USA hemp: Colorado firm ramps up plan for processing

Fort Lupton's PureVision Technology wants to process hemp stalks for consumer-product manufacturing and plans large-scale biorefinery in Oregon.

By Elana Ashanti Jefferson

Source: thecannabist.co

A Colorado biotech company plans to open a large-scale industrial hemp processing facility that will take the crop’s would-be waste — namely hemp stalks — and make it useful.

The hemp biorefinery is being established by Fort Lupton-based PureVision Technology, Inc., and illuminates the growing enthusiasm around hemp entrepreneurship. But the northern Colorado company’s recent announcement also points to the ongoing federal legal challenges to jump-starting American processing of industrial hemp. The plant, which is cannabis without psychoactive properties, has been grouped alongside heroin, MDMA/Ecstasy and other federal Schedule 1 drugs for more than 40 years. Hemp farming returned to Colorado last year on a limited basis. 

PureVision Technology already processes plant waste from such crops as corn and wheat into raw materials including pulp for paper and sugars for biofuel. The company sells those fresh raw materials internationally to consumer-product manufacturers.

“Our original business model was to better utilize waste and turn it into resources,” said company co-owner Ed Lehrburger in a telephone interview. He and his brother Carl Lehrburger founded PureVision Technology 23 years ago, along with business partner Dick Wingerson, a nuclear engineer who trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Last year, PureVision Technology used its Colorado biorefinery laboratory to process hemp waste. In the lab, PureVision has successfully converted hemp biomass into sugars. Now it intends to also process the plant into lignins, pulp and cannabidiol (CBD) extract for various manufacturing applications such as sweeteners, plastics or packaging.

“The average consumer has no idea about the versatility of these hemp plants (or) about their healing and nutraceutical qualities,” Lehrburger said.

PureVision’s lab-scale testing started with 100 hemp stalks from the 2014 Colorado outdoor harvest. Based on those results, the company will move forward with increased hemp processing at an established industrial biorefinery in Boardman, Ore., owned by ZeaChem, Inc. The new initiative is called PureHemp Technology.

“The significant infrastructure in place at the ZeaChem facility will reduce the costs and timing to develop our 25-ton-per-day biorefining project,” Lehrburger said in a PureHemp news release. He added by telephone that his company expects to begin operations in Oregon in late 2016 or early 2017.

PureVision Techology’s hemp ramp-up coincides with a $10 million fundraising initiative, or what’s known among “angel investors” as a Series A Preferred Stock offering, or a private equity sale.

PureVision Technology’s biomass lab facility in Fort Lupton can process up to a half-ton of hemp stalks per day. (Provided by PureVision Technology)

“We are very motivated to put together a Colorado biorefinery,” Lehrburger said, adding the company is “looking for collaborators” before finalizing plans for a large-scale hemp biorefinery in Colorado.

Under current federal law, transporting hemp across state lines is illegal. So Lehrburger said the Oregon biorefinery will source hemp from that state as well as from Washington state. Lehrburger said the company anticipates few problems transporting hemp between Oregon and Washington since, like Colorado, cannabis laws are more favorable toward industrial-hemp production in those states.

PureVision Technology’s lab tests were conducted after obtaining 100 hemp stalks from Sterling farmer Jim Brammer.

Brammer is a lifelong Colorado cattleman who also grows cattle feed and owns a small fleet of produce trucks for interstate shipping. “I’ve moved a quarter of a mile in 77 years,” he said last week by phone.

Last year, Brammer agreed to lease two acres of his farmland to a produce-broker friend who was interested in trying to grow industrial hemp. He said he was initially ambivalent about the new crop.

“I’ve seen hemp growing on the railroad tracks in Nebraska,” he said. “They call it ‘ditch weed’ down there.”

Besides the fact that hemp processing is limited and federal law makes hemp business difficult, some Colorado farmers shy away from hemp out of concern that their crop could unintentionally include a plant strain with THC levels above 0.3 percent. That is how the Colorado Department of Agriculture distinguishes between hemp and marijuana.

If that happens, the entire crop may be destroyed.

Now that Brammer has successfully harvested two acres of hemp, he says hemp entrepreneurs are calling him regularly in search of land to plant even larger crops. But they often fail to realize that there are currently few options for processing industrial hemp in the United States.

