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By James MacPherson, AP
Bismarck Tribune
December 27, 2006

A $2,293-a-year federal registration fee for growing industrial hemp is ridiculous, says North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson, who wants the government to waive the fee so more state farmers can grow the crop.

Johnson said he sent a letter on Wednesday to federal Drug Enforcement Administration chief Karen Tandy, objecting to the fee and to confusing paperwork associated with the registration.

"I think it's ridiculous that you have a fee exceeding a couple of thousand dollars for someone to grow industrial hemp," Johnson said.

Garrison Courtney, a spokesman for the DEA in Washington, DC, said the annual registration fee is set by Congress. It also applies to such businesses as pharmaceutical companies that use opium to manufacture morphine, he said.

By Sharon Adams
Business Edge
December 22, 2006

The production of hemp doubled this year in Canada, with the grain moving from a niche product into the foodstuff mainstream as consumers developed their taste for hemp oil, hemp protein and seed.

Now producers of hemp-fibre products are poised for exponential growth, too, with the worldwide increase in consumer demand for sustainable goods.

"We've had a massive increase in acreage nationally to 45,000 acres [Ed. note: Health Canada actually issued licenses for 50,768 acres] from 22,000 in 2005," says Arthur Hanks, Executive Director of the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance, which is based in Saskatchewan.

"We've had strong markets," he notes, adding that some of the crop was produced on speculation because "hemp pays well" Ñ about $38 per bushel.

By Bert Caldwell
The Spokesman-Review
December 28, 2006

North Dakota farmers want to get into the hemp business. A few want it so badly they would be willing to ante up $202 in state licensing fees, and another $2,293 for a non-refundable U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration registration fee.

That assumes the DEA will give them the time of day.

How North Dakota proceeds, and how federal authorities respond, will likely determine whether the United States again allows the cultivation of industrial hemp. Except for a brief experiment in Hawaii, the plant has not been grown in the country since 1957.

Interest in hemp has grown rapidly as consumers warm to the beneficial effects of hemp-based foods and oils. The newest thing is hemp milk, with brand names like Manitoba Harvest Hemp Bliss. Really.

By Sue Roesler
Farm & Ranch Guide
December 21, 2006

Industrial hemp could easily become a leading alternative cash crop of the future in North Dakota, after all it has been growing wild for decades in the state Ñ so proficiently, in fact, that it has even been classified as a noxious weed.

But producers and ag officials are rediscovering the crop's agricultural value and have been working hard to allow hemp to be grown here.

And beginning Jan. 1, North Dakota farmers may be able to get in on the value-added ag side of the crop, as the state will be the first in the nation to issue licenses to farmers to grow industrial hemp next spring.

There is high consumer demand for industrial hemp which has nearly 30,000 uses. From sturdy clothing, rope, automotive products and ship sails made from the fibers of the hemp stalk, to the most balanced Omega 3 and 6 oil available made from crushing the hemp seed, the entire plant has been used in a variety of ways around the world for centuries.