Hemp crop 7

HEMP AS A CROP FOR MISSOURI FARMERS

Supplement--January 1992

After the main report was completed, additional market information
arrived from industry trade associations and individual experts.

A robust potential market exists for hemp in the pulp and paper
industry.

Dr. Gerald Touzinsky, expert in non-wood fibers and former chairman of
the Nonwood Plant Fibers Committee of the Technical Association of the Pulp
and Paper Industry (TAPPI) says hemp pulp is currently desired for
cigarette paper, for currency and other security papers, and for light
weight printing grades used in Bibles and other applications requiring
strong, thin sheets. Dr. Touzinsky notes that although most hemp paper in
the United States is recycled from used rope and cordage, the paper
industry should have no difficulty processing hemp crops. He is uncertain
whether domestic crops would be a cheaper source of material than imports
are.

Jim Young, Technical Editor of Pulp and Paper, the main journal of the
U. S. paper industry, reiterates that cigarette papers are a proven market
for hemp. He also feels that boxboard and corrugated containers are a
potential market because of hemp's strength. He sees hemp's role in the
paper industry as a fiber to blend with others, rather than 100% hemp
papers. He believes domestic crops would definitely be a cheaper source of
material than imports are, thereby being more attractive to the U. S. paper
industry. He also thinks the paper industry should have no difficulty
processing hemp crops. He notes, however, that adjustments in current
machinery would be required.

Joseph E. Atchison, one of the world's foremost authorities on
non-wood fibers, sees demand for hemp bark fibers in high priced specialty
papers used for cigarettes and currency. He says the main raw materials
now used for such papers in the United States are flax, cotton ginning
waste, and tropical abaca. Manufacturers of such papers could readily use
hemp bark fiber. Due to price, he sees no market for hemp in markets for
ordinary paper. Nor does he see a paper market for hemp hurd fibers. He
doubts that domestic crops would be a cheaper source of materials than
imports are unless stalks could be broken cheaply (breaking is the process
of separating bark from hurds).
Dr. Touzinsky notes that the outer bast (bark) and inner core
(hurds) of hemp stalks yield different length fibers suitable for
different types of paper. The short hurd fibers can produce papers similar
to those from short hardwood fibers. The long bark fibers, however, allow
manufacture of papers having extraordinary strength. This quality of hemp
pulp attracts special interest from paper makers.

Dr. Touzinsky sees two options for hemp pulping mills. One option is
to pulp the entire stalk without separating the bark and hurds. The
resulting pulp would have qualities similar to hardwood pulp and would have
to compete in that market. Mr. Atchison speculates that if the entire
stalk were used, the resulting pulp might compete economically with wood
pulp for writing paper and newsprint. He is, however, unaware of any
proven means of pulping the entire hemp stalk.

The other approach would be to break the stalks and separate the bark
and hurds, allowing the special characteristics of bark fibers to be
exploited in making strong papers. Dr. Touzinsky sees a ready demand for
bark fiber pulp in markets that would not compete with hardwood pulp.
Moreover, hemp pulping can be done economically on a much smaller scale
than wood pulping. One process could yield a profit on 100 tons of pulp a
day.

He also notes that pulping hemp for paper should produce pollutants
that are less harmful to the environment that those produced by wood
pulping. Mr. Young agrees on this point, but notes that a mill to pulp
kenaf (which has many qualities similar to hemp) has had difficulty
getting an environmental permit in Texas.

Mr. Atchison makes the important point that one acre of hemp could
produce as much paper as four acres of forest in 1916, but modern
scientific cultivation of pulpwood plantations has eliminated the
productivity advantage that hemp once had over forests. He says U. S.
Department of Agriculture officials no longer accept the agency's 1916
findings on this point.

Dr. Touzinsky feels that demand might exist for hemp in manufacture of
particle board and in poultry bedding. Mr. Atchison concurs that particle
board, panelboard, and medium density fiber board would be possible markets
for hurds.

The United States market for other traditional uses of hemp appears
bleak.

G. P. Foster, Executive Director of the Cordage Institute, reports
that the U. S. twine, cordage, rope, and netting industry no longer uses
natural fibers. Machinery for producing natural fiber products no longer
exists in the American industry. Moreover, the character of natural fibers
is inferior to synthetics. The traditional rope market has passed into
history.

O'Jay Niles of the American Textile Manufacturers Institute reports
that hemp is not currently processed for yarn or textiles in the United
States. A major economic difficulty has been that foreign hemp and
domestic cotton have been cheaper than domestic hemp due to farm labor
costs and the lack of automated hemp harvesting equipment. He also notes
that hemp's coarseness damages modern American high speed carding and
spinning systems. He sees no textile or clothing market emerging for hemp
in the United States.

Robert Reeves, president of the Institute of Shortening and Edible
Oils in Washington, DC, reports that hemp seed could be crushed and refined
in much the same way that canola and linseed are processed. He believes,
however, that hemp oil has no compelling advantage over competitors, and
that establishing a national market for the product would therefore be
difficult. The worldwide demand for hemp oil is so small that neither the
International Association of Seed Crushers nor the National Oil Processors
Association has any knowledge of the product.

Kenneth Zacharias of the National Paint and Coatings Association
reports that competing oils with superior qualities have replaced hemp oil
in the paint industry, and that oil paints in general are giving way to
latex. He sees no market for hemp oil in the paint and varnish industry
today.

"Cottage industry" markets might be developed for hemp cloth, hemp
oil, and hemp twines, but no national markets exist.


>>>> (I think it's slightly ironic how events of the last 5 years have
made these predictions obsolete already.)

EES

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