Scientists say that if we planted one trillion trees, we could naturally solve our climate crisis. The issue is… that’s a lot of trees! Trees don’t grow in any type of soil. Trees are prone to insect infestations. Don’t get me wrong – I’m a tree hugger. I love trees. But there’s a plant better designed to draw down CO2 from our atmosphere.
Hemp grows very quickly and can be planted close together. Trees take significantly longer to grow and require much more space than hemp. A plot of land growing hemp therefore absorbs more carbon dioxide than almost any plant. Scientists estimate that for every ton of hemp grown, 1.63 tons of carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere. Plus, hemp crops can be grown in nearly any type of soil. They require very little water and don’t need any fertilizers or insecticides to stay healthy. And hemp begins sequestering carbon the moment it is seeded.
Growing more hemp crops would make a substantial positive impact on global warming. The rise in average temperatures on earth is caused by higher concentrations of greenhouse gases; specifically, an increase in carbon dioxide emissions. Carbon dioxide traps heat in the atmosphere and prevents it from being released into space. Warming temperatures cause negative effects including freak weather conditions, droughts and a rise in sea levels due to the melting of glaciers.
Hemp cultivation also encourages biodiversity in the soil, by regenerating farmland that has long been depleted from the use of toxic chemicals. Hemp is a “weed” and grows like one, ubiquitously, beating out other plants without pesticides; and its long tap root holds the soil, channeling moisture deeper into it. Unlike trees, hemp can be grown on existing agricultural land and included in a farm’s crop rotation. It improves the quality of the soil with positive effects on the yields and the profits from other rotated crops.
Industrial hemp permanently bonds carbon within the fiber which then can be used for anything from textiles, to paper, to building materials. It is currently replacing plastics in car production at BMW.
Hemp grows to 13 feet in 100 days, making it one of the fastest CO2-to-biomass conversion tools available. It can be grown on a wide scale on nutrient poor soils with very small amounts of water and no fertilizers. Hemp is a very leafy, dense plant. As such, hemp releases more oxygen into the atmosphere than most other plants.
Hemp can also sequester carbon back into the soil through a process called, biosequestration. When the hemp crop is harvested, it can be slow-smoldered, not burned, to create biochar. This charcoal-like product is then tilled into the soil adding nutrients and sequestering carbon. According to a paper provided by Holon Ecosystem Consultants, hemp can produce as much as 13 tons of biochar per hectare annually, which triples the output of Salix (a popular biomass crop) plantations.
Other advantages of hemp:
Hemp can be grown in a wide range of latitudes and altitudes.
Hemp can produce three crops per year.
Hemp replenishes soil with nutrients and nitrogen, making it an excellent rotational crop.
Hemp controls erosion of the topsoil.
Hemp makes paper more efficiently and ecologically than wood, requiring no chemical glues.
Hemp converts CO2 to oxygen better than trees.
Hemp produces more oil than any other crop, which can be used for food, fuel, lubricants, soaps, etc.
Hemp can produce bio-fuel and ethanol (better than corn).
Hemp fibers can make very strong ropes and textiles emitting less CO2 in production than cotton or nylon.
We need to promote hemp cultivation as an effective and integral part of a holistic approach to solving our climate crisis.
A tectonic shift is taking place as previously underground drugs are thrust into the mainstream. As I’ve covered alcohol, tobacco and cannabis for Bloomberg News, a common theme has emerged: Mental-health care is ripe for disruption, and yesterday’s party drugs are tomorrow’s cures.
With the Dose, you’ll get a weekly chronicle of the biggest news about the companies and personalities that are shaping this change.
Pot Porsches and Hempcrete are here From stalled legislation to falling stock prices, cannabis didn’t have the greatest year. But investors are finding something to be optimistic about heading into 2022: industrial hemp. Demand is poised to rise for hemp — the staid sister to the mood-altering forms of cannabis — as it’s increasingly adopted for a wide range of uses, including concrete blocks, clothing and even car parts. The shift is driven by environmental incentives such as carbon caps and single-use plastic bans, which are making some natural materials preferable to those made from petrochemicals.
“Industrial hemp is the biggest opportunity in the cannabis sector as a whole,” said Mina Mishrikey, a partner at Merida Capital Partners. His firm has invested around 90% to 95% of its $500 million in assets under management in cannabis businesses centered around THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, but aims to make more investments in industrial hemp, Mishrikey told me.
Hemp could use the boost after the market struggled to capitalize on the hype following the 2018 farm bill, which legalized hemp and led to over-planting when not enough companies were ready to create end products. In 2021, the number of acres of hemp planted fell to 33,844 from 70,530 a year earlier and 465,787 in 2019 according to New Frontier Data.
