With Hemp Fiber being the strongest and most versatile fiber on the planet, it has the power to change our Industrial and Environmental reality. Why we are not moving directly into this industry as a part of our GO GREEN and flourish plan is bewildering. HEMP is the carbon capture technology plan, what are they waiting for?
Why are we not focused on growing hemp around the world and producing a MEGA HEMP FIBER Industry?
When it comes to hemp, hemp fiber is the new emerging industrial solution for the sustainability of our future. Beit industry, economics, environmental stabilization or wellness, Hemp provides the most natural and economic and environmental solutions for the planet. Knowing this, the question is, why are we not growing hemp fiber every where?
After all hemp is a weed, a long stocky weed that grows 8 to 12ft tall in 12 to 14 weeks, in most climates. While growing hemp it pulls CO2 from the atmosphere while emitting oxygen at the same time. Hemp is the one of the strongest fibers on the planet. Hemp fiber can become paper, plastic, clothing, shoes, housing, supercapacitors, horse bedding, biofuel and a myriad of other products. With just a few of these hemp industries we can begin to regain the eco balance of our planet and as importantly, provide a new plan with a naturally flourishing plant ~ economics, trade, and most importantly solutions?
Darlene Mea
Hemp provides a plan of sustainability, economics and environment.
Hemp is the game changer for our world
Why are we ‘not’ planting our farms with hemp fiber in the US? Why are we ‘not’ repurposing warehouses across the US for this epic Hemp industrial revolutionary solution? Why are we not looking to hemp instead of cutting down forest trees which we need for the oxygen they provide. Why are we still producing most products from petrochemical when they are toxic to everything but financial gain. Why should we continue to use up our earth resources when we can grow hemp fiber for paper, plastics, grafite, oil remediation, clothing, construction, and even bridges that take us to a land of sustainability for all!
Below is the latest information regarding the largest landowners in the United States. Perhaps they’re not aware of this looming multi-trillion dollar hemp industry emerging slowly into our world. It seems to be, I’m proposing, there’s a monopoly of farm landowners and the petrochemical industrial complex? What does that mean, we’ll see!
According to the Land Report, which bills itself as the “Magazine of the American Landowner,” Gates has amassed 242,000 in farmland acreage. Gates and his wife Melinda own a total of 268,984 acres of land, most of which includes the farmland, along with 25,750 acres of transitional land and 1,234 acres of recreational land.
Part of that land is in Arkansas. The Gates family owns 47,927 acres in Arkansas, according to the Land Report. This acreage accounts for 17.8 percent of the family’s total land holdings. The report did not specify if the Arkansas land was all farmland.
Arkansas had the second-most land owned by the Gates family, after Louisiana. In the Bayou State, the Gates family reportedly own 69,071 acres of land, making up approximately 25.68 percent of the family’s overall land holdings.
The Land Report article provides an in-depth look at how editors tracked down Gates’ farmland acquisitions.
We’re showing this so you can ponder with us… what’s this all about? Why so much land? Wouldn’t it be incredible if they fueled the hemp industry and began farming hemp? What if other big players decided to repurpose America for hemp product manufacturing?
As the CEO of HempingtonPost I can see a future entirely possible and at the same time I know life, on many levels is a big monopoly game. So maybe it’s the big player’s that do get in this industry and make most of the money, as they do? Yet still, we would have new industry, greater economics for all, and a way forward to a natural sustainable future. The important part is timing – Now is the time!
While there’s been a big push toward going green — why are big companies still focusing on trees for their products?
Why not Hemp? Do you think businesses don’t know about Hemp’s benefits, or don’t know how to step away from the petrochemical industrial complex? Are they really in the dark, or are they simply choosing to avoid Hemp’s multi-billion dollar future, no matter what the cost to our environment? Climate change and the resultant economic fallout is happening now, and we need to move back to the hemp as a resource.
Here’s one good reason: Crops of hemp fiber can be grown in 12 to 14 weeks.
Jack Herer said it perfectly: “Why use up a forest which was centuries in the making and the mines which required ages to lay down if we can get the equivalent of forest and mineral products in the annual growth of the hemp fields?”
Why is it, as we move into 2021, that Hemp is not a major solution for many of the answers we seek? I cannot be the only one who stands in complete awe about why Hemp is not a primary economic movement in our country and throughout the world. Actually, we do know why, and I wonder what “We the People” of this planet are going to do about it. How will we turn things around?
