Industrial Hemp

By Michael Bachara, Hemp News

Gatewood is currently campaigning for Kentucky's 2011 gubernatorial race; Please support him any way you can as he will end the "Synthetic Subversion" in his state.

Learn more about his efforts: http://www.gatewood.com

Footage: Seattle Hempfest
August 21, 2010

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJjpJlCZ7mc

UNCC researchers create a formula for recycling old bottles into new building materials

By Amber Veverka, Special Correspondent, Charlotte Observer

A UNC Charlotte researcher with a passion for sustainability is creating a new building material out of recycled plastic bottles and an ancient grass.

Dr. Na Lu, an assistant professor at UNCC's Department of Engineering Technology, has created a material she believes may outperform composite lumber and wood lumber in many uses, and which has potential to be used in the residential and light commercial building industry.

In her lab at UNCC, Luna, as she prefers to be called, holds a dog bone-shaped sample of her creation: a beige plastic woven with threads of what looks like horsehair. "Hemp," Luna says, and points to a fluffy pile of the fibers on the table.

Unlike much present-day composite lumber, Luna's product substitutes hemp fibers for more typical chipped wood often mixed with virgin plastic. And unlike pressure-treated wood, the hemp material contains no toxic heavy metals.

Wood fiber is structured like a bundle of straws, she said, but hemp's crystalline structure gives it greater mechanical strength. She demonstrates by holding out a handful of hemp fibers to pull.

"This (hemp composite) material performs up to 4,000 to 6,000 psi (pounds per square inch)," Luna said. "That's as strong as medium-strength concrete."

40,000 Square Foot Facility Utilized As Pilot Scale Facility For Crailar Decortication Process

By Michael Bachara, Hemp News Staff

The hemp industry in the United States has taken a step forward in the Carolina's as Naturally Advanced Technologies, Inc (NAT) has announced that it has signed a ten month sublease of a facility at 164 County Camp Road, Kingstree, SC, 29556.

NAT has always committed to unlocking the potential of renewable and environmentally sustainable biomass resources from hemp and other bast fibers and this decision to locate closer to the HanesBrand headquarters is no exception to their track record. The move will create a presence as the demand for organic fibers increases worldwide. NAT's positive studies at North Carolina State University with their 80% Cotton/20% Hemp blend show great promise to the development of organic fibers worldwide. (See Video)

By Michael Bachara, Hemp News Staff

The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation (THCF) is proud to be the main sponsor of the Seattle Hempfest because our mission is to educate the general community about the benefits of the cannabis plant to our society. Hempfest 2010 will be held on August 21st and 22nd, and takes place every year at Myrtle Edwards Park expanding in recent years to include the adjacent parks. Hempfest offers five stages of entertainment, a Hemposium question and answer forum, and hundreds of vendor booths, sure to please a myriad of musical, informational, and entrepreneurial tastes.

The time to act in support of hemp is now, so please reach out and create awareness in your community. The Berlin Wall fell quickly, and together we can end this unjust war on the cannabis plant in the same manner, but we need to unite in solidarity. Vivian McPeak, the event's director declares, "No political or human rights movement in America has made it this far without eventually winning. It's just a matter of time."

n. 1 a: Organically certified fiber derived from natural bast fibers (such as hemp and flax), which are responsibly treated with an “enzymatic bath” and then spun into soft, white fibers similar to organic cotton. b: Touted as the next affordable and sustainable stand-in for conventional cotton, with the added bonus of tensile strength for use in textile, industrial, energy, medical, and composite material applications. c: Named after the town of Craik, Saskatchewan, this eco-textile initiative is also supported by the National Research Council Canada. A joint partnership with Hanes is likely to make it a household name for apparel knit products globally.


Source: http://www.ecouterre.com/18393/crailar-organic-fibers-a-new-eco-friendly...

ND governmental leaders get the brush-off from the U.S. Justice Department

By SUE ROESLER, Farm & Ranch Guide

North Dakota government leaders and producers aren't giving up on growing industrial hemp.

Another appeal of a lawsuit decision regarding the right of farmers with state licenses to grow industrial hemp without worrying about the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) arresting them was filed last week.

Two North Dakota farmers, State Rep. David Monson and Wayne Hauge, appealed a 2007 industrial hemp lawsuit decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia Circuit last week.

While North Dakota producers can purchase state licenses to grow industrial hemp, the DEA continues to ignore their requests for a federal registration - even after a district court judge called the agency out on it.

