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Hemptastic.co.nz / About Hemp

INDUSTRIAL HEMP 101

Introduction

Hemp is a "new to us", land healing rotation, that can, just like that 1935 Popular Mechanics Magazine promised, be used to make over 25,000 different products. It is an herbaceous annual crop that produces strong and versatile fibres and highly nutritious grain.

Hemp grows fast and to heights of 16 feet. Its roots can reach down as far as three feet, helping to reduce soil erosion and build organic matter. It is proving to be excellent in rotation with Soya beans reducing the incidence of sys- nematodes by as much as 80% and hemp has no need for chemical inputs likes herbicides so is perfect crop for the growing organic market.

Highly nutritious Hemp grain is processed into a variety of edible products with a pleasant nutty taste. (oil, flour, dehulled grain). The grain is about 24% protein and 30% oil. Hemp oil is high in perfectly balanced essential fatty acids (omega 3, omega 6 and GLA). Hemp protein contains 8 of your essential amino acids and also contains anti-oxidants, adding further health benefits and shelf stability.

Agri- fibre offers particular advantages to rural communities since transportation costs require primary processing facilities locate in rural areas, in close proximity to the farms where the fibre is grown. Annually renewable agri-fibres are good for agriculture and the environment.

Because of its association with marijuana, hemp has been prohibited in many countries for more than half a century. More recently governments in many industrial countries have realized that the hysteria that lead to hemp's prohibition was unfounded, and it's cultivation has been again legalized.

Still many of the claims made by pro-hemp enthusiasts are clearly overstated (for a more detailed account please consult Hemp facts and hemp fiction by Hayo van der Werf). It is the belief of the Ontario Hemp Alliance that while hemp will not single-handedly save the planet, it is an important part of the solution.

http://www.ontariohempalliance.org/info/p_info.cfm

The Hemp Plant
The hemp plant is harvested for its fibers, seed, seed meal and seed oil.
Hemp is a distinct variety of the plant species cannabis sativa L. Due to the similar leaf shape, hemp is frequently confused with marijuana. Although both plants are from the species cannabis, hemp contains virtually no THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the active ingredient in marijuana.
Hemp cannot be used as a drug because it produces virtually no THC
(less than 1%), where marijuana produces between 5 - 20 % THC.

http://www.naihc.org/hemp_information/hemp_defined.html

A QUICK GUIDE TO HEMP
Perhaps surprisingly, all of these common items can be made out of hemp. In fact, one can pretty much make anything using plants as a raw material. But hemp is a good choice because it is so versatile. Some people like to say that hemp has 30,000 uses as it combines the utility of the soybean, the cotton plant and the Douglas Fir into one green package. Hemp certainly is a useful and flexible raw material. We particularly like hemp because it's an environmental, renewable, reusable and recyclable resource.

Hemp is a so-called "new crop", which there are many. Like other new crops, farmers shouldn’t grow it unless they have a contract. The hemp business is a new business in North America, so there are not as many companies working with it right now as we would like. And a lot of the products that could be made with hemp, aren't being made on a commercial scale…yet.

In Canada and in the US, hemp was outlawed 70-80 years ago, because it was confused with other kinds of Cannabis. We call it hemp "industrial hemp" to distinguish it from other "races" of the plant. One useful analogy to make is that Cannabis is like cactus: all of them look the same at first unless you know what to look for. Hemp's also been called a Heritage crop and a Rip Van Winkle Crop. We like to think it’s a gift.

http://www.saskhemp.com/hemp101/hemp101.htm

Hemp Agronomic Characteristics
Hemp is a bast fiber plant similar to flax, kenaf, jute and ramie. Long slender primary fibers on the outer portion of the stalk characterize bast fiber plants. An annual plant that grows from seed, hemp can be grown on a range of soils, but tends to grow best on land that produces high yields of corn. The soil must be well drained, rich in nitrogen, and non-acidic. Hemp requires limited pesticides because is grows so quickly and attracts few pests. In northern latitudes, hemp is usually planted between early March and late May. Hemp averages between 2 - 4 meters in height in about four months of growth.

Hemp crops are harvested at different times for different hemp products. Harvesting stalks for high quality primary fiber occurs as soon as the crop is in flower. Harvesting for seed production and stalks occurs 4 - 6 weeks after flowering, when male plants begin to shed pollen.