How is it that big companies are doing everything they can to go green but aren’t moving toward Hemp? How is it possible that these major companies don’t know about the power of Hemp? How can we go forward in this country with absolutely no plan for this wonder plant being included as part of our economy and the environment? Why do major companies such as Coca-Cola make a move from plastic bottles to paper bottles — made from wood — when they could have used Hemp plastic instead? What am I missing here?
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, scientists estimate that eight million metric tons of plastic — the approximate weight of 90 aircraft carriers — find their way into our oceans every year. The Paper Bottle Company (Paboco) wants to help manufacturers and distributors reduce their single-use plastic waste by creating bottles made from degradable plant sugars rather than fossil fuels.
BillerudKorsnäs, a paper packaging developer, first started this initiative in 2013 and has been joined by research companies and industry leaders like Avantium and ALPLA. The project proudly announced in October 2019 that Coca-Cola, L’Oreal, and Absolut had joined their efforts.
The historic brewery, Carlsberg, has been a long-time partner of the Paper Bottle Project and explained in a press release, “We are working on developing the world’s first ‘paper’ beer bottle made from sustainably-sourced wood fibers that is both 100% bio-based and fully recyclable.” Shortly after, the brewing company unveiled its first paper bottle for their Pilsner beer as proof of concept on their social media sites. These paper bottles, made out of a plant-based polymer called “PEF,” are expected to be fully recyclable and naturally degrade within a year, unlike their plastic counterparts. The sustainability company which creates these bottles hopes to have them ready for consumer use by 2023.
Paboco Technical Director Christina Carlsen says, “Being part of this journey from the beginning, inventing the technology and building the first machine for the paper bottle with my bare hands is my chance to make a difference. A difference towards a sustainable world for future generations. What we are doing is not just a new bottle; we are making a difference.”
This push towards eliminating single-use plastics comes off of last year’s momentum to reduce plastic straw use in many countries and corporations around the globe. Similarly, entire countries are trying their hardest to positively contribute to sustainability initiatives like China’s plan to ban plastic bags in all of its major cities by the end of 2020. Through these projects, we can see that the global community is taking responsibility for the growing environmental waste problem and uses innovation and human ingenuity to help ensure we have a clean, healthy Earth for many centuries to come.
Companies like Coca-Cola, Carlsberg, and Absolut support The Paper Bottle Company’s efforts to create sustainable, recyclable bottles.
While I applaud the efforts of these companies, who are making paper bottles to help mitigate the severe plastic pollution problem we face, I need to ask: Is this really their best solution? My big (and ongoing) question is: Why not hemp?
How do we reach these big corporations and educate them on the powers of Hemp? How do we bring Hemp Fiber awareness to industrialist that could use it to turn our failing industries around? Decorticators exist! Farmers and farmland are plentiful and Hemp fiber has zero THC. It can be made into hundreds of products we use daily — from plastic, paper, biofuel, building material, clothing, super-capacitors — and the list goes on. Does this not sound insane? No-one is talking about industrial hemp for our sustainable future.
I may be preaching to the choir here, or just maybe I’m just all alone, but someone, please, let me know how we turn this situation around. Hemp is standing by to save the world, and it needs your help.
We need to bring Hemp awareness to our world in every way we can. Remember – Hemp is not CBD, it’s our economic, industrial and environmental saving grace.
What can you do to help? Who do you know that can make a difference? Who can we highlight here at HempingtonPost.com to ensure that Hemp becomes the game changer we’ve all been waiting for?
In 2018, I plunged down the rabbit hole of Industrial Hemp and have since worked in the Southern Oregon region promoting education, networking and business development for the Hemp & Cannabis Community.
As this crop’s journey from contraband to commodity unfolds, we’ve been given even more reasons to be enthusiastic about its future. CBD sales are surging worldwide amid the COVID-19 pandemic as people grasp for better ways to manage stress. Oregon data showed average dispensary purchases increased by 40% in the thick of the lockdown here, with close to $100 million in sales for the month of April.
That means tax dollars pouring into state coffers during a time when other business sectors are suffering amid closures and slow re-openings. We are living through a time when pivoting is necessary to survival and growth, and if we can accelerate our best practice development as an industry, COVID-19 may just be the window of opportunity we needed.
Since the beginning of my work in hemp education, I’ve seen that it does take a village to come together and carry forward the promise of this powerful plant. During the time I produced the Hemp University series at Southern Oregon University, I had the honor of curating our region’s best minds and talents to share their expertise with the wider national and international hemp community.
