AFBF Article on Hemp


The following article was published in American Farm Bureau Federation's
national weekly newspaper.

FARM BUREAU NEWS
June 17, 1996

Hemp could be a promising new ag commodity
By Debora Thomas Hood

Despite support from the Colorado Farm Bureau and other organizations, the
Colorado House Agriculture Committee killed a bill this spring that could
have launched one of the most promising crops in half a century for the
state's agriculture producers.

The crop was hemp - industrial hemp, not marijuana - but lawmakers were
stopped in their tracks from passing legislation that would have
designated a
properly monitored test plot for development of the crop, because of
concerns
of Drug Enforcement Agency officials.

Colorado is one of several states, including Vermont, Kentucky and
Missouri,
where agriculture producers and other proponents are currently seeking
legal
recognition of industrial hemp.

Currently, hemp production is treated as a felony in the United States
because it is assumed that all hemp crops will produce marijuana, which
contains high concentrations (more that 1 percent) of tetrahydrocannabinois
(THC). THC is the psychoactive chemical found in Cannabis sativa, which
produces euphoric effects. Legislation is needed to establish a recognized
research area for the crop, according to local, state and federal
regulations.

Research from the Colorado Hemp Initiative Project (CHIP) shows that
industrial hemp, harvested at a profit of $514 per acre, would add $87
million to the state's farm economy annually. Those figures were based on
estimated production of 5 percent (170,000 acres) of Colorado farmland
currently devoted to wheat, corn or lying fallow.

CHIP pegged non-farm impact, through creation of textile production and
manufacturing, product trade and advancement of allied products, at $20
million, for an overall impact to Colorado's economy of $107 million.

According to CHIP, research shows industrial hemp, while classified as
Cannabis sativa, contains less than 1 percent THC and has no psychoactive
properties. Many new, registered varieties of the plant, available
throughout
Europe, contain less than 0.3 percent THC, even in the flowers. CHIP
information says that European farmers have been growing hemp for over 20
years without any problems related to marijuana.

Used for centuries around the world for its strong, wear-resistant fibers,
hemp provided the rigging and sails for the world's ships form the
discovery
of America through World War II. Until the late 1800's, most of the cloth
produced in the United States, and nearly all its paper, was made form
hemp,
grown primarily in regions of Kentucky and Wisconsin.

According to CHIP research, invention of a machine to mechanically separate
hemp fiber form the stalk in the 1930's prompted magazines of the time to
hail hemp as the "New Billion Dollar Crop" and "The Most Desirable
Crop That
Can Be Grown."

But production, research and further development of hemp=92s industrial
uses in
the United States were halted abruptly by passage of the 1937 Marijuana Tax
Act, which established a tax of $1 per ounce on hemp manufacturers and
distributors as well as on hemp transactions.

Bob Winter, Weld County (Colo.) Farm Bureau president, offered five acres
of his land for the Colorado test plot, and worked closely with researchers to
develop a cultivation and fertilization plan.

"Industrial hemp could be the alternative crop farmers are looking for
now,"
he said of the plan. He noted industrial hemp is currently grown in China,
India, Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia and Canada, among other
countries. The United States imports raw product from many of those
countries
for manufacture here.

"The lion's share of products made from industrial hemp is here in the
United States," Winter said. "It's a shame that we continue to import the
raw product in the form of hemp pulp, and that we cannot grow this crop on our
own soil." END

NOTE: Debra Hood is an agricultural Journalist in Canon City, Colo. She
produces the Colorado Farm Bureau News for the Colorado Farm Bureau.



EDITORIAL COMMENT

Clearing the smoke on industrial hemp
By Bob Winter

Industrial hemp provides a window of opportunity for U.S. agricultural
producers to take advantage of a highly profitable fiber crop whose many
uses
include clothing, rope, paper, cosmetics, livestock feed, insulation,
wood-substitute particle board, plastics and fuel. It costs about $300 an
acre to grow and can yield a profit of more than $500 per acre. Those facts
got my attention in a hurry!

International trade agreements (GATT and NAFTA) recognize the designation
of
0.3 percent tetrahydrocannibinois (THC) as the distinction between
industrial
hemp and marijuana. But current U.S. law does not differentiate between
industrial hemp and marijuana. Thanks to these laws, the United States lags
behind other world powers in hemp production and must import raw hemp pulp
for manufacture here, while U.S. farmers are prohibited from growing a
highly profitable crop without government subsidy.

Canada is finishing its third year of test research on the crop, and will
soon shift to commercial production. Industry will then move to Canada to
build processing facilities. Now that Canada is on the verge of growing
industrial hemp, with NAFTA opening North American trade, we will not be
able to compete if we don't get on the bandwagon soon.

Hemp production could be a boon to American farm communities all across the
country. Industrial hemp could be the alternative crop farmers are looking
for, as they rethink their crop and marketing practices in light of the end
to farm support payments under the 1996 farm bill.

NOTE: Bob Winter is a farmer in northeastern Colorado and president of the
Weld County Farm Bureau.
******


Colorado Hemp Initiative Project
P.O. Box 729
Nederland, CO 80466
(303) 784-5632

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