HEMP GETS HOT Meet the Hardest Working Plant on the Planet
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by Julie Peterson
crop that was illegal in Right now, it’s China, where it’s been cultivated U.S. soil for more than the Wild West for 8,500 years. “It’s the fastest-growing half a century is now of agriculture. ag industry that we’ve ever reaching for the sun. Industrial hemp, the low- or no-THC ~Dustin Enge seen,” says Tara Valentine, hemp specialist at the Rodale cousin to marijuana, has created Institute, in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. Since high hopes among farmers, agricultural hemp’s inclusion in the 2018 Farm Bill, researchers, manufacturers and consumers. Rodale’s hemp web page hits have grown By 2019, America had become the world’s 10-fold. third-largest producer, behind Canada and
All parts of the hemp plant are useful in multiple ways, and hemp has applications in textiles, construction, bioremediation, technology, nutrition and health, including cannabidiol (CBD). The seeds are rich in protein, essential fatty acids and vitamins. They can be eaten, ground into flour or pressed for oil that is used for cooking or in body care products. The stems undergo decortication to separate the long outer fibers (bast) from the short inner fibers (hurd). Hemp hurd makes extremely durable hempcrete for construction, absorbent and dust-free animal bedding or pellets for heating stoves. An exponential rise in the use of hemp is expected because it can replace products made from paper, wood, plastic, cotton and fossil fuels. “Hemp fiber is going to dominate the market once we get to the full manufacturing potential,” says Erica Stark, executive director of the National Hemp Association, in Washington, D.C. The first introductions consumers can expect include hemp paper products, such as plates and toilet paper, and biodegradable hemp bioplastics like cutlery and cups. Construction materials and other products are expected to quickly follow.
Environmentally Friendly
The Institute of Papermaking and Printing, at the Technical University of Lodz, Poland, did a 2015 study comparing mak-
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