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Dear Reader,
Many people still have the image in their
minds that those who run hemp companies are
neo-Luddites, and that the farmers who supply them
with their raw materials sow the seed by hand
on small plots and harvest the grain or fiber
with horse-drawn equipment. This may come to
pass again in the future, but for now
farmers, manufacturers, distributors and
consumers are all part of a complex and modern
system. I also work for a company
that distributes all kinds of industrial
supply parts from companies such as Grainger,
John Deere, McMaster-Carr, Motion Industries,
MSC and Timken. It often strikes me that
the hemp industry is also part of this massive supply
chain. We are far from being part of the
"counterculture." As
The Oregonian story on Living Harvest
shows, we are indeed becoming more a part of the
mainstream every day.
Traditional industries in the U.S. and around the world
are
embracing the benefits of using hemp in their
products. I was reminded of this again earlier
this week when Reuters reported that visitors
at the British International Motorshow in
London viewed a prototype of the Lotus
Eco Elise which is made with the
equivalent of 1,700 recycled aluminum cans and
with hemp grown locally in Norfolk (comprising 25% of
the car). It also has solar panels on
the roof to help power its electrical system.
While the car is not a high-torque electric
tractor running off solar
panels and farming local, organic, sustainable
crops, it does push the envelope of industrial
design. That in turn helps get us closer to
that future by educating the media and the
public about what is truly possible and attainable.
As wonderful as it is to imagine and work
towards a future where industrial hemp is
grown locally to meet our needs for food,
clothing, shelter and transportation, reality
does have a way of rearing its ugly head when
you least expect it. Anna
Korakaki found this out in Athens, Greece
last week in a nightmarish scene where she was
arrested for receiving 4.5 kilos of hemp
protein powder at her local post office and
was then forced to spend the night in a jail cell. All this
because she was
creating superfood recipes for her new
natural foods company.
We have come a long way in the last fifteen
years through educating farmers, legislators,
the media, businesses
and consumers, but it is obvious that
we still have a long way to go, and we need your help
to do it.
Please make a generous contribution
to Vote Hemp today to help us continue fixing the
situation here in the U.S.
We need and truly appreciate your support!
Best Regards,
Tom Murphy
Hemp News Update Editor
| Living Harvest Has a Hit with Hempmilk |
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By Jonathan Brinckman
The
Oregonian
July 27, 2008
Drink a glass of hemp milk made by Living
Harvest. Sit back, and wait.
Nothing happens.
Yes, the hemp milk is made from the hulled
seeds of Cannabis sativa, the very plant
featured in the 1936 cult classic "Reefer
Madness." But these seeds are from industrial
hemp, bred virtually free of the THC that
powers its disreputable cousin.
Rather, it's the seeds' nutritional cocktail
— including a complete protein,
vitamins and Omega-3 and -6 fatty acids
— that helped propel the Northwest
Portland company's sales to a projected $6
million this year, double that of
2007. The numbers also speak to the product's
migration into the mainstream — a point
accentuated by the fact that Fred Meyer
carries it in about half its 129 grocery stores.
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| Naturally Advanced Technologies Lands on Toronto Stock Exchange |
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Portland Business Journal
July 8, 2008
Naturally Advanced Technologies, Inc. —
a company with the exclusive license to
commercialize an enzyme-treated hemp fabric
— has raised $1.98 million as part of a
new stock offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The Vancouver, B.C.-based company's common
shares began trading on July 8 under the symbol
"NAT" on the Canadian stock market's venture
exchange, created to provide venture
companies with access to capital while
protecting investors.
Naturally Advanced Technologies has strong
ties to Portland. Ken Barker, a partner at
Portland's The Meriwether Group venture
capital firm and former head of apparel for
Adidas America, has for two years served as
CEO of the company.
The company wants to bring new hemp fabrics
and other hemp-based products to market.
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| Cannabis Growing Offers Pot of Gold for Farmers |
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Griffith farmer Pat Calabria with hemp crop.
Photo credit: Sydney Morning Herald.
By Frank Walker
Sydney Morning
Herald
July 13, 2008
NSW farmers could be growing cannabis by
spring with the approval of the Iemma
Government — but this marijuana can't be
smoked to get high.
It will be a variety of the cannabis plant
containing tiny levels of
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the chemical that
puts the pleasure in pot.
Smoke this Government-approved cannabis, and
all you'll get is a cough. The Government has
just passed the Hemp Industry Act allowing
farmers to grow industrial hemp under licence.
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Patchouli Power! Lotus Goes Green with Eco Elise |
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By Stuart Schwartzapfel
Autopia from
Wired.com
July 15, 2008
The engineering superheroes at Lotus have
churned out yet another iteration of the
street-legal go-cart we call Elise. Aptly
named "Eco Elise," the concept based on the
Elise S will hit 60 mph in less than 5.8
seconds yet treads lightly thanks to its use
of sustainable materials and across-the-board
cuts in the energy needed to build it.
The Elise S is already mighty efficient
considering the grins it can produce —
34 mpg (combined), 196 g/km CO2 emissions and
a dry weight of 1,896 pounds. New to the
party are renewable materials like hemp,
eco-wool and sisal in some body panels and
interior trim. Water-based paints reduce
pollution during the painting process. Lotus
rolls out the concept vehicle next week at
the 2008 British Motor Show.
Considering current gas prices, Lotus founder
Colin Chapman may have been looking into a
crystal ball when he founded a sports car
company shouting "performance through light
weight" from the rooftops. Ditching unneeded
heft is a sure way to up the performance ante
and reduce complexity, but it also improves
fuel economy.
[More...]
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