When COVID hit, I pivoted just like everyone else and shifted my activities online with the production of the Hemp Symposium Due Diligence Series. Starting in May, we featured Farmer Tom Lauerman of Farmer Tom Organics and Damian Moran of the Amota Group/Hemp Exchange giving a pre-planting overview to participants from all over the world.
In partnership with UPLVL and Hempington Post, we’ll be offering another edition on Friday, July 10, from 1-3 PM. Focusing on “Mid-Season Strategies”-Integrated Pest and Nutrient Management and Pollen/Sexing, the free webinar will present the wisdom of two Oregonian hemp veterans, Emily Gogol of Infinite Tree and Eviane Ita-Coton of Ebb and Flow Farms.
Participants will have the opportunity to take a brief assessment over the symposium topics on the UPLVL Cannabis Learning Platform and earn a micro-certificate in Mid-Season Due Diligence.
So, comejoin the village on july 10 as we continue to work together and position this crop for the destiny we all know it has – as a sustainable commodity with the power to bring us the food, fuel, fiber and medicine for a New Era.
Hemp and Honey Bees are two of the most popular social topics in the world right now – and why shouldn’t they bee? They’re two of the most powerful contributors to better overall human health and happiness.
CBD from Hemp provides seemingly endless potential to human health with its neuroprotective and anti-oxidant qualities. Honey bees provide some of the most potent immune-boosting byproducts, including raw honey, bees wax, and propolis, each contributing anti-viral, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory benefits. Combining CBD and Honey just makes sense!
On top of all benefits to our physiological health, Cannabis and honey bees also contribute to a more sustainable world. As we currently face alarming rates of toxic emissions from fossil fuels and chemical and nuclear plants, the world needs some help keeping itself clean.
Honey bees and Cannabis provide two of the answers.
Hemp helps rid the world of harmful toxins, soaking up heavy metals from soils and encouraging ecological proliferation. According to smithsonianmag.com, “Over the years, bees, honey and wax have been tested for fluoride, lead, zinc, nickel and potassium; more complicated molecules like naphthalene (a toxic compound derived from coal tar, and also the main ingredient in mothballs); even radioactive compounds like cesium, tritium and plutonium.” Honey bees help rid the world of toxins and are responsible for 1/3 of the food we find so irresistible. Certainly, together, they make any location they co-inhabit a better place to live. They also provide all the essential nutrients humans beings need to survive.
We need them both.
But do they need each other?
In order to understand what potential synergy might exist between them, we need to better understand their truest natures, independent of each other.
Bees need to feed
As Cannabis plants feed off of a specific combination of sunlight, water and soil nutrients, bees seek out their own specific formula from nature. Inside the hive, larvae and queens feed off of pollen, densely packed with important amino acids, while worker bees feed off of nectar, rich in carbohydrates.
Bees will fly up to 5 miles in search of pollen and look for flowers producing the largest repeatable quantities of nectar. Nectar comes from male and female plants which require the assistance of insect pollinators. The male plant first offers a minibar of delicious nectar to the bees, free of charge, teasing them with a small sampling of the goods. Once the feast has begun, female plants offer up to 3 times the amount of nectar as the males, luring the bees with the male pollen to their flowers, completing a successful reproductive cycle.
Cannabis plants reproduce by way of wind pollination and have no need to produce nectar, making them less attractive to the honey bees when other flowering plants are more available. That’s not to say that male Cannabis plants and their pollen don’t help the honey bees. Whitney Cranshaw, a professor of entomology at CSU’s Department of Bioagricultural Science and Pest Management, said “While hemp pollen is collected by bees, it is unlikely that there is any benefits to hemp from bee pollination. The benefits is that it is a good source, present in late summer, that can be an important resource for bees when alternative pollen resources are not available.”
In order to have a sustainable amount of pollen to feed the bees, the field would need to be dominated by males. If as a farmer, your goal is to capitalize on byproducts of male plants including seeds and fibers, your Cannabis plants can be a highly beneficial food source for the bees. More studies will have to be conducted to see if any data appears suggesting the bees help in the propagation of the hemp.
Arranging a Marriage
If Cannabis doesn’t have the natural honey bee draw of other plants, is it possible to get cannabinoids naturally into the honey. The short answer, not naturally.
There are several ways to “trick” the honey bee into landing on a female Hemp plants, which are rich in cannabinoids. Once the bees have landed on the female flowers, they’ll stick to the cannabinoid-rich trichomes.
How do you trick a bee?
Spray your female buds with a sugar water as similar to the fructose/glucose profile of nectar, which will entice the bees to land.