In 2007, U.S. District Judge Dan Hovland said he had to dismiss the farmers' lawsuit against the DEA because of federal law that lumped industrial hemp together with marijuana under the controlled substances act.

However, he chided the DEA for not responding to the farmers' and other agencies' requests.

At that time, Hovland said “there is no realistic prospect the plaintiffs (Monson and Hauge) will ever be issued a license by the DEA to grow industrial hemp.”

He called the DEA's action an “unreasonable delay.”

By Dimakatso Motau

The composite materials industry has the potential to contribute to the growth of the local economy, says the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) chief researcher and research group leader for composite materials Dr Rajesh Anandjiwala.

This view is also supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Department of Trade and Industry, which have identified the growth of natural fibre-based industries as a significant agro economic tool.

Anandjiwala says that South Africa has the potential to become a tier-two supplier of composite products in future. However, he adds that the country must aim to become a tier-one supplier for higher benefits and job retentions.

However, to achieve this, the country must overcome certain challenges in the composites industry. Anandjiwala points to a lack of raw materials being manufactured locally, which results in the import of certain raw materials, such as natural fibres, some speciality chemicals and resins. He says the development of the industry is also hindered by the lack of a skilled workforce.

He adds that natural fibres in composites will also provide other benefits for industries in South Africa. The advantages of using natural fibres in composites include its light weight, which results in weight saving, a cheaper raw material price from the natural source, thermal recycling and the ecological advantages of using renewable resources, he explains.

By Manuel Roig-Franzia, Washington Post Staff Writer

Hemp needed a hero. Needed one bad.

The gangly plant -- once a favorite of military ropemakers -- couldn't catch a break. Even as legalized medical marijuana has become more and more commonplace, the industrial hemp plant -- with its minuscule levels of the chemical that gives marijuana its kick -- has remained illegal to cultivate in the United States.

Enter the lost hemp diaries.

Found recently at a garage sale outside Buffalo but never publicly released, these journals chronicle the life of Lyster H. Dewey, a botanist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture whose long career straddled the 19th and 20th centuries. Dewey writes painstakingly about growing exotically named varieties of hemp -- Keijo, Chinamington and others -- on a tract of government land known as Arlington Farms. In effect, he was tending Uncle Sam's hemp farm.

What's gotten hemp advocates excited about the discovery is the location of that farm. A large chunk of acreage was handed over to the War Department in the 1940s for construction of the world's largest office building: the Pentagon. So now, hempsters can claim that an important piece of their legacy lies in the rich Northern Virginia soil alongside a hugely significant symbol of the government that has so enraged and befuddled them over the years.

All thanks to Lyster Dewey.

Center stage is exactly where Jack Herer belonged. A talented, “bombastic” man, Jack’s energy was contagious and his legacy is alive and well.

By Bonnie King, Salem-News/Hemp News

(SALEM, Ore.) - Jack Herer was born June 18th, 1939, in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York. In 1940 his family moved to Buffalo, where he was raised, the son of a collection agency manager. A “normal American nerd”, he grew into a respectable young man, joining the military, getting married and starting a family.

And then, at age thirty, he completely changed direction, becoming one of the very first American Cannabis activists, and inevitably the most world renowned leader for hemp education.

Jack didn’t start out as the “kind of guy” who smoked pot. He was a Goldwater Republican, in the sign maintenance business. In 1969, recently divorced, he was introduced to cannabis by a girlfriend. He wasn’t much interested in it before then, and after briefly trying it a couple of times he was fairly sure it didn’t “work on him”. Jack was therefore naive to the euphoric or medicinal properties of the herb. When he decided to really give it a try, he said he had the most incredible sex of his life.

That inspired him to learn more. What he learned, he shared.

By Liina Flynn, Echo

Klara Marosszeky has a vision for the future that involves revamping of the local farming industry to produce industrial hemp crops. Working with farmers, she has just harvested her first commercial crop of industrial hemp and is looking for innovators who want to utilise the product.

(Tetrahydrocannabinol) content and produces the longest, strongest plant fibres in the world. It is used in many countries in the manufacture of plastics, fiberglass, fabrics, food and building materials.

“In the UK, a major car manufacturer, Lotus, is making whole cars out of hemp,” Klara said. “Everything but the engine is hemp. Henry Ford would be grinning in his grave.”

