by HempingtonPost | Jun 29, 2019
In just its second year growing hemp, South Carolina is projecting a 1,200% increase in acres of what many are hailing as the next big cash crop.
This heightened rate of growth is common around the country as states scramble for a piece of the budding market. Though the Palmetto State is years behind the regional hemp powerhouse of Kentucky, growers here now see opportunity to come into their own and catch up with neighboring states following law changes this spring.
“I think we’re in a really good position right now to be a solid hemp state,” said Vanessa Elsalah, hemp program coordinator for the state Agriculture Department.
South Carolina has 113 permitted growers this year planning to plant about 3,300 acres total, Elsalah said, though the department did not provide the field locations and actual acres planted may change. This is up from 20 growers and 256 acres last year.
City Roots, a Columbia urban farm known for its organic greens, planted 80 acres of hemp in Columbia this year and plans to plant another 120 acres south of Charleston by the end of the month, said Eric McClam. And he does not expect excitement around the new crop to subside.
“We will increase acreage again next year,” he said, having joined forces with another grower and processor, Brackish Solutions.
With the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, limits on hemp cultivation and the plant’s status as a Schedule 1 drug were lifted at the federal level. Brackish founder Jason Eargle was among those pushing expansion of the state’s program in response.
“We’ll get left behind if we don’t open this up to more people,” Eargle said. “If federal law allows it, why should we cap it? We wanted to not hold back our state from competing.”
In the region, Kentucky’s hemp industry is about five years ahead of South Carolina and grew 6,700 acres last year. The Bluegrass State is now up to 1,035 approved growers.
North Carolina has one year on the Palmetto State, having grown 965 acres in 2017 and 3,184 acres in 2018. And Tennessee has 2,600 farmers licensed to grow this year. Last year, 226 farmers grew a combined 4,700 acres in the Volunteer State.
South Carolina farmers first planted hemp in 2018, when 20 permits were issued by the Agriculture Department and 256 acres were grown. The program was set to double in 2019 when a new law signed in March removed any limits. The agency then opened up planting to all who had applied earlier in the year.
The agriculture department’s hemp division fields multiple calls daily from potential new growers hoping to plant in 2020.
“Since that law has been passed, (state Agriculture Department officials) are really jumping in head first,” Eargle said. “If they keep doing that, I think we will very quickly catch up with and surpass our neighbors.”
Much of the current demand can be attributed to CBD oil.
This story originally appeared on Post and Courier
by HempingtonPost | May 17, 2019
The Hemp University Launches Online Hemp Cultivation Masterclasses. A Hemp, Inc. Subsidiary
This is some of the most exciting times ever for hemp farmers, hemp industry and the ability to learn online!
The Hemp University’s eight online educational masterclasses are $10 each and each masterclass is under an hour in length. The online courses include lectures from industry leaders who educated attendees at the first Hemp University workshop in Ashland, Oregon. These online masterclasses provide farmers who were either not able to attend the first Hemp University or who would like to revisit certain topics presented by the event speakers.
“We carefully choose our speakers and topics for each Hemp University to ensure attendees are maximizing their time and have the ability to walk away fully understanding the plant and optimal growing conditions and practices,” said Hemp, Inc. CEO Bruce Perlowin. “We have been successful in this through our in-person classes, and by opening educational masterclasses online, we hope to further reach interested farmers and educate them on the various important topics covered by leading industry experts whenever they can and wherever they are.”
Currently, the available online masterclasses include educational lectures from the following industry leaders.
● Bruce Perlowin, CEO of Hemp, Inc.
“Hemp and the Renaissance of the Small Family Farm”
● Farmer Tom Lauerman
“Cooperative Farming – No Need to Reinvent the Wheel”
● The Evolving Science of Testing – Todd Denkin
“An Overview of Standard Operating Procedures”
● Trygve Waage
“The Human Factor – Sustainable Development of your Hemp Business Team”
● Whitney Murdoch
“Planting in Alliance with Nature”
● Michael Monarch
“Cultivating Profit with Hemp”
● Greg Flavall
“Hempcrete – the Green Alternative Building Material”
● Eviane Coton
“Regenerative Farming – The Secret to Long-Term Success”
This is the third year Hemp, Inc. has held The Hemp University educational seminars.
