Industrial Hemp News
Industrial Hemp Now Legal In North Carolina
Industrial hemp is now legal in the state of North Carolina.
On Saturday, Senate Bill 313 became law and it calls for a pilot program for the growing of hemp throughout the state.
Though he didn’t sign the bill, Governor McCrory said he wants to ensure that farmers and researchers participating in the program are given clear guidance to safeguard their investment of time, land and money to produce the crop.
The eastern band of Cherokee Indians will soon begin a feasibility study to look at the possible legalization of cannabis for industrial hemp uses, medicine and recreational uses.
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Full Article: Industrial Hemp Legal In North Carolina
Author: Web Staff
Contact: Email Fox46
Photo Credit: Manitoba Government
Website: Fox46 News
Kentucky: Farmers Embrace Hemp Industry
Tucked away off a narrow country road in Clark County, in the middle of a farm, 27 acres of hemp grew all summer. Now, the plants will be harvested and processed.
Kentucky, hailed as a leader by industrial hemp advocates, has grown the hemp. Now the state is working on growing the industry.
“In two years, we’ve come a long way,” said Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, who is now running for Congress. “We’ve proven first of all that it’s not a drug, which was very important for the opposition to realize. And we’ve proven it’s economically viable, or there wouldn’t be 22 companies that have made an investment in the state. … What we’re doing now is working with the companies that want to go to the next step to commercialize the product. “
The plants in Winchester are part of the 100 acres of hemp — high in cannabidiol and low in tetrahydrocannabinol (the high-inducing chemical in marijuana) — grown this year for GenCanna, which moved from Canada to Kentucky to be in the heart of the hemp revolution. It deliberately chose to come to Kentucky over other states, including Colorado, because of the agricultural resources and the climate, both meteorological and political.
“We have been in this industry for many years, and we are setting a new bar in Kentucky,” GenCanna CEO Matty Mangone-Miranda said. “Kentucky’s kept the focus on industrial hemp” rather than cloud the issue with other forms of cannabis cultivation, as Colorado has permitted.
Mangone-Miranda, who estimates that hemp could become a billion-dollar industry, said his group is in hempfor the long run.
“The industry is likely to have a bubble, then stabilize with a market of diversified products,” he said, citing potential uses in sports drinks, nutritional products, supplements and more.
GenCanna has invested more than $5 million in Kentucky, according to company officials, although it has yet to see any revenue. That will come once the company is able to deliver a stable source of low-THC/high-CBDhemp.
“The only way to have hemp become an agricultural commodity is to grow lots of it and see what happens,” said Steve Bean, GenCanna’s chief operating officer.
Coming to Kentucky had other benefits, too. Many farmers were eager to get into the crop, which decades ago proliferated in the Bluegrass; hundreds applied to be part of pilot projects to grow hemp. The crop still can legally be grown only in affiliation with the state Department of Agriculture and entities that sign detailed memos of understanding.
Kentucky also has resources that in the past were used for tobacco that have converted well to hemp cultivation.
In fact, GenCanna’s headquarters is now in part of a former Philip Morris office building stuffed with former labs. The place was practically abandoned as the cigarette maker began retreating from Central Kentucky.
And next door is a processing center in a former tobacco seed plant, where GenCanna built a system to turn the chopped-up hemp plants into a sort of dried powder to sell as a nutritional supplement.
The Shell Farm and Greenhouses in Lancaster is turning its fields away from tobacco, growing 157,000 hemp plants on 40 acres outdoors and 3,500 plants in a greenhouse.
“And we’ll be growing it indoors all winter,” Giles Shell said. Shell’s greenhouses once raised flowers; now he’s working on hemp genetics.
Next year, Shell intends to grow even more hemp.
“We’re going to quit raising our tobacco crop, and if we do any flowers, it will be downsized,” Shell said. “Last year, we raised 120 acres of tobacco. This year, we dropped to 80. Next year, we will drop to none. There’s not a market any more for tobacco and not enough money once you factor in labor and chemical costs.”
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Farmers Embrace Hemp Industry
Author: Janet Patton
Contact: Contact Page
Photo Credit: Charles Bertram/Lexington Herald-Leader Via The Associated Press
Website: The Clarion Ledger
Utah Lawmaker Hip For Hemp Research
Utah lawmakers are hoping to find a way to adjust federal law to allow for Utah’s institutions of higher education to research the health and economic aspects of cannabis or hemp products.
Republican representative Gage Froerer told members of the health and human services committee this week that he is working with Utah’s Congressional delegation to encourage a change in Federal Drug Administration policy that would allow researchers to move forward in determining the possible agricultural, medical, and economic uses of hemp and cannabis products.
“It’s very important that we head down the research path,” Froerer said. “We need to know exactly what this does and how it effects patients and impacts individual diseases. We also need to look at the agricultural and production side and the economic benefits.”
“Being able to go into a lab and pull the substance apart and test each little component, understand it, synthesize it, reconfigure it, modify it and put it into a pill,”. Meanwhile, let’s not deny these patients the benefit we know that science shows us that they get because science hasn’t caught up and science doesn’t understand perfectly why the FDA hasn’t caught up,” he said. “Do we wait for that research or do we go ahead?