Klara currently teaches sustainability courses at TAFE and envisions hemp as the solution to many of the sustainability issues that are affecting Australia today. Not only is she trying to create a hemp industry in NSW and open the way to using hemp seed as a food product, but she is out to make housing materials affordable. After looking around for alternative products to replace our current dependence on timber, Klara spent years experimenting with hemp masonry as a building material, with very successful results. Two years ago, she was a finalist for the Northern Rivers Regional Development Board’s innovation award for her hemp masonry.

Sign the Petition to End Prohibition. Regulate Cannabis, Support Industrial Hemp, Create Revenue.

By Hemp News Staff

Oregonians for Cannabis Reform have finished gathering the 1000 sponsorship signatures needed for the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2010 (OCTA) petition. The Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, would set aside two percent of the profits from the sale of cannabis in cannabis-only stores for two state commissions that promote industrial hemp biodiesel, fiber, protein and oil.

It will also legalize the sale, possession and personal private cultivation of marijuana. People who want to cultivate and sell marijuana, or process commercial psychoactive cannabis, would be required to obtain a license from the state. Adults could grow their own marijuana and the sale of all cannabis strains' seeds and starter plants would be legalized with no license, fee nor registration. The profits from the sale of cannabis to adults will add hundreds of millions into the state general fund as well as drug treatment and education.

In order to be successful, we will need help from volunteers across Oregon. Please tell ten friends about OCTA 2010 and get involved! We are now circulating the petition across Oregon. We will need 83,000 valid signatures by July, 2, 2010 to qualify for the November ballot.

"Hemp will be the future of all mankind, or there won't be a future." Jack Herer

By Michael Bachara, Hemp News Staff

Friends and family have confirmed that Jack Herer, known throughout the world as ‘The Hemperor,’ passed away on Thursday, April 15, 2010 in Eugene, Oregon. Herer was 70 years old, and a dear friend to CRRH and THCF, he will be greatly missed.

"No other single person has done more to educate people all across the world about industrial hemp and marijuana as Jack Herer. His book is translated into a dozen different languages, it's a bestseller in Germany. His legacy will continue to inspire and encourage for generations to come. I honor his memory." Paul Stanford, CRRH/THCF

"He was one of my personal heroes." Madeline Martinez, Oregon NORML

"The one and only Jack Herer will be missed forever." Bonnie King, Salem-News

Some researchers believe hemp has many properties that make it perfect for sustainability.

Our Future Planet investigates.

Reasoned argument over the value of hemp can often be tricky to achieve, polarized between die hard hemp and cannabis enthusiasts and skeptics regarding the arguments as woolly shirted, hippy doctrine.

The reality, as usual, is nowhere near as aggressive. For a start, a few facts surrounding the material do seem to indicate its worth within a sustainable agenda.

It appears industrial hemp can provide many of the raw materials we need as a society to function. Myriad websites list the uses: hemp food, hemp oil, hemp plastics, hemp insulation, hemp concrete, hemp paper, and other hemp composites.

‘Hemp is one of the fastest growing plants in the world, producing about ten tons of dry product per acre per year,’ explains http://www.hemp.com/. This is a pretty crucial fact. In a climate facing water shortages and rising temperatures, speed of production for sustainable materials is going to become key.

By Fibre 2 Fashion Staff

Inky Mark, Member of Parliament for Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette, on behalf of the Honourable Gerry Ritz, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Honourable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification announced government support to help Plains Industrial Hemp Processing Ltd. strengthen economic opportunities in Gilbert Plains.

“This is one more way that our Government is investing in innovative projects that will open new market opportunities and boost the bottom line of our farmers,” said MP Inky Mark.

Under the project, Plains Industrial Hemp Processing Ltd. will build a hemp fibre processing plant. The facility will process up to 18,000 metric tonnes of hemp annually and generate new export markets for western Canadian value-added agricultural products. This first of its kind facility in Canada, will provide permanent job opportunities for the community as well as employment during construction of the plant.

Federal funding of $3,375,000 is being provided through the Community Adjustment Fund (CAF) as part of Canada’s Economic Action Plan and $1,400,000 under the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Agri-Opportunities Program. Funding for the Agri-Opportunities project is subject to its meeting all eligibility requirements and the signing of a contribution agreement.

from Drug War Chronicle, Issue #625, 3/26/10

Oregon, the first state to decriminalize marijuana in the modern era and one of the first to approve a medical marijuana law, could become a battleground for marijuana reform again this year. Two separate initiatives, one aimed at improving the state's existing medical marijuana program, and one that seeks to legalize and regulate marijuana and hemp, are campaigning to be certified for the November ballot.