http://www.naihc.org/hemp_information/hemp_defined.html

SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT HEMP

>> The word canvas comes to us from Arabs who took the word from the Greek Kannabis, which refers to sails and cloth. In the age of sail, hemp was a preferred fibre for ropes, rigging and sails (plus sailor's clothing, they were surrounded by the stuff).
>> Hemp was one of the crops that Champlain planted at Port Royal and later Québec. The cultivation of hemp was very important in the development of the country.
>> Historians are unsure whether cannabis hemp was here in North America before the Europeans (circa 1500 CE). There are some references to native hemp in explorer's literature but there is no archaeological evidence.
>> Along with wheat, immigrants from eastern Europe brought hempseeds with them when they settled the Canadian west. Anecdotal evidence being collected by the SHA to date suggests that some farmers quietly grew hemp as a garden crop up until the 1970's. The seeds were used for oil, baking and traditional dishes.
>> Hemp used to be one of the fibres they used to make money. Because of its fine qualities it is still used to make bibles and cigarette papers.
>> Henry Ford made a car from plant matter, including soybeans and hemp in the 1930's. Substituting hemp and other fibre crops such as flax for synthetics and metals is an idea that is coming back into vogue in the car sector.

http://www.saskhemp.com/hemp101/hemp101.htm

The non psychoactive strains of cannabis sativa, generally referred to as hemp, have been utilized by humankind for over 10,000 years. The last 3,000 of which, it was the largest agricultural crop in the world. Undoubtedly the planets premier annually renewable resource, hemp can be used as the raw material for products that are currently produced out of cotton, petroleum, timber, and soybeans. Unlike it's market competitors, hemp can be cultivated, manufactured, and consumed with a fraction of the chemicals or pollutants that are used in the processing or utilization of cotton, petroleum, and timber products. And the hempseed provides a protein source that is superior to soybean by providing every single Essential Amino Acid and Essential Fatty Acid that the human body needs but cannot produce.

Though hemp is a strain of cannabis sativa, it is not marijuana. Conversely, marijuana is not hemp, even though it too is a strain of cannabis sativa. The terms are more like brand names for different parts of different strains of the cannabis plant. Their true difference lies in the cannabiniod makeup, in particular delta-9-tetrahydrocannibinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). THC, the psychoactive cannabiniod found in marijuana, binds with specific receptor sites to produce an experience of euphoria, what is often referred to as a high. CBD, which binds with the same receptor sites, is not psychoactive and causes a headache, effectively blocking the THC and preventing it from binding with the site. Generally a hemp plant contains less that 1% THC and has a high CBD to THC ratio. The marijuana plant on the other hand contains anywhere from 5% to 20%+ THC and has an extremely low CBD to THC ratio. It is because of this ratio that hemp is non psychoactive, the more hemp one would consume to experience a high the greater the headache they would give themselves. Additionally the are noticeable phenotypic differences and cultivation methods, making it easy to visually differentiate the two strains of cannabis sativa.

It wasn't until 1937 that the strange notion of hemp prohibition came into public consciousness and law. A few years prior to this time, the hemp industry began a decline due to a lack of modern processing machinery. It was this decline that opened the door for the cotton, timber, and petroleum industries to flourish. Around 1937, modern hemp processing machinery was making its way over to the United States from Germany. The newly invented decorticator finally brought hemp into the industrial age. For the first time in human history, hemp, which had traditionally been laboriously harvested by slaves, could be processed by the ton at a cost of mere pennies. Fearing the lose of business, the timber and petroleum companies lobbied Congress to pass the "Marihuana Tax Stamp Act." This law required any person who manufactured marihuana (which was defined as the leaves and flowers of the cannabis plant) to pay a tax for a stamp to legally cultivate the plant. Since the beneficial hemp stalk needs leaves to grow, the farmers were also required to pay the tax for the stamp. In 1938, Popular Mechanics magazine ran an article declaring hemp to be the "new billion dollar crop," but by then it was all but too late.

Five years after the passage of the tax act, the Department of Agriculture released a film entitled "Hemp for Victory." This 14 minute propaganda film urged patriotic farmers to grow hemp for the war effort since United States hemp supplies from Asia had been cut off. When the war ended so did the "Hemp for Victory" campaign.

After a rebirth in the late 1960's, hemp is slowly regaining the world wide economic foothold that it once held. Currently the United States is the only industrialized nation in the world that continues a prohibition on the domestic cultivation of non psychoactive cannabis sativa, though materials not classified as marijuana (mature stalks, roots, seeds incapable of germination, and hemp products) may be imported. In the United States alone, the not yet mainstream hemp industry accounts for over a $150 million dollar a year market. If fully realized, a global hemp market could potentially be a trillion dollar a year industry.

http://www.hempadvocates.org/understand.html

Why Industrial Hemp?
Notoriety obscures the history and value of hemp. Hemp has a long history in America, from the first plantings in Jamestown, where growing hemp was mandatory, to the hemp sails of 19th-century clipper ships and the hemp canvas covers of pioneer wagons, to World War II's massive "Hemp for Victory" program. Hemp is a major part of humanity's agricultural and commercial heritage, having been used extensively for millennia in cultures around the world.

