It was back in 1938 when hemp was lauded as “The Billion Dollar Crop” in Popular Mechanics magazine, promoting it to farmers as a sure-fire way for them to make their millions… just in time for the crop immediately banned.
80 years on, the world has changed. But is there now really billions to be earnt in hemp?
Hemp itself is rarely illegal and has been studied and researched for its health and wellbeing properties. It’s now an extremely popular ingredient for health and beauty products as well as wholefoods and being used as a fibre.
As a crop, there’s lots of potential behind the production of hemp. The first is its versatility. The sheer amount of uses and applications of hemp means that if and when produced on an industrial scale country-wide, hemp could potentially replace many exports and offer a more nationalised local industry across many sectors.
The benefits can be vast not just for those at the forefront of the innovation, but long term for the whole country, territory or area.
Environmentally and effort wise, hemp is an extremely great crop to grow; an unusual combination but one that’s greatly appreciated by anyone who’s ever had to invest their life into agriculture!
It thrives in most soils (and could be grown in every US state) and only has a short growing season, so if a planting schedule permits, it can be worked around other priority crops where there is availability.
It actually makes for a fantastic crop to plant before others that a farmer may consider higher priority; as its long roots break up soil underfoot well and essentially choke out most weeds. Some soils that have been abandoned may well be able to be reclaimed for other crops after two successive hemp harvests; always worth a try for those looking to maximise on their land usage.
Every part of the hemp plant is usable and home-grown manufacturers of various hemp products are competitive in their pricing buying up all parts.
There are a few hurdles to overcome before industrial hemp production becomes the “billion dollar” speculation for every farmer as promised the best part of a century ago, but for the first time in a long time, it’s definitely looking like those willing to trial harvesting it can make a serious return on their investment and begin to lead by example across this market. The future’s bright… and the future’s hemp!
No comments:
Post a Comment