American hemp farmers currently process hemp by hand. That means physically separating the plant’s woody inner stalks, or waste, from its valuable seeds, flowers and fibers.

This is where PureHemp Technology may come in.

Last fall, employees from PureVision “just came out to the farm and got some stalks,” Brammer recalled. “I gave them some for free when they said they were going to experiment with them.”

Produce broker Bill Billings was the person who initially convinced Brammer to try growing hemp. Billings owns a produce transportation and brokerage company called Mountain Logistics. He and Brammer have collaborated on produce shipping for around a decade. It follows that Billings is intimately familiar with the challenging economics facing farmers.

In addition to arguing that hemp could be a gift for struggling American farmers, Billings turned Brammer on to celebrity doctor Sanjay Gupta’s coverage of the medical cannabis strain Charlotte’s Web.

“I said, ‘I think we should do this, it’s really going to help the farmers,’” Billings said of his conversation with Brammer. “Then (Brammer) saw on TV how the CBD was helping the children.”

Billings said that the two acres of hemp that took root on Brammer’s farm produced roughly 600 pounds of hemp seed. He had help with processing the crop by hand from well-known Colorado hemp farmer and activist Ryan Loflin.

As an agricultural broker, Billings said he easily found buyers for some of the hemp seed he grew last year. He also plans to replant some of it, de-shell some of it for edible hemp products, and turn some into hemp seed oil for a beauty products business run by other members of the Billings family.

This growing season, Billings said, he wants to plant “as much (hemp) as we can” in Sterling and at other leased plots around Colorado.

“The problem is,” he said, “there’s no processing plant.”

Mumbai-based youngsters tap into unexplored industry, develop hemp products

By  Srishti Kapoor
Source: iamin.in


(L-R) Yash, Delzaad, Sanvar, Sumit, Jahaan, Chirag, Avnish - the seven partners in Boheco. 

In a small office tucked away in the bylanes of Lower Parel, seven men sit brainstorming over ideas to foster the growth of an industry which is currently a dying means of rural livelihood. Bombay Hemp Company (Boheco), the brainchild of seven 20-somethings from HR College of Commerce and Economics, looks at developing the cannabis plant such that it is used to fulfil the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter.

Delzaad Deolaliwala, 24, co-founder of Boheco, talks about the beginnings of their journey down the green lane. About five years ago, all the seven partners wanted to do a business, but did not know the industry they wanted to enter. Jahaan Peston Jamas, 25, co-founder, returned from a visit to Australia, and got back the idea of entering the hemp industry. “We also read an article which said that 70 per cent of the Indian workforce is agricultural. However, their contribution to the economy is a mere 13-14 per cent. And thus came the idea of venturing into agriculture and empowering farmers. Research regarding hemp cultivation and hemp products began in 2012. By the end of 2012, we quit our jobs and by January 2013, Boheco was founded. Our goal was to develop hemp as an economical crop,” says Delzaad.

The firm has research and commercial functions. The research end works on developing the optimum quality of the hemp seed and standardising it, breeding out the THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) to the permissible 0.3 per cent and economising the production. While another function, the commercial one, involves the introduction of hemp products, including skincare, seeds, oil and cloth among urban buyers.

Sumit Shah, 23, co-founder, says, “The hemp seeds are now a certified product. The hemp fabric is now sold under our label, The Hemp Couture, which includes handloom fabric made by 25 families comprising hemp farmers. The hemp building material, called hempcrete, is still under research. If developed, it will be a light-weight building material and is one of the only green building materials in our country.” The aim of Boheco founders, however, is not just to make profits. They adopted 25 families of hemp farmers, and currently market and sell their products. What was produced for use among the community by these farmers, has been taken to markets by the company.

The stigma related to the cannabis plant did not make their process of getting government approvals a difficult one. Avnish Pandya, 24, co-founder, added that government officials were very supportive. “We talked to the licensing department officials about our plans and operations very specifically, showed them some of our sample products, and realised that they just lacked knowledge about the uses of hemp plants and their potential as an industry. Once we clarified our objectives and the legality of our work, we were actively helped to get the required licenses,” he adds. According to Avnish, the government's openness to the hemp industry is a sigh of relief, given that there is currently no organised plantation and cultivation of the hemp plant in India, while in many other countries, it is an established industry.

