Hemp crop 3

SEED

Animal feed. Seed is used for caged small animals such as rodents.
(91)

Bird feed. A long-standing market serves food needs of pigeons (squab)
and house pets. (92)

Farm operations. Seedcake is made from "residue of the seed after the
oil has been extracted." It can be used for cattle feed and fertilizer.
(93)

Food. Seed can be made into granola bars and breakfast cereal. Seed
contains plentiful amounts of fat, sugar, and albumin. (94) Seed is more
commonly used for human food in Asia and eastern Europe than in the West.
(95) Oil, which has sweet taste, also used for food in Asia. (96) Under
President Ronald Reagan federal law defined hemp as a food resource vital
to national defense. (97)

Fuel. Hemp oil is a traditional lamp fuel in rural Russia. (96)

Oil. Oil content of seed can be 30%, perhaps even 40%. (99) Hemp
was once used in soaps. (100) Hemp has produced fast drying oil for
paints, varnishes, and lacquers; in the United States the Armstrong Cork
Products Company and Sherwin Williams company once used large quantities.
(101) The Archer Daniels Company declared hemp oil to be superior to
linseed oil. (102) A Canadian industry journal reports use of hemp oil in
the 1980's in paint, varnish, and soap manufacturing. (103)

Hemp oil can also be used for cattle feed. (104)

In the 1930's hemp seed was crushed for oil by Durkee, Eldorado
Western Vegetable Oil, Berkeley Oil and Meal Producers, Cottonoil, Pacific
Nutoil Vegetable Oil Products, California Flaxseed Products, Archer
Daniels. (105) The market was substantial enough to require railroad tank
car shipments. (106)

Sport Fishing. Anglers use hemp seed products for bait, (107)

SEED BY-PRODUCTS

Biomass. As an experiment on January 4, 1978 the Eugene, Oregon,
Water & Electric Board burned six tons of cannabis biomass, such as would
result from bushy plants cultivated for hemp seed. The fuel served
downtown steam customers. Results were termed "excellent." Officials said
1,000 tons a day could power the steam facility. (108) Whether such
quantities of hemp biomass could be economically transported long distances
for fuel is questionable, but biomass could certainly be burned as fuel
closer to points of its production.

OTHER

Beverage alcohol. Green stems and leaves produce Jamaican white rum.
(109)

ECONOMICS OF HEMP

FIBER

The most recent peak for hemp production in the United States was
during World War II. The war's end saw a return of competing foreign fiber
imports (abaca, sisal, jute) and reduced application of federal hemp price
guarantees--such subsidies were limited to mills already in business. New
companies had to operate at world market prices without federal support.
The challenge was from inherently cheaper competing fibers, not from
imports per se; protective tariffs would likely have made no difference.
(110) Hemp farming declined dramatically, although a half dozen private
hemp companies were active in the late 1940's, and several hundred
producers were still registered in the 1950's. (111)

Hemp Fiber Production in the United States (112)

Year Acreage Acreage Fiber
Pounds per
Planted Harvested (Pounds)
Acre Yield

1931 320 272,000
850
1932 200 160,000
800
1933 140 105,000
750
1934 500 425,000
850
1935 700 613,000
875
1936 1,400 1,015,000
725
1937 1,300 1,040,000
800
1938 1,390 1,246,000
896
1939 1,440 1,282,000
890
1940 2,070 1,665,000
890
1941 7,400 7,410,000
1,001
1942 15,200 14,400 13,922,000
960
1943 178,000 146,200 140,680,000
962
1944 71,100 53,400 51,632,000
967
1945 7,300 6,900 6,762,000
980
1946 4,600
4,485,000 975
1947 4,900 4,655,000
950
1948 2,800 2,722,000
990

Until the United States entered World War II, private breaking mills
in Wisconsin customarily paid farmers about half the proceeds realized from
sale of hemp fiber by the mill. (113) As the 1930's began, breaking mills
sold hemp fiber to spinning mills at a lower price than cotton fiber, but
spinning costs made hemp yarn more expensive than cotton yarn. (114) In
years just before World War II, industry-wide proceeds were $ 0.18 a pound
for "line" fiber (a superior grade), (115) or $ 0.09 to the farmer.
For crops of 1941-1943 growers served by Atlas Hemp Mills, Juneau,
Wisconsin received an average gross of $ 120 an acre in those three years
for all hemp fiber, including line and the inferior "tow" grade. (116)
Matt Rens Hemp Co. growers netted on average $ 110 an acre in 1942. (117)
After deductions for seed and rental of harvest equipment, at the J. LeRoy
Farmer Hemp Mill in those years farmers producing an "average" crop netted
$ 80 to $ 100 an acre. (118) Average national prices for other 1941-43
crops, per acre harvested (computed by comparing prices per pound or
bushel to yield of pounds or bushels per acre): corn $ 30 per acre, wheat
$ 20, oats $ 17, soybeans $31, Irish potatoes $ 147, tobacco $ 341.
(119) (Those prices are gross income, not net profit.)

