Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
At the birth of any industry, uncertainty abounds. So does opportunity, say Kentuckians like Joe Schroeder of Freedom Seed and Feed, who is among those growing industrial hemp and advocating for others in Appalachia to do the same.
"It's really speculative," says Schroeder. "But people are making a lot of money, and that money is real."
But don't take that talk of money to mean Schroeder is greedy. At a time when the region's collapsing coal and tobacco industries have left gaping holes in central Appalachia's economy, at least some of Kentucky's hemp experimenters want to maximize the benefit to as many local people as possible.
Hemp was so important to early America that colonists in Virginia were required to grow it. A short boom during World War II notwithstanding, the shift to cotton and the anti-marijuana movement put an end to the industry by the mid-20th century. But in 2014, a new farm bill cleared the way for states to begin research-driven pilot programs to test the crop's viability in producing fiber, medication, and food. Twenty-seven states, including Kentucky, have passed their own pro-hemp legislation so far. And yet the plant remains a Schedule I controlled substance, in the same category as heroin, LSD, and bath salts.
That's why Jane Herrod feels like she's starting from scratch, even though hemp was grown on her family farm near Lexington, Kentucky, as far back as the early 1800s. Hemp may be rife with legal contradiction, but things don't appear so complicated this afternoon at her farm. The cows graze. The Kentucky River flows. And Herrod, a middle-aged woman with close-cropped grey hair and a deep tan, looks out across her pastureland with obvious joy. She loves this land, and she's not giving up on it.
Kentucky is home to a vast patchwork of small former tobacco farms like Herrod's. Beginning in the 1930s, a system of quotas and other price supports from the federal government made tobacco a pretty secure crop to grow, even on a small number of acres. But all that came to a halt in 2004, when these tobacco-friendly policies were discontinued. A payment system was set up to assist tobacco farmers until they could figure out a replacement crop, but that ended in 2014. Now, with smoking in decline and imported tobacco on the rise, the industry is down to less than a quarter of its size a few decades ago. But the land, much of the infrastructure, and at least some of the farmers are still there.
Hemp advocates hope that reintroducing the crop will help farmers like Herrod keep her 10 tillable acres in production and make money too. But whether and how hemp can justify itself financially on a small farm are open questions and critical ones for Kentuckians to answer if they are to significantly benefit from the potential new industry.
Last year, Herrod hosted a small test plot of hemp on her land, and now she's applying to grow two acres of the plant for cannabidiol (CBD) oil, one of the highest-value hemp products being tested. The oil is used to treat epilepsy and has shown potential for Crohn's disease, cancer, and autism. She and other growers and processors must go through a lengthy permitting process run by Kentucky's agriculture department and the Drug Enforcement Agency. This year, 166 applications were approved in the state.
Though she doesn't expect to get rich, Herrod believes the high-value CBD oil could bring in enough income for her to start building other enterprises and investing in infrastructure on her farm so that she can pass it on to her kids as the income-generating business it used to be. For this reason, some are describing hemp as a "gateway crop" that could help keep family farms viable.
Another strong motivator for Herrod is the opportunity to grow something that heals and feeds people instead of poisoning them. Herrod's mother, who passed the tobacco farm down to her daughter, died of lung cancer caused by the very crop she raised. Edible hemp seed, on the other hand, packs in omega-3s and -6s, nutritious oils that facilitate healthy nerves. And its flowers contain a host of biochemicals that are being tested for medicinal uses. For all these reasons, Herrod says she's ready to turn over a new leaf.
"There's not a negative thing about the plant that I can see, other than you might not be able to make money with it," Herrod says, laughing. "But I'm going to find out."
Hemp is defined in the farm bill as cannabis that's less than 0.3 percent THC content by weight. THC, of course, is the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, which contains 10 percent THC on average.
It's easy to see why boosters describe hemp as a kind of miracle plant. It's a sector filled with a certain amount of utopian thinking, especially from marijuana legalization advocates. But not all of the boosters are partaking. A 1998 study by North Dakota State University estimates that hemp has 25,000 uses, which include food, green building materials, textiles, paper, fuel, body care products, and as a replacement for plastic and fiberglass. BMW even used it in the door panels of its new electric car.
That's why farmers in China and Europe have been growing hemp for decades. But in the United States, the federal government still considers it a narcotic. And that makes it harder to find buyers, get insurance, and obtain seed.
A flier for prospective hemp growers put out by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture warns that "markets are limited; revenues should not be counted on." Likewise, a report by the Congressional Research Service last year said it's impossible to make predictions about sales and employment. Still, the same report describes a "mostly positive market outlook" for hemp, citing "rising consumer demand and the potential range of product uses."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Can Industrial Hemp Save Kentucky's Small Farms?