In March 2015 Froerer was successful in passing what is referred to as “Charlee’s Law”, or HB 150, which allows for some epilepsy patients in Utah to access hemp extract oil to treat the disorder. Since then at least ten other states have passed similar laws. Still, many of his constituents continue to express interest in being able to use related products to treat other illnesses.
During the 2016 Utah Legislative Session Froerer is hoping to convince Utah lawmakers to allow for as many as 5,000 people to have access to cannabis extract oil for a variety of medical conditions, based on current research, while he continues to work on ways to convince federal regulators to make changes that would allow for the University and Utah and Utah State University to conduct research in the near future.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Utah Lawmaker Hip For Hemp Research
Author: Kerry Bringhurst
Contact: Contact Page
Photo Credit: NBC News
Website: Utah Public Radio
PA Lawmaker Sees Industrial Uses For Hemp
State Rep. Marty Flynn has read a lot about hemp, the name for cannabis plant varieties grown for industrial uses, such as fiber.
During his research, he kept thinking about the legal status of the plant.
“To me it seemed like there was no reason for it to be illegal,” he said.
Flynn, D-Scranton, became a key co-sponsor of House Bill 967, which creates a pilot program for growing hemp in Pennsylvania. The House Agriculture Committee just voted 24-0, with three members not voting, to move the bill out of the committee.
Flynn sees industrial hemp as a potential boon for the state.
That’s why he thinks it could come to a vote soon in the House.
“I think the temperature is right,” he said. “The state needs money and more industry. This is definitely a way to improve those.”
The bill, sponsored by Russ Diamond, R-Lebanon, would allow the Department of Agriculture and universities to grow hemp under the pilot program. The bill also creates regulations for growing the plant. Flynn said he may propose expanding who is allowed to grow the crop.
The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau supports Diamond’s bill and another proposal. The bureau also warned that hemp won’t be a panacea for farmers looking for business and said it is worried that farmers could face consequences because of federal laws that treat cannabis plants as illegal.
Hemp and marijuana are both from the cannabis plant. Hemp has a much lower content of tetrahydrocannabinol, the main psychoactive compound in the plant.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Lawmaker Sees Industrial Uses For Hemp
Author: Bill Wellock
Contact: Email Author
Photo Credit: Ecowatch
Website: Citizens Voice News
India: Government Considering Hemp Farming
Research should be done to maintain THC (Tetra Hydro Cannabinol) element in hemp as per the international norms in Uttarakhand, said Chief Minister Harish Rawat while chairing a meeting in Derhadun on Saturday.
“Farmers should be given licence to cultivate hemp and its fibre and seed should be procured by the Bamboo and Fibre Board,” he said. “However, it is up to the excise department to make sure that the cultivated hemps are not used as narcotic substances,” the CM said. In course of the meeting, detailed discussion was held over the possibilities of using Hemp, Kandali and Bheemal in fibre- based industries.
Rural economy might be transformed significantly through fibre-based grass and plants, the CM said, adding that a working plan would be formulated to use Kandaali, Bheemal and Hemp commercially.
Commissioner, Excise Vinay Shanker Pandey told the meeting that as per the norms, Hemp with 0.3 to 1.5 per cent THC might be used for industrial purposes. “Things exceeding this limit cannot be used for industrial purposes,” he said, adding that 4-5 percent THC element is generally found in Hemps.
As per the NDPC Act, licence may be given to the growers from all the regions, excluding the sub-mountain and Bhabar areas of the State. “ But the yield must be purchased by the state government alone,” he said.
CM Rawat stated that research would be conducted by Pantnagar University, Vivekanand Research Institution, Almora and Bharsar University to develop such hemp seeds which contain THC elements up to 0.3-1.5 percent according to the standards. “International market has very high demand of Hemp fibre which is used as bio fibre. Hemp is grown naturally in the hilly areas,” he said.
“The trend is that the villagers destroy hemp crops fearing that they would perforce sell the produce to the Government,” he said. “Sugandh Podh Kendra situated at Selaqui can use Hemp in manufacturing cosmetic and oils. It is to be ensured that it may not be misused in manufacturing intoxicants,” he said.
Bamboo and Fibre Board was asked to study the practical use of Sanai. As fibres can be manufactured by Sanai monkeys and other animals cannot harm the crops, he said. State Government may grant aid if it is required, CM assured.
He said Timla tree above 4000 feet, Tejpata at 3000-4000 feet and Amla and Guava trees at 2000-3000 feet should be planted on priority basis by the forest department. Rambans and Bheemal may be used for fencing the forest, he said, adding that they would focus on developing the purchasing system to boost farming in the rural areas.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Government Mulls Licence For Hemp Farming
Author: Web Staff
Contact: Contact Page
Photo Credit: Ken Manfredi
Website: Daily Pioneer
North Carolina: Senate OKs Hemp Production
A bill to legalize industrial hemp production is headed to Gov. Pat McCrory.
The Senate approved the legislation Tuesday after… [Read More]
Hemp Harvested In Minnesota For 1st Time
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6 Reasons Why You Should Eat Hemp Seeds
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Hemp Homes Could Hit New High
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Industrial Hemp Brings Political Parties Together
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