The medical marijuana initiative, I-28, would create a system of state-regulated dispensaries and state-licensed medical marijuana producers. Dispensaries would have to be Oregon nonprofits, and pay a $2,000 license fee and a 10% tax on gross sales. Licensed producers would have to pay a $1,000 license fee and the 10% tax. Patients registered under the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program would be able to buy their supplies at any dispensary, and dispensaries would be able to buy from any licensed producer.

I-28 would not stop patients from growing their own, nor would it impede them from resorting to a caregiver, as they can do currently.

By Jonathan Bardelline

A new fiber derived from the part of hemp plants typically discarded offers numerous environmental and performance benefits over cotton and is being tested by Hanesbrands.

The Crailar fibers look, fit, dye, wash and are soft like cotton, but they also shrink less, are stronger and hold dyes longer, said Ken Barker, CEO of Naturally Advanced Technology (NAT). Yarns and fabrics made from the fibers can even be processed on existing cotton machines.

The fibers are derived from the hemp plant's stiff and rough outermost part, which is generally discarded when turning hemp into clothing. Although it is illegal to grow industrial hemp in the United States, it is legal in Canada, where NAT is based.

NAT takes those long, strong filaments from the plant and, using a wash developed with the National Research Council of Canada (NRCC), turns them into fibers that are soft and strong. The wash, a proprietary enzyme mixture, removes the glue-like lignin and pectin from the raw hemp fibers.

Yarns made from the fibers can be used in knit and woven fabrics like clothing and home furnishings, or in nonwoven fabrics like face wipes and industrial cleaning wipes. NAT has been working with various companies to test out how Crailar works in different applications.

Hanesbrands has conducted trials blending Crailar into products and recently made a purchase of 10,000 pounds of the material for further tests.

By Jessica VanEgeren, The Capital Times

A recent Cap Times cover story on the state's extensive history with hemp - a hardy crop that no longer can be legally grown in the United States - sparked a trip down memory lane for a number of readers across the state.

"It was like walking through a canopied jungle," says Curt Hellmer of Stoughton. "Or rows of mature corn without the thick leaves near the ground."

That's how Hellmer, now 55, recalls his childhood experiences some 50 years ago when he used to play in the 8- to 10-foot-tall hemp stalks in his grandfather's hemp fields. The family made money on the crop by selling it to a rope manufacturer in Platteville, Hellmer says.

Back when Hellmer was running through hemp fields as a kid, Wisconsin was the country's second-leading producer of hemp. That all changed when the plant, which contains minimal levels of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), became classified as a controlled substance in 1970.

When growing hemp was still legal in the United States, farmers had to pay $1 for a "special tax stamp" that allowed them to grow or produce "marihuana."

A copy of a permit that was issued to Lafayette farmer, Horatio Bale, in 1943 was emailed to the paper after last week's cover story.

Bale's son and daughter-in-law, Kurt and Joanna Bale, still live on the family farm. It's not uncommon, they say, to find hemp still growing in patches.

A hemp fibre processing mill is being proposed for the Hunter Valley after a strong response from farmers interested in growing the product.

By ABC Newcastle

Queensland company Ecofibre undertook a series of crop trials across the Lower and Upper Hunter during last summer which achieved better than expected results.

The fibre would replace imported hemp used by an Australian company in the manufacture of flotation products.

Ecofibre managing director Phil Warner says interest in growing the crop this year would allow a local processing facility to be established.

"What we needed to achieve was in the initial stages with a sort of pilot commercial mill to have around 250 hectares of production and I think we've already well over achieved that in the sense of number of growers that have shown interest," he said.

"Once we have secured [the] amount of area that is going to be grown for next season then we can start planning on getting the mill into position."

http://www.ecofibre.com.au/


Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/19/2850337.htm?site=newcastle...

By Liina Flynn, Echo

Every time you flush the toilet, do you think about what happens to your bodily waste once it leaves the bowl? Ecological engineer Dr Keith Bolton does. With his driving philosophy ‘there’s no such thing as waste’, he has devoted his career to developing natural ways of treating sewage and using effluent for the benefit of communities.

Rather than creating environmental problems by pumping effluent into rivers and oceans, Dr Bolton believes wastewater should be utilised as a resource. The projects he has been involved with have taken him from growing the first fields of industrial hemp on the North Coast through to creating sustainable solutions to sewage problems in remote Aboriginal communities.