This team of hemp lovers has big plans for the future. They have been given support by many fellowships, including the Ashoka Foundation fellowship, Ink fellowship and Rajiv Circle fellowship. They have also been made a part of the Innovation Centre for Natural Fibres (ICNF), formed by National Institute of Design, wherein research on finding commercially viable uses of natural fibres, such as coir, hemp, banana fibre and pineapple fibre, is undertaken. Having completed two years since its inception, Boheco is now going places. “We have to research more to achieve our ultimate goal of developing and standardising the ideal hemp seed in India. For a start-up, a team of seven is a large one. But, then again, we weren't starting just any company, we are tapping into a wholly unexplored industry,” Delzaad concludes.

Sanvar Oberoi, 24, Yash Kotak, 24 and Chirag Tekchandaney, 24, form the other members of this young team, wanting to start an entire new industry.

ZUCCHINI PASTA WITH BASIL HEMP PESTO [VEGAN, RAW, GLUTEN-FREE]

It’s pasta time! Who doesn’t love spaghetti? We won’t be using traditional wheat pasta of course, but zucchini noodles. On the menu: Zucchini Pasta with Basil Hemp Pesto. If you've never used a spiralizer, now's the perfect opportunity to try it out.

Source: onegreenplanet.org

SERVES

2

INGREDIENTS

Basil Hemp Pesto:

• 2 cups of fresh basil
• 2 cups of fresh spinach (or extra basil)
• ½ cup of zucchini, finely chopped
• ½ cup of sunflower seeds or pine nuts
• ¼ cup of hemp seeds
• ½ small clove of garlic, grated
• ½ teaspoon of nutritional yeast (or more to taste)
• Himalayan pink crystal salt or sea salt, to taste
• 2 large pinches of cayenne pepper
• Optional addition: extra virgin olive oil, to taste

Zucchini Pasta:

•  4 medium zucchini

PREPARATION

Basil Hemp Pesto:

1. Combine basil, spinach and zucchini in the food processor fitted with an S-blade. Process until finely ground.
2. Add sunflower seeds, hemp seeds and garlic, and process again.
3. Finally, add nutritional yeast, salt and cayenne pepper. Mix into a creamy pesto.

Zucchini Pasta:

1.  Peel your zucchini and turn them into noodles using a spiralizer.
2. Combine your zucchini pasta and basil hemp pesto right before serving. If you combine these two in advance, the pasta will become watery. Bon appétit!

NOTES

This Basil Hemp Pesto will stay fresh for at least 3 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Not a big fan of zucchini? You can easily create noodles out of carrot, parsnip, beetroot or your favorite type of squash.

Hemp seeds are packed with plant-based protein and healthy omega 3 fatty acids. If you don’t have any hemp seeds at home, you can replace them with extra pine nuts or sunflower seeds. Or how about walnuts or pumpkin seeds?

Myths of cannabis & hemp cross-pollination

By Vivian McPeak
Source: seattlepi.com

Note: I invited Joy Beckerman to guest blog on this important issue. The opinions expressed are her own. – Vivian

MYTHS & REALITIES OF CROSS-POLLINATION
by Joy Beckerman

Oh, the irony. On the one hand, marijuana and hemp activists have been tortured for decades by the DEA’s exceedingly absurd stance that marijuana growers will use industrial hemp fields to camouflage their marijuana plants; and on the other hand, there has recently arisen the hysterical stance by some populations of outdoor marijuana growers that marijuana and industrial hemp fields must be kept extraordinary distances apart in order to avoid cross-pollination. To be sure – whereas the DEA stance is unequivocally non-factual and has no basis in reality, the cross-pollination hysteria is actually grounded in truth, albeit recently a distorted and emotionally-based version of the truth. Greed inspires irrationality. Let’s have an intelligent conversation based in fact because there is no need for hysteria and cross-pollination is a common agricultural issue with a common agricultural solution…and one that would never require a distance of anywhere in the realm of 200 miles between plant species types. We don’t see the State of Kentucky in an uproar. Make no mistake, Kentucky’s Number One cash crop is outdoor marijuana while Kentucky simultaneously is the country’s Number One industrial hemp producer (both feral [i.e. leftover/wild] and deliberate, now that it is legal to cultivate there).