Since its inception, The Hemp University has grown into a bi-coastal program and has, thus far, educated close to 1,000 farmers on growing hemp. Each class provides farmers with the knowledge to grow the lucrative crop. The online masterclasses allow Hemp, Inc. to extend its reach to more people around the world.
Perlowin added, “We always receive such great feedback from the attendees, speakers and vendors at these seminars so it made sense to open up online access to people who were unable to attend. With these online masterclasses taken from the first west coast Hemp University, farmers will learn straight from the experts and be able to choose topics they are interested in.”
Let Bruce Perlowin know you saw this here first – He’ll do flips of Joy!
Online masterclasses from the May 4, 2019 Pre-Planting Support Workshop will be available in the coming weeks.
by HempingtonPost | May 15, 2019
Introduction
The California Industrial Hemp Farming Act (Senate Bill 566, Chapter 398, Statutes of 2013) was signed into law to authorize the commercial production of industrial hemp in California. The Act became effective on January 1, 2017, due to a provision in the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (Proposition 64, November 2016).
As directed by this Act, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is developing a program to administer this new law.
The first step of this process is to establish an Industrial Hemp Advisory Board. With assistance from the Board, CDFA will further develop the registration process, fee structure, regulations, and other administrative details as necessary to provide for the commercial production of industrial hemp in accordance with the Act.
For more information, contact the California Industrial Hemp Program at industrialhemp@cdfa.ca.gov.
GET THE LATEST INFO – REGULATIONS & UPDATES HERE
by Hempington Post | Mar 20, 2019
‘Hemp Cultivation is moving into full swing in the US despite challenges in state-to-state regulations supporting the farmer, the consumer and the state. The main point is to Hemp the World, and bring natural resource sustainability back to all life!’ Darlene Mea, comments
As you might remember, a few months ago, the Roundtable’s intrepid attorneys at Frost Brown Todd identified a provision buried in the statutes of more than a dozen states – when there was a federal de-classification of a drug, the state must follow suit.
This led to an obvious conclusion – hemp should be removed from drug control in these states.
Our voice was heard.
This week, we heard back from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. Their Commissioner reviewed our letter and agreed: and on March 15, he filed a regulatory amendment declassifying hemp as a controlled substance.
Of course, there’s more work to be done.
An important bill has been filed by Rep. Tracy King which would not only establish a hemp growing program in the Lone Star State but also make 100% clear that hemp products such as CBD could be sold at retail. Read more here.
We need your help:
Head over to our State Action Center.
There you will insert your address, and with the click of a button you can fire off your own letter to your legislators in Austin, encouraging them to support hemp farmers and hemp products for consumers.
If you don’t live in Texas, please share this portal with your friends in Lone Star State, as well as all of your social media contacts, helping us keep the pressure on Texas policymakers. As we’ve proven so often in the past, when we share our voices, politicians listen.
STATE ACTION
by Hempington Post | Mar 8, 2019
Kris Taylor was accepted into medical school. But instead of becoming a doctor, the Texan moved to California to pursue something he was really passionate about. Hemp.
“I don’t remember what I told them I was going to do, but I definitely remember I didn’t tell them I was going to grow cannabis,” he said.
Taylor, who grew up in Plano, is a cofounder of Lumen, a company that makes farm-to-bottle hemp elixirs using cold-pressed hemp mixed with herbs like ginger and turmeric.
Along with Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, Taylor is among those rooting for state Senate Bill 116, which would allow Texans to grow hemp — an offshoot of marijuana without the high.
“I went and learned about the industry and fell in the love with the plant and its capacity,” Taylor said. “I have family members that have used
cannabinoids for medical treatment for pain and PTSD and all sorts of things.”
» No high with hemp
Hemp is different from marijuana. Though they’re both a form of cannabis, hemp doesn’t contain the psychoactive principle THC found in marijuana, so it can’t get you high. But it’s a versatile crop with seemingly endless possibilities.
“It’s got a really high quality fiber that’s on the stalk. It can be used for everything from auto parts to even some pretty high-tech applications, like a replacement for graphene in superconductors,” said Eric Steenstra. He’s the president of Vote Hemp, a non-profit organization that promotes hemp farming in the U.S.