Adding to the challenges, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently refused to regulate one of hemp’s best-known products — CBD, or cannabidiol — as a dietary ingredient, casting a specter of uncertainty over the otherwise booming market for creams, tinctures and gummies.
As a material, hemp remains more expensive than alternatives that come from petrochemicals. But India, Canada, Germany and South Africa are among the countries cracking down on plastics in 2022, making alternatives more economical. Meanwhile, pressure to shift from oil and gas to renewable industries is increasing and carbon credits are becoming more valuable — and that’s an area where hemp has an advantage.
Mishrikey sees the plant’s ability to capture carbon while it’s growing, and its ability to use less water than cotton, as key factors that help it disrupt a range of products. Just one category of industrial hemp alone — precast concrete — is worth around $20 billion, roughly the same size as the current U.S. legal marijuana market, he pointed out.
His fund’s investments include Canadian Rockies Hemp Corp., based in Bruderheim, Alberta, which processes hemp for use in textiles, pulp and paper, animal bedding, rope, composites and automobile components, according to its website. Another is Bast Fibre Technologies Inc., based in Victoria, British Columbia, which has a processing technology to make nonwoven fabrics with natural fibers including hemp. That could be helpful for the booming market in wipes, which are ripe for disruption due to the sewer-clogging gobs known as fatbergs.
Hemp could play a role in many categories: plastics, textiles, papers, building materials, protein for humans and animals, and concrete of all forms. Some of the more innovative applications include hempcrete, where hemp fibers are infused in the mortar, and a Porsche car with some components made of hemp. Some see hemp as a viable alternative to almost anything made from petrochemicals, due to the properties of its cellulose fibers.
The U.S. will have some catching up to do: China is the leading grower of hemp and is tiptoeing into the CBD market, starting with Hong Kong. The plants also require different agricultural and processing techniques compared to other forms of cannabis, meaning the supply chain will have to be built out from scratch. Processing the plant’s tough fibers, called decortication, is an arduous practice that takes heavy machinery and has created something of a bottleneck.
That bottleneck is about to get some help from a $500 million impact fund by rePlant Hemp Advisors, launched in early November by Geoff Whaling, co-founder of Collective Growth Corp., and others including Michael Woods, former chief executive officer and chief operating officer of Rothschild & Co. Asset Management U.S. The fund plans to help develop U.S. infrastructure to process hemp and improve the supply chain, focusing on hemp for food and fiber. “I probably have a dozen companies call me a week” about using hemp in their products, Whaling said, citing brands like Chobani, Wrangler jeans and Tesla.
“They all want to know where they can get 100 tons of fiber a year, and the answer, at this point, is nowhere,” he said. “No major manufacturer will sign unless there’s a two-year supply in a warehouse.” But slowly, that’s changing.
“We’re seeing more countries advancing and mandating use of sustainable fibers, more auto companies adopting natural fiber solutions,” Whaling said. “It really is an industrial hemp revolution.”
Number of the week 16.6% The compound annual growth rate of the legal U.S. cannabis market from 2020 to 2025, as estimated by New Frontier Data in their 2021 Year in Review report.
Follow the money and you’ll find the deeper mysteries of what’s going on. In this case, we’re following the practically of what needs to happen for us to sustain our self. It’s apparent our environment, our economics and our Industrial evolution, is in dire straights. Hemp Is leading the way to a New Industrial Revolution
Money seekers are hot on this ‘new trail’ of Industrial Hemp and beginning to ask, what about the rest of the Hemp Plant. Beyond CBD there’s a multi-Billion Dollar industry slowly pirculating, ready to become full brew. Many of us have know this for years… Including the leaders like Thomas Jefferson ‘Hemp is the necessity to the wealth and protection of this country!’
Hemp: The Next Step or Pivot for Investors in Future Green Wave Stocks
The continued maturation of the cannabis industry, and subsequent recent sell-off of recreational marijuana stocks is leading companies to reevaluate new opportunities to expand into.
Industrial hemp is a logical choice as it promises blue sky potential in product development that recreational marijuana never could. This assumption is based on both the multiple health benefits associated to CBD content, but also the industrial applications that the entire hemp plant could provide.
The industrial hemp market space is an exciting new area of product development and research. The next few years will bring us new and exciting choices when it comes to the blended clothing we wear, the raw materials that encompass the cars we drive, the paper we write on, the recognized and healthful food we eat, the natural medicinal alternatives we are prescribed and the wellness products we use.
Industrial hemp has thousands of applications, with many more yet to be discovered now that the plant is available to scientists for research.
According to a 1938 article in Popular Mechanics, at that time, there were over 25,000 uses for the hemp plant. With the increase in technology, knowledge, manufacturing, etc., experts now estimate that with whole plant utilization, the hemp plant actually could have around 50,000 uses![1]
Industrial hemp can be used for textiles, car parts, pet supplies, biofuel, food, construction materials, and biodegradable plastic.
