Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Californians hope for hemp farms in spring

By Chris Conrad
Source: theleafonline.com

Larry Serbin 2017
HIA President Lawrence Serbin welcomed people to his networking event.


Dozens of people came to a Southern California hemp importer’s warehouse to look at products and support the domestic farming of industrial hemp. Proposition 64, passed by the voters in 2016, eliminated California’s previous requirement that farmers get a federal DEA license to plant the crop, which is nearly impossible to get. That has cleared the way for California farmers to bypass the DEA and grow hemp under the federal Farm Bill.


National distributor hosts gathering at showroom

Hemp Traders hosted the January 1, 2017 mixer at its Paramount, CA, facilities stocked with hemp textiles and even raw material for making hempcrete type building materials. Attendees got an update by Hemp Traders founder and Hemp Industries Association President Lawrence Serbin, who recounted his own experiences that led to becoming the nation’s largest importer of hemp products.




Hemp textiles, hurds, raw fiber and other cannabis products imported from China and Europe were the backdrop for the January 17, 2017 Hemp Traders social mixer and California organizing meeting.

“But we always wanted to use domestically grown hemp,” he noted, and the HIA was actively involved in getting Prop. 64 to address the hemp issue. He explained that the group was connected to Vote Hemp and encouraged people to become HIA members and help hemp take root in the state.

National Hemp Association Interim Executive Director John Finamore recounted his experiences, drawing from helping write the federal Farm Bill hemp amendment and the successful efforts to bring hemp farming to Kentucky and Colorado. He said that getting certified hempseed is the big problem and Colorado is creating its own hempseed registry for certification, since the DEA has refused to do so. But the first crops have to be seed crops for replanting in order to have the kind of seed supply needed by large-scale agriculture.



Statewide hemp association, CHA, introduced

Many participants also came to hear the pitch of former Apple, Inc. business development executive Wayne Richman to join the newly formed California Hemp Association, which is affiliated with the NHA with the support of the HIA.



Richman

Richman said that California hemp could quickly become a very hot commodity but pointed out that it is only a matter of months until hemp should be planted. He asked everyone to join his efforts and refer other interested parties to him to get the group funded and off the ground and hemp seeds into the soil. “I’ll make the phone calls,” he said. “What I need is your advice about who it is that I need to talk to.”

Business Alliance for Commerce in Hemp founder Chris Conrad encouraged Richman’s efforts and asked people to join the CHA and all work together. He pointed out that Prop. 64 encourages breeding research and noted that since Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell supports hemp production this is the time to act, especially if you can get a university to sponsor the initial startup crop as part of its research.

The group heard from a number of other individuals presenting data and representing various interests, but most of the evening was dedicated to socializing and networking. Both long time hempsters and relative newbies mingled and shared their projects and stories of how they got drawn into the hemp industry.


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