“And then when it comes to the flowers and the cannabinoids, they have really incredible potential from a health standpoint,” he said. “And the seed — super nutritious as well.”
In 2014, a farm bill passed allowing states to research hemp with the assistance of universities and under close oversight. Now, after the passing of the 2018 farm bill, any state can legally grow hemp as long as the state doesn’t have existing legislation prohibiting it.
Vote Hemp helped draft the federal hemp legislation, and now it’s working with Texas and other states to legalize the crop. A Texas Senate bill with bipartisan support has been filed to do just that.
But Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said he doesn’t know if it’s ready to pass just yet.
“It’s a little bit incomplete, not quite comprehensive enough. I know there’s others working on a more comprehensive bill,” he said.
» Why is hemp illegal?
Today, the only way to farm cannabis in Texas is through the Texas Compassionate Use Program. The program allows patients with intractable epilepsy to be prescribed low-THC cannabis and allows farmers with the correct license to dispense it.
Otherwise, cannabis and its by-products are illegal in Texas, but Commissioner Miller is advocating for that to change.
“It gives us another alternative. Most of the commodities right now are not turning a profit, so this would be something that they could possibly make a profit on,” he said.Daulton O’Neill said hemp could be a huge boom for the Texas economy. He’s the President of Green Light Events in Dallas, a company that hosts events targeted at the cannabis community and lobbies for hemp legalization in Austin.
He plans to grow hemp as soon as legislation is passed and thinks it could be a new cash crop for Texas.
“Not only is it going to be a job creator and economic engine, but it’s going to save farmers and save Texas traditions,” he said.
» The challenges of growing hemp in Texas
But hemp will present some challenges to Texas farmers. For one, hemp is delicate. Farmers who used pesticides or heavy metals in the past on crops like cotton, will need to invest in soil remediation.
O’Neill said there’s also manufacturing to think about, since there aren’t many hemp processing plants in the U.S.
“Hemp is only worth what you can manufacture and process it into,” he said. “If all you have is the plant, you’re going to have to pay a lot of other people off in order to get your product in a highly valuable form.”
Commissioner Miller said it’s not likely hemp legislation will pass in time for spring planting, so O’Neill hopes to plant his first hemp crop this time next year.
Yasir Hashim is another cofounder of Lumen, the California hemp elixir company. He, too, has his eyes on Texas.
“Texas is home for us — it’s where we have family, it’s where we’ve left family,” Hashim said.
And this Texan said he can’t wait for the day he can bring his business back home.
This story originally appeared at www.kut.org
by HempToday™ | Feb 28, 2019
This post was originally published on HempToday.net. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
The USA has jumped into the top ranks of global hemp growing nations, recording a tripling of land under hemp to reach a total 78,176 acres (about 31,000 hectares) in 2018, according to the American hemp advocacy group Vote Hemp. Vote Hemp had recorded about 25,000 acres of hemp fields across the USA in 2017. Twenty-three states grew hemp in 2018, Vote Hemp said.
Globally, that puts the USA third, behind world leader China (400,000 acres/162,000 ha.) and northern neighbor Canada (100,000 acres/40,000 ha), and is nearly double the land sown for hemp in France (42,000 acres/17,000 ha.), Europe’s leading hemp grower. Only about 110,000 acres (44,000 ha.) of hemp were grown across all of Europe in 2017, the year for which the most recent figures are available.
Montana expands fast
The rapid expansion of hemp fields in the USA last year was driven primarily by anticipated passage of the U.S. Farm Bill, which removed hemp from the U.S. narcotics list. The Bill became law in late December. Strong demand for CBD was a major contributing factor in the growth of U.S. fields.
Internally in the U.S., Montana recorded the most fields under hemp last year with 22,000 acres (about 9,000 ha.), a drastic increase over the 542 acres (219 ha.) sown in 2017. Montana eclipsed perennial hemp leader Colorado, which was the second biggest grower in the USA last year with 21,578 acres (8,700 ha.), Vote Hemp reported.
41 states are active
Forty-one U.S. states have defined industrial hemp as distinct and removed barriers to its production: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Read More at Hemp Today