Use bees to pollinate indoor grows (e.g. Greenhouse grows), which traps the bees inside and forces them to land on female Cannabis plants.
These two methods result in bees picking up the cannabinoid-rich resins on their hairy bodies. There are preliminary studies showing that these resins that have stuck to their bodies have made it into the propolis, an anti-microbial wax sealant that bees create for use in their walls.
In conclusion, there is no evidence that honey bees will naturally produce CBD Honey by putting hives in near proximity to hemp varietals. The Hemp produces beneficial pollen which can be a supplemental food source to the bees during food scarcity and the bees can use the Cannabis resins to produce propolis. Here are some more questions with answers still to be determined:
Could honey bees minimize the pollen drift between hemp and marijuana fields for marijuana growers trying to prevent genetic cross-contamination?
Bees are known to increase fruit and seed production for other species of plants like strawberries and squash. Will there be an increase to hemp seed set and yield through biological pollination?
Hemp is possibly the most valuable plant on Earth, and has the potential to bring economic stimulus all of Rural Planet Earth … But that is up to WE The People!
All Hemp is Cannabis, but not all Cannabis is Hemp … Why?… because of arbitrary, absurd Statutes that define Hemp as Cannabis with a THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) level of less than .3% in the United States and up to 1.0% in more enlightened countries. Even with a psychoactive threshold of 25 milligrams, this 1% limit is not enough to make a person “high”. Additionally, there are no documented cases of fatal overdoses with Hemp/Cannabis. The primary reason this plant is made illegal was because it was a competitive threat to other industries in the 1930s and those industries had enough money and political clout to stifle their competition by making it illegal.
Currently the majority of Hemp grown in the United States is utilized in the nascent CBD (cannabidiol) industry which has purported medical properties without the psychoactive effect of THC. Ironically, studies have shown that all the cannabinoids actually work together for an “Entourage Effect” that increases their usefulness in treating many ailments. Some researchers are even promulgating that many illnesses that we are currently experiencing in the 21st Century are a result of endocannabinoid system deficiencies in the human body. Cannabis, animals, and humans have evolved together for millennia and it is only in the last 80 years that the cannabinoids have been taken out of the human diet because they have been taken out of the animal diet and human food chain by the same Statutes that made them illegal.
Hemp, however, is much more than medicine and food. It has the versatility to supply the raw materials for literally thousands of products. Once grown properly, the hemp plant can be processed mechanically into four primary composite parts which are the seed, flower/leaves, and the stalks which are decorticated (separated) into the Bast (the outer bark fiber) and the Hurd (the inner pith fiber). Additionally any residual biomass can be “cooked” by pyrolysis and turned into biochar (which we call CannaChar ™). Here is a brief summary of the wide variety of products that can be produced from the different parts of the hemp plant:
Consumer Textiles Apparel Diapers Fabrics Handbags Denim Shoes Fine Fabrics
Hurd Fibers
Building Materials Fiberboard Fiberglass Substitute Stucco and Mortar Insulation Flooring Framing Materials Hempcrete Hemp Geopolymers
Bast and Hurd Fibers
Mulch and Compost Geoplastics for the Automobile Industry Ethanol Biodegradable Geoplastics for other Industries Acrylics Animal Bedding
Paper Printing Paper Newsprint Fine/Specialty Paper Cardboard/Packaging Air Filter Paper Toilet Paper Tissue Paper Paper Towels Absorbent Oil Spill Remediation Materials
Hemp/Cannabis Biomass Waste
Hemp Biochar (CannaChar ™) Syngasses (can be filtered and compressed and used like propane) Excess Heat from Pyrolysis can be converted into Electricity
Hemp Biochar (CannaChar ™)
Food and Beverage Products Bottle Labels Coasters Coffee Cup Sleeves Coffee Filters Coffee Packaging Cup Holders Disposable Plates Egg Cartons Food Trays Fruit Packaging Napkins Placemats Sandwich Wrappers To-Go Containers Tea Bags
Home and Office Air Filters Book Covers Book Marks Water Filters Ceiling Tiles Computer Covers Drop Cloths Furniture Hangers Kitchen Waste Compost Bags Picture Matting Toilet Covers Wall Coverings Radiation Shields
Medical Band-Aids Biodegradable Bedpans Biodegradable Disposal Bags Biodegradable Kidney Dishes Biodegradable Urinals Gurney Liners Patient Gowns and Slippers Skin Wraps Surgical Attire (Mask and Caps) Underpads and Exam Table Paper
Personal Use Biodegradable Urns Gift Wrap Sanitary Napkins Toilet Liners
Pets Bird Cage Liners Fish Tank Filters Pet Caskets Poop Bags Kitty Litter Liners Wee Wee Pads
Miscellaneous Car Insulation Caskets Casket Liners and Crypts Gaskets Wall Insulation Carbon Black Replacement in Batteries
Other Benefits Of Hemp and Hemp Biochar
High Insulation Properties Air Decontamination Noise Reduction Low Electrostatic Charging of Air Conservation of Wood Increased Oxygen Production Reduction of Dust and Dust Mites Antibacterial Antimicrobial Mold and Mildew Resistant Flame Retardant Restoration After Floods Humidity Regulation Odor Reduction Electromagnetic Radiation Shielding Radioactive Soil and Water Remediation Digestive Tract Health for Humans and Animals
The above is not an exhaustive list, and more products are being researched every day. The good thing is that with whole Hemp plant processing, the list of products is not limited like it is with just CBD or medical and recreational Cannabis. What all this means is that these markets are not going to saturated for quite a while. If one segment does, there are plenty of other market options to utilize the raw materials that will be produced from the whole hemp plant processing thereby increasing the value of the raw materials produced.