Hemp seed was known long ago for its healthy protein and rich oil. The stalk's outer fiber was used for clothing, canvas, and rope, and textile rags were recycled into paper pulp. The Declaration of Independence was drafted on hemp paper, and the finest Bibles are still printed on hemp-based paper. The woody core fiber of hemp stalks was used for construction and fuel. In the early 20th century, hemp-derived cellulose was promoted as an affordable and renewable raw material for plastics; Henry Ford even built a prototype car from biocomposite materials, using agricultural fiber such as hemp.

Beginning with the passage of the "Marihuana Tax Act" of 1937 and continuing after the World War II "Hemp for Victory" program, misplaced fears that industrial hemp is marijuana and harassment by law enforcement discouraged farmers from growing hemp. The last crop was grown in Wisconsin in 1958, and the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) of 1970 formally prohibited cultivation.

Today, driven by entrepreneurial spirit and the desire to build a new industry for a new age, hemp has reemerged. A diverse but increasingly unified and politically influential group of interests supports the commercial growing of hemp, including farmers, businesses, nutritionists, activists, and green consumers.

Hemp is not a panacea for the world's social, economic, and environmental woes — no single crop can do that. But with focused and sustained research and development, hemp could spur dramatic change. Renewable, fast-growing hemp could allow major industries to reduce their dependence on nonrenewable, fast-disappearing resources and move toward sustainable production.

http://www.thehia.org/hemp_is_hip.html

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HEMP FOR VICTORY

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Wikipedia / HEMP

www.saskhemp.com/hemp101/hemp101.htm

USES OF HEMP

FOOD: The seed is high in protein, and has a really healthy oil content, including Essential Fatty Acids, which we need to keep our cells healthy. EFA's are called essential because our bodies can't make them, and we have to get them from outside sources.

Seed, oil, hulled seed, flour are basic forms of hemp foods. The seed is crushed to produce hemp oil; the seed cake leftover from the crush is processed into flour. The seed shell can be removed to create hulled seed.

These basic ingredients can be used to make just about anything edible: including bread, pasta, chips, dips, cheese substitutes, salad dressings, ice cream, lactose-free milk. If you want to experiment with your own hemp scratch cooking, there's a number of good hemp cookbooks out on the market to get you started.

BODYCARE: For the same reasons hemp is good for inside the body, hemp is great for the outside too. Hemp-based soaps and lotions are great for healthy skin and hair. Hemp lipbalm is also very popular.

PET/VET FOODS: Hemp is a healthy good protein for dogs and cats. Cows and horses like it. Birds -- from chickens to songbirds -- like it especially.

FIBRE USES: There are three kinds of hemp fibre: the outer, longer bast fibre, the shorter inner tow fibre and the woody core fibre.

www.globalhemp.com/Archives/FAQ/index.html

1. Bast fibres are usually used for textiles, including carpets and clothing. Well-made hemp textiles are very strong and durable and breathe well, keeping the heat in winter, and cooling down in summer. Because of breathability, these fibres are mildew resistant.

2. Along with bast fibres, tow fibres are used for both textiles and for industrial uses, including geotextiles, erosion control blankets, car liners and plastic-like molds.

3. Core fibres can be used for things like mulch, absorbent pet litter and stable bedding. They can also be used to make a strong, long-lasting cement.

Hemp fibres are increasingly being used in industry as a substitute for fiberglass: the advantage is that hemp is lighter, as strong or stronger, is biodegradable and is cheaper.

FUEL: Hemp can be used to produce alternative, atmosphere sustaining fuels, including biodiesel and ethanol. Both the seed and the fibre can be used, though the process varies depending on what you use.

PAPER: Using hemp for paper relieves pressure on forests, and helps protect wildlife.
Because of low lignin content hemp fibres require no bleach, a major pulp pollutant in our water supply. Hemp fibres can add longer life to recycled fibres.

SOIL HEALTH: hemp helps clean up soil by bonding heavy metals to the fibre; some environmental engineers are using it for phytoremediation.

BUG REPELLANT: The pungent smell of hemp seems to keep bugs away. Canadian pioneers used to plant hemp around homesteads as a mosquito break. Cows have been seen to avoid hemp fields, because of the strong aroma.

ATMOSPHERE: With plant heights reaching 15' or more, hemp creates a lot of oxygen and capture high amounts of carbon from the atmosphere. Hemp fields could become very important in addressing issues of planetary climate change.

Hemp and Marijuana: Myths & Realities Surely no member of the vegetable kingdom has ever been more misunderstood than hemp. For too many years, emotion-not reason-has guided our policy toward this crop. And nowhere have emotions run hotter than in the debate over the distinction between industrial hemp and marijuana. This paper is intended to inform that debate by offering scientific evidence, so that farmers, policy makers, manufacturers, and the general public can distinguish between myth and reality.

Industrial Hemp Facts North American Industrial Hemp Council, Inc. (NAIHC) Industrial Hemp Facts sheet

Some Interesting Facts On Hemp Hempstead Co. Some Interesting Facts On Hemp sheet