Through his company Ecotechnology Australia, Dr Bolton and his Lismore-based Ecoteam have pioneered the design of constructed wetland ecosystems to treat sewage. If we think of wetlands as being the kidneys of the land, then the process of constructing a wetland is like performing a kidney transplant.

“In nature, wetlands are the mechanisms that purify the water as it travels from land into water courses,” Dr Bolton said. “They essentially serve the same function that our kidneys do in our bodies by purifying the water cycle.”

Hemp Technology, has announced the launch of Breathe™, an innovative new natural fibre insulation. The sustainably sourced product, which will play a key role in the nation's drive to zero carbon construction, was officially launched at Ecobuild, the world's largest sustainable construction event, at Earls Court, London on the the 2nd March 2010.

By David Ing, Construction News

Hemp Technology, has announced the launch of Breathe™, an innovative new natural fibre insulation. The sustainably sourced product, which will play a key role in the nation's drive to zero carbon construction, was officially launched at Ecobuild, the world's largest sustainable construction event, at Earls Court, London, on the 2nd March 2010.

Produced from UK grown hemp and flax, Breathe™ offers a renewable and low-carbon means of insulating lofts, walls and floors. An eco-friendly challenge to the dominance of mineral wools, it holds superb performance qualities.

With a thermal conductivity of 0.039 W/mK, Breathe™ performs better than many fibre products. This boosts thermal comfort by reducing overheating in summer and damping internal temperature fluctuations. A high resistance to settlement ensures its good qualities last as long as the building to which it is applied.

By Gil Halsted, Wisconsin Public Radio

MADISON (WPR) It could soon be legal to grow hemp for industrial purposes in Wisconsin, depending on what comes of two hemp bills pending in the state legislature.

One bill would allocate money for a study on what the marketing future of hemp might be if farmers were allowed to grow it. The other would set up a licensing procedure for farmers who want to grow the plant and sell it for its seed oil or as a fiber for making paper and other products.

Because hemp contains a small amount of THC -- the active intoxicating ingredient in marijuana -- the federal Drug Enforcement Agency has refused to allow it to be grown as a commercial crop.

Hemp bill sponsor Rep. Louis Molepske of Stevens Point says if his bill passes, farmers would be ready to start sowing hemp seeds when and if the federal government lifts the ban. He says nine states have already passed similar bills. Molepske says hemp is not marijuana, and Wisconsin could return to being a leading producer of hemp, as it was through the 1960’s.

State law enforcement officials have cautioned against legalizing hemp. At a hearing last week, an analyst from the state crime lab testified against the bill, saying it would create a problem for him in his work because he would likely be called upon to test hemp plants to make sure they fall below the legal limit for percentage THC.

--

At a time when Wisconsin farm families are constantly looking for new sources of revenue, hemp would be a good one.

By Capital Times Editorial

The states of North Dakota, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, West Virginia, Vermont and Oregon already have legalized the cultivation of industrial hemp, recognizing that these crops can be used to produce fibers that are useful in the making of rope and other products.

At a time when Wisconsin farm families are constantly looking for new sources of revenue, this is a good one. And it has a history in the state; until 1957, notes Bill Tracy, who chairs the Agronomy Department at the University of Wisconsin, industrial hemp was a significant crop for Wisconsin farmers.

With that combination of current need and relatively recent history in mind, legislators should not hesitate to back a bill, introduced by state Rep. Louis Molepske Jr., D-Stevens Point, which would address the state prohibition on the production of hemp.

The controversy regarding this bill, to the extent that there is any, will have to do with the fact that hemp is cultivated from the same plant that is used to grow marijuana.

By Cara Spoto, Central Wisconsin

A bill introduced by a Stevens Point lawmaker would allow Wisconsin farmers to grow industrial hemp with a state license.

Currently, farmers in the state are prohibited under state and federal law from producing hemp, which is cultivated from Cannabis sativa, the same plant used to grow marijuana.

The strains of the plant used in hemp production differ from those grown for marijuana because they contain less than .03 percent THC, which produces mind-altering effects. Marijuana can contain anywhere from 6 percent to 7 percent THC.

Industrial hemp is produced from the stalk of the plant, and is used to produce a variety of fibers, including rope.

Introduced by State Rep. Louis Molepske Jr., a Democrat, the measure would require the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection to permit farmers to grow and process Cannabis sativa, as long as it contains no more than .03 percent THC. Farmers would be required to provide a legal description of the land where the hemp would be grown or processed and to report all sales. Any person convicted of violating controlled substance laws would not be eligible.