No doubt it will be helpful to found our discussion on a necessary botany lesson, especially since the most common misunderstanding about the “difference” between marijuana and industrial hemp is that “hemp is ‘the male’ and marijuana is ‘the female.’” In fact, nothing could be farther from the truth. “Cannabis” is the plant genus, “sativa” is Latin for “sown” or “cultivated” (and is included in many scientific plant species names), and the “L.” we often see associated with Cannabis sativa merely stands for the surname initial of Carl Linnaeus, the Swiss botanist who invented taxonomy. Cannabis sativa is a member of the Cannabaceae family. Within the Cannabis sativa plant species, we have the drug type known as “marijuana” and we have the oilseed and fiber type known as “industrial hemp.”

Both plant types – marijuana and industrial hemp – can be dieocious, which is to say they can be either exclusively male or exclusively female; and they can also be monoecious, which is to say they can have the staminate (i.e. the male pollen-producing part) and pistillate (i.e. the female ovum-producing part) on the same plant. However, marijuana is a high-resin crop generally planted about four feet apart for its medicine or narcotic rich leaves and buds, whereas industrial hemp is a low-resin crop generally planted about four inches apart for its versatile stalk and seed. The different kinds of marijuana are classified as “strains” and the different kinds of industrial hemp are classified as “varieties” and “cultivars.”

Industrial hemp is non-psychoactive with a higher ratio of CBD to THC, thus smoking even several acres of it will not result in achieving a high; conversely, only a memorable headache is achieved, regardless of Herculean effort. Marijuana flower production and industrial hemp production cultivation processes are distinctly different. Finally, there is no such thing as a plant or plant species known as “Cannabis hemp” and “hemp” is not a synonym for “marijuana,” “pot,” or “ganja,” etc. Botanists have argued for ages over whether a separate plant species “Cannabis indica” exists, and that age-old debate is not being addressed here.

The significant difference between the two types that effects cross-pollination and legitimately frightens marijuana growers is that hemp plants go to seed fairly quickly and would thus pollinate any marijuana plants growing in the same field or in a nearby field. This is botanically analogous to field corn and sweet corn, one of which is grown for human consumption, and one of which is grown for animal consumption. Corn producers take great measures to prevent any cross-pollination between their field and sweet corns; including growing the different varieties of corn at different times or making sure there is sufficient distance between the different fields. Either way, these corn producers do what is necessary to ensure that pollen carrying the dominant gene for starch synthesis is kept clear of cornsilks borne on plants of the recessive (sweet) variety.

Cross-pollination of hemp with marijuana would significantly reduce the potency of the marijuana plants. While hemp farmers are not going to want marijuana cross-pollinating with their hemp and increasing their hemp’s THC content, it would be entirely more disastrous for the marijuana grower if hemp were to cross-pollinate with their marijuana due to the cost of producing and value of selling medical and adult-use marijuana. The concern is real. The concern is valid. But the concern does not merit the level of hysteria that appears to have arisen in Washington. We must take a note from Kentucky.

Industrial hemp is primarily pollinated by wind, and most pollen travels approximately 100 yards, give or take. Bees, of course, can also pollinate hemp; and bees travel up to three miles from their hives. It is also true that, depending on the weight and size of any plant pollen, combined with other natural conditions, wind-borne pollen can technically travel up to 2,000 miles away from the source. Yes, it’s true, up to 2,000 miles. And also it would be beyond ridiculous to give serious agricultural consideration to this extreme factoid for entirely obvious reasons.

Cannabis case in point: Kentucky. Kentucky may not have legal outdoor marijuana grows, but you’d better believe that – like every other state in the nation – there’s a whole lotta marijuana being deliberately cultivated outdoors; and on quite a grand scale in Kentucky, which state learned centuries ago that Cannabis grows exceedingly well in that climate and soil. Kentucky was always been the heart of our nation’s industrial hemp farmlands, thus Kentucky is covered with more feral hemp than any other state. This issue of marijuana and hemp cross-pollination is old news and no news at all to the marijuana growers of Kentucky, who experience and demonstrate no sense of hysteria like that which has risen up in Washington.

Global industrial hemp leader and professional industrial hemp agrologist Prof. Anndrea Hermann, M.Sc, B.GS, P.Ag., who has been a certified Health Canada THC Sampler since 2005 and is the President of the U.S. Hemp Industries Association, has assisted with creating and reviewing hemp regulations in Canada, the European Union, South Africa, Uruguay, Australia, New Zealand, and several U.S. States. Anndrea refers to this issue of cross-pollination as the “Cannabis Clash” and “Cannabis Sex 101.” So what is the answer? What is a safe distance between marijuana and hemp fields?

The Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies (AOSCA), which is the global agency to which most developed countries subscribe for agricultural purposes, has completed its draft industrial hemp seed certification regulations, which rules include a range from a minimum distance of three (3) feet to a maximum distance of three (3) miles between different pedigrees and cultivars of industrial hemp. This is the same with Health Canada’s industrial hemp regulations. But we are talking about safe distances between two plant types – marijuana and industrial hemp. Absent intense research and collection of hard data that will be interesting to conduct as we move forward and funding becomes available, experts agree that a distance of ten (10) miles between hemp and marijuana fields is exceedingly appropriate to avoid cross-pollination. Or as Anndrea Hermann would say, “a nice, country road drive!”

This is not a complicated issue or a new issue. This is basic agriculture. Marijuana and industrial hemp are best friends and this is no time for them to start picking unnecessary fights with one another. Ten miles, folks; ten miles!

http://www.thesmokersclub.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/WeedBee.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Cannabis_sativa_Koehler_drawing.jpg

Joy Beckerman is the President Hemp Ace International LLC, and the director of the Hemp Industries Association, Washington Chapter

Experimental hemp production expanding in Kentucky

BY BRUCE SCHREINER
Source: thestate.com

LOUISVILLE, KY. 

Kentucky's hemp production is taking deeper root as experimental projects expand in the second year of testing its potential as a cash crop.

Spring planting season is expected to include at least several hundred acres of industrial hemp, Adam Watson, the state Agriculture Department's hemp program coordinator, said Monday. Statewide hemp plantings totaled about three dozen acres last year, he said.

More than 100 farmers and processors —mostly growers — are expected to participate in the next round of pilot projects, he said.

Last year's tiny production turned into the state's first legal hemp crop in generations. The crop once thrived in Kentucky, but growing hemp without a federal permit was banned in 1970 due to its classification as a controlled substance related to marijuana.

Hemp and marijuana are the same species, but hemp has a negligible amount of the psychoactive compound that gives marijuana users a high.

Hemp got a limited reprieve with the federal farm bill, which allows state agriculture departments to designate hemp projects for research and development in states such as Kentucky that allow hemp growing. Hemp is prized for its oils, seeds and fiber. The crop was historically used for rope but has many other uses: clothing and mulch from the fiber; hemp milk and cooking oil from the seeds; and soap and lotions.

More than 320 applicants sought permission to join pilot projects this year in Kentucky, Watson said.

The number of participants was narrowed in hopes farmers would have markets for their hemp, Watson said.

"It takes money to grow it and we don't want to leave them with a great crop and nothing to do with it," he said.

Researchers from several universities will also have a hand in test plots, he said.

This year's projects will build on knowledge gained last year from a crop being reintroduced from scratch, he said.

Kentucky has been at the forefront of national efforts to revive hemp production, and its projected hemp acreage this year solidifies that role, said Eric Steenstra, president of Vote Hemp, a group advocating for the plant's legal cultivation.

"I think Kentucky will likely be the place where the most acreage is planted this year," he said.

He predicted hemp will be planted in a half-dozen states or more this year.

Kentucky's hemp crop will sprout from seeds imported from Canada, Europe and Asia.

Last year, plantings were delayed when Italian seeds were detained by U.S. customs officials in Louisville. The state's Agriculture Department sued the federal government, and the seeds were released after federal drug officials approved a permit.

Kentucky agriculture officials don't expect any such obstacles this year, Watson said.

A majority of the state's hemp crop will be processed in Kentucky, he said.

Kentucky farmer Michael Lewis said he plans to grow about 15 acres of hemp this year, and is taking the next step by getting into processing.

He said he will work with other farmers, converting their hemp and his into processed material for manufacturers.

Lewis said he expects "some hiccups" as hemp production and processing get off the ground, but he sees potential.

One key, he said, is to guarantee enough production to make it worthwhile for processors or manufacturers.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/business/national-business/article17564432.html#storylink=cpy

SLOW GROWING: HEMP CULTIVATION STYMIED BY FEDERAL RULES

By CB Hall
Source: vtdigger.org

A number of Vermont farmers would like to grow hemp, which has uses ranging from cosmetics to biofuel. There’s a catch, however: The federal government could arrest them for growing the plant because it is a variety of the marijuana plant.

