|
Dear Reader,
Welcome to the third issue of The Vote Hemp
Weekly News Update! Every week members of
the Vote
Hemp Board of Directors and our Media Team will help
to choose the best hemp news to present to you for
your perusal.
A special note this week. We welcome Patrick
Goggin to the Vote Hemp Board of Directors. Patrick
began working with Vote Hemp in 2001 on the HIA
v.
DEA case. He has also taken an active role in
helping coordinate our efforts to support the
California Industrial Hemp Farming Act (AB 1147).
Patrick will surely be a valuable addition to our
board.
With this gain we also have a loss. Erik
Rothenberg, one of Vote Hemp's long-time board
members, has moved on to pursue other interests and
business ventures. Erik has been an incredible asset
and wrote our Vote
Hemp Treatise A Renewal of Common Sense:
The
Case for Hemp in 21st Century America. It is
just as relevant today as it was when it was written
in 2001. If you have not read it lately, we suggest
that you take another look. We thank Erik for his
years of service and wish him well in his new
ventures.
The hemp news this week features stories from
opposite sides of the globe. Hemp acreage is up in
Canada, and farmers, processors and manufacturers
are
finally making some money on hemp, but there are a
few cautions to be heeded as noted in the
Manitoba Co-operator story and Hemp Report
editorial. Also from the Canadian praries comes the
new farming guide Hemp
Production in Saskatchewan. It is well worth
taking a
look.
From Australia come three stories on the
progress that is being made with hemp there.
Australia has a situation that is almost as weird as
that in the United States. They can grow hemp but
cannot use it for human consumption, whereas we
cannot grow
hemp but can use it for human consumption. Go
figure!
Please make a
contribution
to Vote Hemp today to help us fix the situation here in
the U.S.
We need and truly appreciate your support!
Best Regards,
Tom Murphy
Weekly News Update Editor
| Spring 2006 Editorial |
 |
|
By Arthur Hanks
The Hemp Report
April 22, 2006
It's an interesting new era for Canada's hemp
industry. We're nine years in and companies are,
well, seeing green. Not just the green that spreads
its serrated leaves across field sections every
summer, or the Green that comes with making and
selling sustainably produced products (and no, it
isn't the green of jealousy) Ñ it's the green of
money.
After a few years of steady growth, the current
North American market for hempseed-derived products
is now calculated to be about $40 million. Some
companies have been consistently growing sales at
50% or more per year. New products continue to hit
the shelves, and distribution of these new products
continues to reach new retailers.
According to the most recent SPINS data, the
largest-selling categories of hemp foods in
2004-05 were hemp flour (protein bread), hemp nut
(snack/energy bars) and hemp protein powder.
And so for the fifth year running, cultivated
acreage of hemp is increasing.
|
| Hemp crop push is going to the dogs |
|
|
By Nic Price
The Examiner - Tasmania, Australia
April 16, 2006
"Don't expect your pet to be hallucinating
rainbow cats or listening to Dylan music."
It's not a quote you would ordinarily expect from
a man launching a new product, but this isn't an
ordinary product.
After eight years battling bureaucracy, Tasmanian
farmer Ian Rochfort has been granted government
approval and the first licence to use hemp seed
(Cannabis sativa) in a pet health food product.
Mr Rochfort's Hemp Hound Hors D'Oeuvres dog
biscuits, made from Tasmanian organic hemp seed, hit
shelves across the country this week.
|
| ABC Rural: Hemp goes on trial |
|
|
By Eliza Wood
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
April 11, 2006
Industrial hemp has many uses including clothing,
health foods, and animal bedding Ñ but the versatile
product is not taking off as quickly as one would
expect.
Hemp trials have been grown in North-West
Tasmania for a number of years, and this yearÕs crop
is currently being harvested.
A fifth of a hectare of Cannabis sativa is being
grown at the Forthside Research Station for
entrepreneur Ian Rochfort, who is developing a
business in hemp biscuits for dogs.
|
| Llewellyn backs hemp farming |
|
|
ABC Online - Australia
April 13, 2006
New Tasmanian Minister for Primary Industries,
David Llewellyn, has promised to change Tasmania's
laws on hemp farming.
A Tasmanian company is being granted a licence
to
use hemp in dog biscuits after a seven-year fight
for permission.
Mr Llewellyn says hemp grows well in the state,
and it could become a valuable Tasmanian
export.
"I was not aware the hurdles in legislation here
in Tasmania are now making it a little more
difficult," he said.
|
|
Hemp acres more than double |
|
|
|
By Bonnie Baltessen
Manitoba Co-operator
April 21, 2006
Last year there were 12,000 acres in Manitoba,
with Canada reporting a total of 20,000 acres.
Manitoba was dubbed the hemp capital of
Canada.
Keith Watson, diversification specialist with
Manitoba Agriculture, said the 30,000 acres to be
seeded in Manitoba would be mostly contracted acres.
With two Manitoba processors and a new one from
Alberta buying hemp, there is plenty of business to
spread around.
"The Canadian total will be up quite a bit,"
Watson added, but declined to guess as to what the
Canadian total would be. "The major expansion will
be in Alberta and Saskatchewan," he said.
[More...]
|
|
