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The420Guy
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MINOT, North Dakota – Eric Pollitt understands the potential of the industrial hemp industry. Pollitt, who has been studying the botanical cousin to marijuana since 1996, said Minot would be a good place to locate a hemp processing facility.
Pollitt, founder and owner of Global Hemp, an advocacy group designed to provide information about industrial hemp, said he is currently working on a business plan for a processing plant.
He said his plan includes processing, based on Australian technology, that is revolutionary in the hemp industry.
"When you cut hemp with this process, it's never retted – separated in the field," Pollitt said. "With this technology, you take the stalk to a facility and use enzymes to separate it and you end up with fiber that can be spun on cotton machinery."
Currently, hemp is cut down, similar to alfalfa, and dew is formed on the stalks, which essentially separates the outer bark from the inside mass. That process takes about a week.
This new technology can ret the stalks in as little as a day and ready the bast (fiber), to be spun on cotton machinery. He said it's the first time in history that hemp fibers can be spun on existing machinery.
"Very little money has gone into hemp or flax technology," Pollitt said. "Most of the money spent in the past 100 years has been dumped into cotton. This takes hemp into an existing facility."
Pollitt, Peoria, Illinois, said he is working with Rob Robinson of Minot to build statewide support for capital to build a processing plant in Minot. He said other communities might be considered if they present good incentive packages.
Robinson is scheduled to have an industrial hemp information and products booth at Minot's ag expo this coming weekend at the State Fairgrounds and will be available to discuss Pollitt's preliminary proposal.
"We're trying to get some capital in North Dakota," Pollitt said. "Even if we can do it with some cooperation of North Dakota farmers working with those in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, we'll be better off."
Pollitt looks at North Dakota for a processing facility for a number of reasons. First and foremost, he said, is the central location, which is close to a massive Canadian supply of industrial hemp fiber. Secondly, because of the importance of farming in North Dakota, growing industrial hemp would be as easy as canola or flax. And third, Pollitt said government officials are at least bending an ear to him and Robinson and he is intrigued that the North Dakota Legislature legalized hemp. He said that is reason enough for optimism.
"North Dakota is definitely on the top of the list, but first we have to think about money, then infrastructure," Pollitt said. "If this took place in the United States, North Dakota is the No. 1 option. In Canada, it's Ontario. North Dakota is centrally located and Minot has a lot going for it. And here in Illinois, we can't get legislators to listen to us – not on the state level and even worse on the federal level. In North Dakota, the legislators listen to the issues and some even push for new laws."
Pollitt said it would take approximately $1 million to bring an industrial hemp retting processor to North Dakota that would create at least 10 immediate jobs. But, he said, plenty of spinoff industry would come from it.
The first idea is to set up a cast to create automotive moldings from industrial hemp since several auto manufacturers are turning away from fiberglass and turning to hemp, which is environmentally friendly. The second is to build a textile factory that could provide additional jobs to process the products, package them and ship them to urban centers.
Pollitt's enthusiasm for processing industrial hemp comes from an unlikely source. A company called Indiana Biocomposites is currently paying 25 to 30 cents a pound for bast fiber and the company calculates that about 3 tons of fiber can be grown on 2.5 acres, "and that's on the low end," Pollitt said.
He said Indiana Biocomposites is stepping up its production in the coming decade.
"Natural fiber production is going up 20 percent annually for the next 10 years and there's no reason North Dakota can't be a part of that," he said. "For textiles, it's even going to be a higher percentage than that."
According to Pollitt, industrial hemp is rapidly gaining popularity, primarily because it is legal to grow in Canada, Australia and in many parts of Europe and farmers in those countries, especially Canada, have proven that industrial hemp is profitable.
He said Americans want a slice of that pie, but he is cautions about the economics of supply and demand.
"So many people want to get their hands on it and if it is legal, the price could go through the roof," Pollitt said.
Sunday, January 19, 2002
Marvin Baker, Minot Daily News
Provided by www.globalhemp.com
Pollitt, founder and owner of Global Hemp, an advocacy group designed to provide information about industrial hemp, said he is currently working on a business plan for a processing plant.
He said his plan includes processing, based on Australian technology, that is revolutionary in the hemp industry.
"When you cut hemp with this process, it's never retted – separated in the field," Pollitt said. "With this technology, you take the stalk to a facility and use enzymes to separate it and you end up with fiber that can be spun on cotton machinery."
Currently, hemp is cut down, similar to alfalfa, and dew is formed on the stalks, which essentially separates the outer bark from the inside mass. That process takes about a week.
This new technology can ret the stalks in as little as a day and ready the bast (fiber), to be spun on cotton machinery. He said it's the first time in history that hemp fibers can be spun on existing machinery.
"Very little money has gone into hemp or flax technology," Pollitt said. "Most of the money spent in the past 100 years has been dumped into cotton. This takes hemp into an existing facility."
Pollitt, Peoria, Illinois, said he is working with Rob Robinson of Minot to build statewide support for capital to build a processing plant in Minot. He said other communities might be considered if they present good incentive packages.
Robinson is scheduled to have an industrial hemp information and products booth at Minot's ag expo this coming weekend at the State Fairgrounds and will be available to discuss Pollitt's preliminary proposal.
"We're trying to get some capital in North Dakota," Pollitt said. "Even if we can do it with some cooperation of North Dakota farmers working with those in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, we'll be better off."
Pollitt looks at North Dakota for a processing facility for a number of reasons. First and foremost, he said, is the central location, which is close to a massive Canadian supply of industrial hemp fiber. Secondly, because of the importance of farming in North Dakota, growing industrial hemp would be as easy as canola or flax. And third, Pollitt said government officials are at least bending an ear to him and Robinson and he is intrigued that the North Dakota Legislature legalized hemp. He said that is reason enough for optimism.
"North Dakota is definitely on the top of the list, but first we have to think about money, then infrastructure," Pollitt said. "If this took place in the United States, North Dakota is the No. 1 option. In Canada, it's Ontario. North Dakota is centrally located and Minot has a lot going for it. And here in Illinois, we can't get legislators to listen to us – not on the state level and even worse on the federal level. In North Dakota, the legislators listen to the issues and some even push for new laws."
Pollitt said it would take approximately $1 million to bring an industrial hemp retting processor to North Dakota that would create at least 10 immediate jobs. But, he said, plenty of spinoff industry would come from it.
The first idea is to set up a cast to create automotive moldings from industrial hemp since several auto manufacturers are turning away from fiberglass and turning to hemp, which is environmentally friendly. The second is to build a textile factory that could provide additional jobs to process the products, package them and ship them to urban centers.
Pollitt's enthusiasm for processing industrial hemp comes from an unlikely source. A company called Indiana Biocomposites is currently paying 25 to 30 cents a pound for bast fiber and the company calculates that about 3 tons of fiber can be grown on 2.5 acres, "and that's on the low end," Pollitt said.
He said Indiana Biocomposites is stepping up its production in the coming decade.
"Natural fiber production is going up 20 percent annually for the next 10 years and there's no reason North Dakota can't be a part of that," he said. "For textiles, it's even going to be a higher percentage than that."
According to Pollitt, industrial hemp is rapidly gaining popularity, primarily because it is legal to grow in Canada, Australia and in many parts of Europe and farmers in those countries, especially Canada, have proven that industrial hemp is profitable.
He said Americans want a slice of that pie, but he is cautions about the economics of supply and demand.
"So many people want to get their hands on it and if it is legal, the price could go through the roof," Pollitt said.
Sunday, January 19, 2002
Marvin Baker, Minot Daily News
Provided by www.globalhemp.com