The government mill price of line fiber during the war was $ 0.30.
(120) The method of farmer compensation based on fiber price, however, was
not used by the government during the war. As noted in the next paragraph
the government paid by tonnage of stalk regardless of how much fiber the
stalk yielded. Farmers preferred this method, and private mills had
difficulty getting crops. (121) The effect was to make the hemp industry
a virtual federal government monopoly.

During World War II, in addition to six private breaking mills already
in existence, the federal government absorbed the cost of erecting 42 more.
The government guaranteed prices for stalks sold to mills, $ 30 to $ 50
a ton according to grade. Average price to all farmers through mid-1944
was $ 43 a ton. (122) In Illinois the average cost of stalk production
in 1943 was $ 21 a ton. (123) During World War II, with stalk yields of
up to 4 tons per acre hemp was more lucrative than corn for some farmers.
One Iowan netted a profit (after deducting production costs) of $ 154 an
acre in 1943. (124) In 1945 a private Wisconsin mill operator said his
growers were netting $ 90 to $ 100 an acre. (125) In 1944 one Iowa
hemp farmer declared that growers were learning the crop and improving
their efficiency so much that they could get lower prices per ton and still
realize increased profits. (126) A 30-year veteran of the hemp mill
industry said in 1945, "All our farmers are realizing a good return from
this crop, and they are anxious to grow it. We have to turn them down
every year because we cannot handle all the acreage the farmers wish to
produce." (127) Also in 1945, a U. S. Department of Agriculture
specialist declared, "Normally the hemp income is a little bit more than
corn. If the income from corn is $ 65 an acre the farmer may expect
around 67 cents a pound for his hemp" ($ 67 an acre at the 1,000 pound
fiber yield figured by this specialist). "It is in competition with corn
at all times for the land." (128)

The government hemp program recruited 20,000 farmers. In 1943 they
produced 370,000 tons of stalk. Fiber comes from the thin outer layer of
stalk and in the 1940's comprised 20% or less of stalk weight, so tonnage
of fiber would be less; 4,000 to 8,000 pounds of stalk might yield 600 to
1,000 pounds of fiber. (129) In 1944 a private Wisconsin mill
characterized 1,000 pounds of fiber per acre as "an average good crop."
(130) By the mid-1970's average fiber yields of West European growers
surpassed the average 1940's American yield of 890 pounds per acre.
Italian fields produced 1,100 pounds of fiber per acre, France 1,600, West
Germany 1,700. (131) Missouri hemp farms today might be far more
productive than data from the 1940's indicates.

In the late 1940's a USDA authority declared that hemp had higher
fiber yields per acre than cotton, allowing hemp to be grown more cheaply
than cotton. For the farmer, however, retting and milling expenses offset
hemp's initial price advantage over cotton. ("Retting" prepares stalks for
the breaking mill, and in traditional U. S. agricultural practice retting
is done on the farm.) The USDA authority felt that if retting and milling
technology saw improvement, hemp fiber production could become more
profitable than cotton for American farmers. (132) Such technological
advances have occurred in foreign countries.

Another important advance is the breeding of varieties of hemp with
higher fiber content. In 1975 varieties were known with fiber content in
stalks surpassing 25%; one European variety was reported to have 31%.
(133) Compared to the 1940's when fiber yields were 20% of stalks, modern
varieties could reduce farmers' costs per pound by 25% to 50%. Greater
productivity could make crops more profitable than in the 1940's when they
enjoyed federal price supports.

Assorted stalk breaking and scutching techniques can further increase
profitability by increasing the ratio of "line" fiber (longer, more
desirable strands) over "tow" fiber (shorter strands). In the 1940's
government breaking mills produced 50% line to 50% tow. (134) At the same
time the private Atlas Hemp Mills of Juneau, Wisconsin, produced 67% line
to 33% tow, attributed to "better lands, more pains in handling, and
improved processing machinery." (135)

An established international trade exists in addition to the potential
domestic one. In the mid-1970's hemp was the sixth most important
vegetable fiber in global markets. (136) In 1958 South Korea produced
7,400 tons of fiber priced at $ 4.9 million, and yielded cloth valued at $
61.7 million. (137) The 1958 Korean fiber price computes to $ 0.33 a
pound, tobacco $ 0.60, sugarbeets $ 0.006, peanuts $ 0.11, Irish potatoes $
0.01. (138) Farmers in France, a country about the size of Missouri, had
sufficient market for fiber hemp to raise about 20,000 acres in 1980.
(139) One French cooperative sold 20% of its hemp to England. (140) In
1976 French farmers producing fiber for paper got about $ 78 per ton of
stalks. (141) Around 1980 French farmers got $ 103 per ton of stalks. A
breaking mill that prepared fiber for paper production sold the fiber for
$ 590 to $ 1,540 per ton, depending on type. (142)

As can be seen below, recent annual world harvests have totaled
244,000 tons from 1,000,000 acres with a yield of 486 pounds of line and
tow fiber per acre.