We are quite literally on the forefront of discovering what this extraordinary plant can do. The possibilities are just beginning to be known, which means there is unrealized potential for forward thinking investors positioned in the industrial hemp market.
Many of the products that can be produced from hemp are still in the R&D phase. In my opinion, in the next few years, we could see an explosion of hemp-related manufacturing processes and products that will be available to multiple industries and ultimately the end consumer.
Check out this company – Hemp Black
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Editor’s Note – We are not encouraging buying of any stocks – Encouraging you to keep your eyes open on the Hemp Industrial Revolution! If you happen to know of viable Industrial Hemp Stocks, feel free to reach out and share.
Hemp advocate Amy Ansel says the Hemp plant — marijuana’s sober cousin — is poised to revolutionize industries by taking the place of more toxic materials and putting us on a path to a cleaner, more sustainable world.
Three leading champions of marijuana reform in Congress said on Monday that the issue will be prioritized in the new Democratic Senate this year and that they plan to release draft legislation in the coming weeks to begin a conversation about what the federal policy change will look like.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said in a joint statement that ending cannabis prohibition “is necessary to right the wrongs of this failed war and end decades of harm inflicted on communities of color across the country,” but that alone “is not enough.”
The lawmakers, each of whom has advocated for federal legalization, said that “we must also enact measures that will lift up people who were unfairly targeted in the War on Drugs,” especially as more states opt to legalize.
“We are committed to working together to put forward and advance comprehensive cannabis reform legislation that will not only turn the page on this sad chapter in American history, but also undo the devastating consequences of these discriminatory policies,” they said. “The Senate will make consideration of these reforms a priority.”
This is a narrative that’s been building in recent months, with Schumer saying on several occasions both before and after the election that he would work to move reform legislationwith his new power to control the Senate floor agenda. Since Democrats secured a majority in the chamber, the stage is set for action.
“In the early part of this year, we will release a unified discussion draft on comprehensive reform to ensure restorative justice, protect public health and implement responsible taxes and regulations,” the senators said. “Getting input from stakeholder groups will be an important part of developing this critical legislation.”
“After years of marijuana policy reform being neglected and mocked by [Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)] it is heartening to see these Senate leaders working together to repeal the senseless and cruel policy of marijuana prohibition,” NORML Political Director Justin Strekal said.
“We look forward to constructively engaging with Congressional leaders, other organizations, and those communities that have historically been most impacted by criminalization in order to ensure that we craft the strongest and most comprehensive bill possible to right the wrongs of the nearly a century of federal cannabis prohibition,” he said.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), who has spent decades working to end marijuana prohibition and is a co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, said in a press release that he’s encouraged that Senate’s new majority is “prepared to move forward together on comprehensive cannabis legislation.”
He added that the House-passed Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act to legalize marijuana “is a great foundation” for reform in the 117th Congress. The new legislation would likely be referred to Wyden’s panel, the Senate Finance Committee, for consideration once introduced.
“We look forward to working with the Senate to refine the bill, advance its core principles, and end the federal prohibition of cannabis once and for all,” Blumenauer said. “The missing ingredient in cannabis reform has been Senate action. To finally have the active leadership of the new Senate majority leader, rather than being stuck in McConnell’s legislative graveyard, makes all the difference in the world.”
Recent comments from the Schumer, the majority leader, indicate that whatever bill is filed will likely include components of multiple pieces of legislation from the last Congress, which he said are actively being merged.
With Democrats in control, advocates and lawmakers are preparing for a deluge in marijuana reform proposals that could see floor action and make their way to President Joe Biden’s desk.
Although the president does not support full legalization and only backs relatively modest cannabis reforms, advocates are hopeful that he would not veto or seek to undermine any broad marijuana legislation that congressional leaders decide to prioritize.
Read the full joint statement on Senate marijuana reform priorities below:
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Cory Booker, D-N.J., Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., issued the following joint statement regarding comprehensive cannabis reform legislation in the 117th Congress:
“The War on Drugs has been a war on people—particularly people of color. Ending the federal marijuana prohibition is necessary to right the wrongs of this failed war and end decades of harm inflicted on communities of color across the country. But that alone is not enough. As states continue to legalize marijuana, we must also enact measures that will lift up people who were unfairly targeted in the War on Drugs.
“We are committed to working together to put forward and advance comprehensive cannabis reform legislation that will not only turn the page on this sad chapter in American history, but also undo the devastating consequences of these discriminatory policies. The Senate will make consideration of these reforms a priority.
“In the early part of this year, we will release a unified discussion draft on comprehensive reform to ensure restorative justice, protect public health and implement responsible taxes and regulations. Getting input from stakeholder groups will be an important part of developing this critical legislation.”
