Most of us probably think of hemp being used as an eco-friendly material in our clothing or most likely our rugs! Maybe we think of people eating hemp seeds for health purposes too? Hemp has many and now that it is again legal to grow hemp in the United States these benefits are being explored even further in various product industries. Could this crop, found as seeds, fiber, or hurds, be a sustainable solution to our current agricultural system?
The History of Hemp
iHemp is originally native to Central Asia, with its cultivation recorded as early as 2800 B.C.E. From Asia, hemp cultivation spread throughout Europe by the Middle Ages. Hemp grows best in temperate climates with sandy soil that has good drainage.1 In the United States, hemp was first planted in Jamestown, Virginia where growing hemp was actually mandatory because it was used to make sails and ropes for ships. Hemp was also used to make paper. In fact, Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence on hemp paper.2
However, hemp is in the same plant family, Cannabis, as the drug marijuana and contains a small amount of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is a compound that produces psychoactive effects in humans. Even though hemp contains an insignificant amount of THC compared to marijuana (0.2-0.3% compared to 3-15%), since the early 1900s the American legal regulatory system has lumped hemp into the same category as marijuana. In 1937, its association as a drug was solidified in the Marihuana Tax Act. Although hemp started off as a crucial resource for the American colonies, the last industrial hemp crop was grown in Wisconsin in 1958.3
Hemp Industry Today
In a world where many of our monoculture crops are falling to pests and our natural resources are depleting, hemp stands out as a solution. Hemp can survive in a variety of climates, it is naturally resistant to most pests, and it grows very close together which minimizes space for bleach) need to be used to break it down and make it a whiter color.4
Many major companies, such as Ford Motors, Patagonia, and The Body Shop see the value in hemp and use hemp seed, fiber, and oil in their products already. However, in the past these companies have had to import hemp raw material from growers in Europe, Canada, and Asia because it was illegal to grow in the U.S.5 Recently this changed however. In 2014, the decades-long ban on hemp was lifted in the United States. Thanks to a provision in the 2014 Farm Bill, 26 States now allow hemp production, but so far only seven states have actually planted the crop. These states are Colorado, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont.6 James Comer, a farmer who has served six terms in the Kentucky state legislature, said of the hemp law passing:
Liberals liked it because they were environmentalists, and conservatives in the Tea Party liked it because it was an example of government overreach. Older voters were overwhelmingly for hemp because they remembered when their families grew it. They didn’t know you could make automobile parts from it because at the time, all you made with hemp in Kentucky was rope.7
In addition to rope and automobile parts, it turns out that so many of the products we use every day contain hemp, even if they contain hemp that was grown somewhere else in the world. In 2014, the Hemp Industries Association estimated that hemp is used in 25,000 products that make up a $620 million industry in the United States. These products range from food to body care products to textiles to building materials.8
https://web.archive.org/web/20160404101339if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/nJvVwXCu2g4ii
Now that hemp is finally legal to grow, American farmers are trying to re-learn how to successfully grow this crop. Kentucky farmers have been experimenting with how deep to plant the seeds and which types of fertilizer and equipment are best to use. Since American hemp growers are only in the second year, production has been low as they try to figure out what the potential markets could be and how much to invest.9 David Bronner, of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap, said, “There’s definitely a process we have to get through. We’ve given the Canadians and the Europeans and the Chinese a huge head start on the modern global awareness of hemp. They’ve had years of breeding programs to optimize their cultivars for their climate conditions and we’ve been doing nothing.”10 Journalist Doug Fine, who wrote Hemp Bound: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Next Agricultural Revolution, is optimistic: “I watched a fifth-generation Colorado farmer named Michael Bowman displacing a sick cornfield in the conservative part of Colorado with hemp. If it’s going to bring more profits, and be healthier for the soil, we may really see a complete about-face in the way that our food structure is going.”11 We should all hope for a bright hemp future.