Annual World Hemp Fiber Production 1979-86 (143)



Country Acres harvested
Tons stalk
(1000's) (1000's)


1979-81 84 85 86 1979-81 84
85 86

World 1203 927 951 951 261
222 244 249

Bulgaria 12.4 14.8 12.4 12.4 4.4
4.4 2.2 4.4

Chile 9.9 9.9 9.9 9.9 4.4
4.4 4.4 4.4

China 304 148 153 153 79
33 61 66

Czech. 2.5 2.5 2.5 ----- 1.1
1.1 1.1 1.1

Hungary 17.3 14.8 17.3 14.8 13.2
12.1 12.1 11

Japan 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5
1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1

Korea (N) 19.8 25 30 30 3.3
5.5 6.6 6.6

Korea (S) 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5
1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1

Poland 7.4 4.9 4.9 4.9
2.2 2.2 2.2 2.2

Romania 86 116 116 116 28.7
36.4 33.1 34.2

Spain --- --- --- ---
1.1 1.1 2.2 2.2

Turkey 22.2 17.3 9.9 9.9
13.2 9.9 4.4 5.5

USSR 346 284 289 297 35.3
33.1 29.8 47.4

Yugoslavia 9.9 12.4 12.4 12.4 5.5
6.6 8.8 5.5


SEED

Around 1913 dealers paid Kentucky farmers $ 2.50 to $ 5.00 a bushel,
with yields ranging from 12 to 25 bushels per acre, typical yield 16 to 18.
(144) Around 1937 dealers paid Kentucky farmers $ 2.00 to $ 3.00 a
bushel, with typical yields of 12 to 14 bushels per acre. (145) The
1938 Kentucky yield averaged just over 12 bushels per acre. (146) In
1943, described as a bad drought year, Kentucky seed yield was 4 to 5
bushels per acre. (147) Later Kentucky seed yields measured at 12 to 18
bushels per acre. (148) Prices paid to seed growers in the 1940's are
elusive, but in World War II the federal government sold seed to fiber
farmers for $ 11.00 a bushel. (149) In 1976 farmers in France got about
$ 11.00 per bushel, with typical yields of 2.4 to 3.2 bushels per acre.
(150)

The difference between American and French yields seems inexplicable
at first. A possible explanation may be the French practice of harvesting
seed from fiber crops ("lint seed") rather than from specially planted
seed crops (although seed harvested for sowing comes from plants
cultivated for that purpose). Quite possibly seeds form only at the top of
a spindly French fiber stalk, rather than throughout the many stems and
branches of bushy American hemp specially cultivated for seed.

Hemp Seed Production in the United States
(151)

Year Acreage Acreage Seed
Bushels per Acre
Planted Harvested (Bushels)
Yield

1938 40 500
12.3
1939 210 1,568
7.5
1940 510 8,409
16.5
1941 2,200 15,500
7.0
1942 36,300 29,300 242,273
8.3
1943 47,700 40,500 318,523
7.9
1944 1,500 1,200 12,000
10.0
1945 1,200 800 6,364
8.0
1946 400 4,818
12.0
1947 600 6,614
11.0
1948 400 4,000
10.0

Importations of hemp seed into the United States represent a market
that domestic growers might tap. Historically, imports have fluctuated
widely.

Bushels of Hemp Seed Imported into the United States
(152)

1931 122,500
1932 81,500
1933 145,000
1934 295,000
1935 2,647,500
1936 1,427,000
1937 10,750
1938 11,500
1939 29,250
1940 26,500

1958 11,500
1959 3,000
1961 7,500
1962 6,500
1963 2,500
1964 5,000
1965 4,500




BY-PRODUCTS

One person familiar with the hemp industry in the 1940's said the key
to its future would be marketing hurds for enough money to pay for crop
production. If the fiber sales were no longer needed to pay for
production, hemp fiber prices could drop low enough--at no cost to
farmers-- to compete with other fibers. (153)


GO TO NEXT PART

GO TO PREVIOUS PART

INDEX

HOME