Author: Catherine V. Moore
Contact: Resilience
Photo Credit: Catherine V. Moore
Website: Resilience
"It's really speculative," says Schroeder. "But people are making a lot of money, and that money is real."
But don't take that talk of money to mean Schroeder is greedy. At a time when the region's collapsing coal and tobacco industries have left gaping holes in central Appalachia's economy, at least some of Kentucky's hemp experimenters want to maximize the benefit to as many local people as possible.
Hemp was so important to early America that colonists in Virginia were required to grow it. A short boom during World War II notwithstanding, the shift to cotton and the anti-marijuana movement put an end to the industry by the mid-20th century. But in 2014, a new farm bill cleared the way for states to begin research-driven pilot programs to test the crop's viability in producing fiber, medication, and food. Twenty-seven states, including Kentucky, have passed their own pro-hemp legislation so far. And yet the plant remains a Schedule I controlled substance, in the same category as heroin, LSD, and bath salts.
That's why Jane Herrod feels like she's starting from scratch, even though hemp was grown on her family farm near Lexington, Kentucky, as far back as the early 1800s. Hemp may be rife with legal contradiction, but things don't appear so complicated this afternoon at her farm. The cows graze. The Kentucky River flows. And Herrod, a middle-aged woman with close-cropped grey hair and a deep tan, looks out across her pastureland with obvious joy. She loves this land, and she's not giving up on it.
Kentucky is home to a vast patchwork of small former tobacco farms like Herrod's. Beginning in the 1930s, a system of quotas and other price supports from the federal government made tobacco a pretty secure crop to grow, even on a small number of acres. But all that came to a halt in 2004, when these tobacco-friendly policies were discontinued. A payment system was set up to assist tobacco farmers until they could figure out a replacement crop, but that ended in 2014. Now, with smoking in decline and imported tobacco on the rise, the industry is down to less than a quarter of its size a few decades ago. But the land, much of the infrastructure, and at least some of the farmers are still there.
Hemp advocates hope that reintroducing the crop will help farmers like Herrod keep her 10 tillable acres in production and make money too. But whether and how hemp can justify itself financially on a small farm are open questions and critical ones for Kentuckians to answer if they are to significantly benefit from the potential new industry.
Last year, Herrod hosted a small test plot of hemp on her land, and now she's applying to grow two acres of the plant for cannabidiol (CBD) oil, one of the highest-value hemp products being tested. The oil is used to treat epilepsy and has shown potential for Crohn's disease, cancer, and autism. She and other growers and processors must go through a lengthy permitting process run by Kentucky's agriculture department and the Drug Enforcement Agency. This year, 166 applications were approved in the state.
Though she doesn't expect to get rich, Herrod believes the high-value CBD oil could bring in enough income for her to start building other enterprises and investing in infrastructure on her farm so that she can pass it on to her kids as the income-generating business it used to be. For this reason, some are describing hemp as a "gateway crop" that could help keep family farms viable.
Another strong motivator for Herrod is the opportunity to grow something that heals and feeds people instead of poisoning them. Herrod's mother, who passed the tobacco farm down to her daughter, died of lung cancer caused by the very crop she raised. Edible hemp seed, on the other hand, packs in omega-3s and -6s, nutritious oils that facilitate healthy nerves. And its flowers contain a host of biochemicals that are being tested for medicinal uses. For all these reasons, Herrod says she's ready to turn over a new leaf.
"There's not a negative thing about the plant that I can see, other than you might not be able to make money with it," Herrod says, laughing. "But I'm going to find out."
Hemp is defined in the farm bill as cannabis that's less than 0.3 percent THC content by weight. THC, of course, is the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, which contains 10 percent THC on average.
It's easy to see why boosters describe hemp as a kind of miracle plant. It's a sector filled with a certain amount of utopian thinking, especially from marijuana legalization advocates. But not all of the boosters are partaking. A 1998 study by North Dakota State University estimates that hemp has 25,000 uses, which include food, green building materials, textiles, paper, fuel, body care products, and as a replacement for plastic and fiberglass. BMW even used it in the door panels of its new electric car.
That's why farmers in China and Europe have been growing hemp for decades. But in the United States, the federal government still considers it a narcotic. And that makes it harder to find buyers, get insurance, and obtain seed.
A flier for prospective hemp growers put out by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture warns that "markets are limited; revenues should not be counted on." Likewise, a report by the Congressional Research Service last year said it's impossible to make predictions about sales and employment. Still, the same report describes a "mostly positive market outlook" for hemp, citing "rising consumer demand and the potential range of product uses."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Can Industrial Hemp Save Kentucky's Small Farms?
Author: Catherine V. Moore
Contact: Resilience
Photo Credit: Catherine V. Moore
Website: Resilience
