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Dear Reader,
I have been collecting and archiving online hemp news links for over eight years now, and I find it truly amazing that year after year the good news about hemp continues to roll in. Just this morning, I received an unsolicited sales call from a media monitoring company asking me to log into an online tool that they set up for me in order to demonstrate the power and reach of their service. I explained what I was already doing, how long I have been doing it, and some of the tools that I use to convey the news on hemp to you. For now, it seems the human touch beats electronic algorithms. It's also much less expensive and more accurate.
It also helps to be part of the industry and see the trends as they are just beginning to take off. Nearly three years ago, we predicted that new hemp milk products would boost the growth of the hemp food market. We were indeed correct, and hemp milk products are now one of the fastest-growing sectors in the marketplace. After hearing a talk at the 2008 HIA Convention in Boston, I'm convinced that hemp building materials will be a growth industry and help us reach the tipping point for hemp farming and processing in the U.S. once again.
On October 10-11 the HIA Hemp Pavilion at the Green Festival in Washington, DC will have a range of speakers, including one covering building materials, and a large number of hemp companies will be exhibiting their wares. The 2009 HIA Convention will directly follow on October 11-12. Please consider attending one or both events!
On the activism front, Vote Hemp currently has Action Alerts for the residents of California, Maine, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon and Vermont. We need you to write and call your Representatives in Washington, DC and ask them to become co-sponsors of H.R. 1866, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009. There is also a general Alert for voters from the rest of the U.S.
Please take action today!
Please also make a contribution to Vote Hemp now 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
| Hemp for Hanes |
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Ken Barker, CEO of Naturally Advanced
Technologies
By Erik
Siemers
Portfolio.com
August 17,
2009
After nearly a decade of working to prove
that burlap-like hemp can be as soft as
cotton, Naturally Advanced Technologies Inc.
has caught the attention of some of the
world's biggest consumer brands. Now it's on
the verge of generating revenue from its
technology.
"The company is an eight-year overnight
success," said CEO Ken Barker.
The Portland, Oregon-based company this month
announced a string of deals aimed at
commercializing its Crailar Fiber Technology,
which employs an enzyme treatment to make
hemp and other organic fibers suitable for
apparel and other uses.
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| Don't Smoke It |
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Hemp Products from The Body Shop
By Peter Gorman
Fort Worth
Weekly
August 5, 2009
Quick: What single plant can you use to
build, insulate, and heat a house; help build
and run cars; turn into the finest textiles;
use to make tortillas, cheese, veggie
burgers, perfumes, skin creams, and suntan
lotions — and also to get stoned?
Gotcha. The answer is none. But if you leave
out the stoned part, you're talking about
hemp, the non-smokable variety of Cannabis
sativa, botanical cousin of the Cannabis that
gets you high. It's currently grown legally
in 30 industrial nations, has a history that
dates back to the earliest days of man, was
touted by George Washington and Benjamin
Franklin, was probably used to make the first
American flag, and — if given the
chance — might help bring Texas farmers
out of troubled times.
Unfortunately, industrial hemp's association
with pot has made it illegal to produce here
in the United States for the last seven
decades, forcing U.S. manufacturers to import
it from China, Eastern Europe, and Canada.
For a while during the 1990s it was illegal
to import it in any form but finished textiles.
And even that was suspect under Bill
Clinton's drug czar, retired Army Gen. Barry
McCaffrey, who, in trying to ban hemp
importation, once famously announced to a
group of high-ranking Drug Enforcement
Administration and U.S. Customs officials
that "kids are boiling down their hemp shirts
and mixing the essence with alcohol to make
marijuana."
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| Is Hemp a Cash Crop? |
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Tiffany Froines roguing a field of Canadian hemp.
Photo credit: Scott Wishart / The Beacon Herald.
By Donal O'Connor
The Beacon
Herald
July 30, 2009
Private-sector funding for establishing
hemp-processing factories may be a hard sell
at the moment, but Gordon Scheifele is
undaunted in his passion for developing the
enormous potential for hemp.
Earlier this week on a farm just east of
Tavistock, Mr. Scheifele was showing a group
of 16 mostly student workers how to
distinguish male and female buds on hemp
plants within a 10-acre seed crop.
Plants showing yellowish male buds, he
explained, were to be pulled — a task
known as roguing. The plants with female
buds, which will develop into seeds that can
be certified for resale, were to be left
alone to grow to maturity.
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| Industrial Hemp Growth in Oregon Faces Challenges Just Like Pine Ridge Attempt |
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By Associated Press
News From Indian
Country
August 2009
Despite recent approval from state lawmakers,
industrial hemp growth in Oregon faces a
number of hurdles, including a less than
ideal local climate and likely opposition
from the Drug Enforcement Agency, an Oregon
State University official said.
Hemp and its close cousin, marijuana, were
outlawed by the federal government in the
1930s. But Oregon will become one of a
handful of states to give farmers the option
of growing it when the new law — signed
by Gov. Ted Kulongoski during August —
takes effect on January 1.
Hemp contains high fiber, protein and fatty
acids, and can be used to make food or
industrial materials like paper. But it falls
under federal anti-drug rules because it has
trace amounts of the mind-altering chemical
THC that is found in marijuana.
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Harvesting Hemp at Hartacre Farms for Biofuel |
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By Aimee Pianosi
NapaneeGuide.com
August 19, 2009
In a white cloud of pollen, 43 acres of hemp
was harvested from Hartacre Farms last
Tuesday. Herb Hart grew the crop in
partnership with Performance Plants Inc. of
Kingston, as part of a biofuels project for
Lafarge Bath Cement plant, which is working
on methods of reducing their reliance on
fossil fuels.
According to Kevin Gellatly, director of
biofuels business development and media
relations for Performance Plants, this
particular test plot faced some challenges.
"There were some tough conditions on the
lower ground; it got rained out." There were
delays in planting, and then rain and more
rain, which soaked out some of the seeds.
[More...]
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