjacent to the booming railroad line and also to the west of the north fork of the Grand River, making it convenient for the production of electricity to power their manufacturing plant. The community of Fairwater, which was founded around the water power of the river in 1848, was officially incorporated in 1921.

In 1917, Fairwater Hemp began using industrial hemp as electrical energy when the river was low by burning the byproducts of their hemp rope manufacture, hemp hurds, to drive a steam engine to produce electricity. This instance is the first documented use of hemp as an energy source.

Although Fairwater hemp operations ceased in 1931, the number of things that can be made from hemp continues to grow today. The possibilities for the plant are endless job producers for those who wish to be innovative. It is this writers opinion, we must re-introduce this agricultural crop to our society, now more than ever.

The transatlantic cable, completed in August 1858, was the beginning of instantaneous communication, and hemp was there.

By Michael Bachara, Hemp News Correspondent

Our country has a history of growth and progress, from Pony Express letter to the iPhone call. Through the agricultural age to the industrial and straight into the technological age. Our citizens changing over time as new discoveries about our capabilities are made, we have gotten better at so many things, and yet continue to struggle in others.

Biomass Fuels From Hemp (PDF)

By Agua Das1 and Thomas B. Reed2

Historically Hemp (Cannabis Sativa L.) has been a very high yielding plant (Haney 1975). Assuming that hemp produces up to 4 tons/acre seed plus 10 tons/acre stalks. Table 1 shows how many gallons of liquid fuel import could be saved by each of the following proven conversion routes.

Recent hemp yield data is largely unavailable, due to restrictions on the growth of hemp. Cultivation of hemp currently requires permits under Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) form 225. Patented hemp seed varieties are now available in the EC and Eastern Europe which are effectively denatured and drug free. The hemp plant is a promising high yield biomass fuel crop cultivar and both production and utilization should be included in the DOE/TVA and regional biomass screening programs. One would hope that DOE regional biomass program contractors should not have difficulty qualifying for the necessary permits.

Learning from the Past; Looking to the Future

By Michael Bachara, Hemp News Correspondent

In 1985, the Oregon Marijuana Initiative (OMI), with petitioners including Jack Herer, Paul Stanford, John Sajo and countless others, collected over 87,000 signatures necessary to place the issue of legalization on the ballot.

In 1986, the initiative officially became Oregon's Ballot Measure 5. The measure, which sought to legalize cannabis, united activists' from across the state. By some estimates, cannabis was Oregon's largest cash crop in 1986.

The ballot measure was ultimately rejected by Oregon voters with 279,479 "Yes" and 781,922 "No" votes, or 26.33% support.

It has been 25 years since that vote and societal attitudes have continued to change toward cannabis. The prohibitionist propaganda has faded with time and the debunking of racist mythology. We are clearer in educating ourselves and others about this valuable plant. Medicinal cannabis has become legal in Oregon and across the country. Farmers are beginning to see the value that hemp could bring to our economy as well with hemp food, fuel, clothing, paper, building materials and so much more.

Oregonians for the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act of 2012 are currently circulating petitions for Initiative 9, to make hemp and cannabis legal in Oregon.

Over the past several years, sixteen states have passed pro-hemp farming legislation, so why are Illinois lawmakers working against the farmer?

By Michael, Hemp News Correspondent

Last month, because of years of festering propagandist lies, the Illinois House of Representatives voted against mid-west farmers and their right to grow a viable rotation crop (HB1383 - Illinois Industrial Hemp Act). The bill, which passed a House Agriculture and Conservation Committee by a vote of 11-2 earlier in the same week, would have licensed: individuals desiring to grow, process, cultivate, harvest, possess, sell, or purchase industrial hemp or industrial hemp related products. In many cases, an alternative rotation crop, such as hemp, could possibly save the multi-generational farms from foreclosure.

"The fiber from industrial hemp is one of the strongest natural fibers known, and it is present in bundles that surround the main stem. Industrial hemp fiber applications include uses in textiles, cordage, construction materials, paper products, and bio-composite plastics," according to Donald P. Briskin, Professor of Plant Biochemistry/Physiology, Department of Natural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois.

Oregon Hemp History, Connecting the Past to the Future

By Michael Bachara, Hemp News Correspondent

In the early 1990's, C & S Specialty Builder's Supply (namely Bill Conde, Dave Seber, Barry Davis, and Tim Pate) in Harrisburg, Oregon, imported regulated bales of hemp and began working on a medium density fiberboard (MDF). The evolution of hemp MDF as a viable building supply option began when Bill Conde of C & S took their hemp fiber research and ideas to Paul Maulberg, the head of Washington State University's Wood Engineering Laboratory.

Conde explains in a 2005 Mycotopia blog, "We asked if [Maulberg] would consider trying some hemp fiber to make some experimental hemp MDF, and his reply was, 'You bet, hemp is the King Cong of fiber. I would love a chance to work with some."

Excitedly, Conde and team began the process working with Maulberg on creation and testing of the hemp MDF. It was soon discovered how strong the hemp fiber truly was, as the full-length hemp fibers jammed both of the processing machines and brought things to a standstill. The process for breaking down the fibers was redesigned and restarted with ultimate success.