Cooperative whole hemp plant processing facilities are the best option for the future of hemp fiber and seed. Everyone needs Tier 1 processing to produce the raw materials for all industries. Low shared risk, high shared returns. The Colorado Hemp Processing Cooperative (CHPC) is the forefront of this movement. We will be offering contracts to growers to protect them and as a Shareholder they will be a part of all excess revenue distributions. The Colorado Hemp Processing Cooperative has that business model that is geared for the 21st Century.
Our goal is to have similar Cooperatives in all states and every Cooperative being a Shareholder in every other one. That way we are all collaborating and raising the tide for all boats by sharing best practices, SOPs, cultivars, machinery, sales and marketing of the raw materials we produce, and more. Excess Revenues Generated by the Cooperative will be distributed to all Shareholders in perpetuity and will provide a much larger and more long term return on investment than any short term loan. We have everything in place and just need the funds to make it happen.
In putting all this together, we looked at all the viable business models. The Colorado Hemp Processing Cooperative is legally organized as a Limited Cooperative Association (LCA). A template for LCAs was approved by the US Federal Government in 2008. Because Cooperatives are state specific, each state has to take that template and modify it for their particular statutes that govern Cooperatives. Colorado did this in 2012 but only a handful of states have approved this type of Cooperative. The biggest difference from an LCA and a more traditional Cooperative is that the LCA is allowed to have the more traditional Patron Shareholders, but is also allowed (unlike traditional Cooperatives) to have Investor Shareholders.
The advantages of the LCA are that the Patron Shareholders are protected in a couple of ways. Like other Cooperatives, every Shareholder gets one vote regardless of the number of shares that are owned. This protects Patron Shareholders from big money monopolies (e.g. Bayer/Monsanto) from coming in and trying to monopolize everything. In addition a minimum of 50% of any excess revenues distributed have to go to the Patron Shareholders regardless of how many Investor Shareholders are involved. The CHPC is organized so that currently Patron Shares are $100 and Investor Sharers are $1000. We kept the price of Patron Shares low on purpose in order to include as many growers and hemp product users as possible. Once we begin to make excess revenue distributions, we will adhere to the Statutory 50% of those revenues going to the Patron Shareholders, but the other 50% will go to the Investor Shareholders to repay their total Investment.
Once their Investment is repaid, their Investor Share(s) will revert to a Patron Share(s) (a 10% Return on Investment) and they will continue to share in the excess Revenue distributions along with the other Patron Shareholders in perpetuity. Again we felt this was the most equitable business model for all Shareholders and is the prototype model for all 21st Century Businesses that want to move away from the unsustainable competitive model of business of the 20th century and evolve into the more sustainable cooperative model that provides true trickle-down economics to Rural Planet Earth.
Please consider becoming a Shareholder to help us make the Hemp Industry a true economic stimulus for all economically depressed areas. We are fortunate that we can revived the Hemp Industry that has been suppressed for over 80 years with 21st Century technology and business models, but we can do it alone. With low shared individual risks and high shared collective returns we can utilize the Hemp Industry for the Greatest and Highest Good. We can’t rely on governments or corporations to do this so it has to be done by WE The People!
Thank you for your time and consideration. You can learn more and become a Shareholder at: COHPC.ORG