Hemp plants growing in Chittenden. Photo courtesy of Robin Alberti

The Vermont Legislature endorsed the production of industrial hemp in 2013 when it passed Act 84. The law cites the low-THC strain of Cannabis sativa, or hemp, as useful in producing “high-strength fiber, textiles, clothing, biofuel, paper products, protein-rich foods, biodegradable plastics, resins, nontoxic medicinal and cosmetic products, construction materials, rope, value-added crafts, livestock feed and bedding, stream buffering, erosion control, water and soil purification and weed control.”

It’s a question of opportunity for farmers like Ken Manfredi and his partner, Robin Alberti, who grew a quarter-acre of hemp last year on leased land in the town of Chittenden.

“Hemp has great potential for economic revival here in Vermont,” Manfredi said.

And it’s hardly a new idea – George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, both of whom were farmers, grew hemp because of its utility.

Marijuana and industrial hemp are two varieties of the same species, Cannabis sativa. By definition, however, industrial hemp contains no more than 0.3 percent of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive ingredient in the plant, and cannot produce a high unless consumed in large quantities.

Act 84 legalized the growing of industrial hemp in Vermont, with the caveat that producers register with the state and be notified that cultivation of the plant remains a violation of the federal Controlled Substances Act of 1970. In 2014, however, President Barack Obama signed a farm bill under which higher education institutions and state agriculture agencies could grow industrial cannabis “for purposes of research conducted under an agricultural pilot program” notwithstanding the act, which treats all cultivars of the species as illegal.

The 357 pages of the farm bill made no mention of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), which enforces the Controlled Substances Act. Federal narcotics officials have, however, long required that anyone importing cannabis seeds obtain a permit; and importing seeds from places where hemp cultivation is fully legal is the recourse for research institutions, since there are no U.S. suppliers of certified hemp seed – that is, seed certified to have the characteristics sought, such as high oil or fiber content.

Hemp seeds. Photo courtesy N. White

University of Vermont field crops expert Heather Darby said that some of her faculty colleagues have taken an interest in working with hemp.

“Initial research, if we receive proper permits, will focus on basic production and agronomy,” she said in an email. She noted that companies as diverse as cosmetics manufacturer Nivea and automaker Ford “have been in contact with us here in Vermont, looking for opportunities.” The latter, she elaborated, “would use the fiber in a number of interior parts of the vehicle — dashboards would be one.”

But having to start with seeds that the DEA treats as marijuana puts the university in what she termed “an interesting situation. Do you move forward with research and put yourself at risk of prosecution?”

“The DOJ and the DEA aren’t part of the farm bill – they don’t follow the same rules,” she said, referring to the Department of Justice, which includes the DEA. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

GOVERNMENT CATCH-22

The Controlled Substances Act “creates a closed system,” DEA spokesperson Barbara Carreno said. To track materials in that system, it requires registration of the substances’ handlers.

In theory at least, the act tasks the DEA “with tracking the flow of all controlled substances in the United States. Collectively, that would include all the seeds,” Carreno elaborated in a follow-up email. Monitoring every cannabis seed once it enters the country may seem as hopeless a task as following a BB pellet as it rolls around in a boxcar, and as legalization of cannabis gains momentum across the country, but the DEA is not abandoning what it perceives as its duty.

In the tug of war over cannabis, the agency has yielded some ground. In May 2014, three months after the farm bill’s enactment, the state of Kentucky imported 130 kilograms of hemp seeds from Italy, only to have the DEA seize the shipment on its way to several Kentucky universities and farmers contracted for a pilot growing program overseen by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. Two lawsuits ensued. The DEA backed off and allowed the program to proceed.

“At this point, we don’t see importation as being a limiting factor on the program, because we have a process that is satisfactory to both DEA and the [Kentucky] Department of Agriculture,” said the department’s industrial hemp program coordinator, Adam Watson.

VERMONT’S INDUSTRY

Some Vermonters are eager to test industrial hemp’s potential here. Last year, 17 parties registered to grow the crop. Tim Schmalz, who manages the registry at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, said the registrants expected to grow 190.41 acres all told, but only about an acre was actually planted. The shortfall, he said, was because of difficulties in getting seed and the tendency of would-be farmers not to realize the amount of work involved.

As of March, only five parties have registered with the state to grow the crop this year. They include Joel Bedard of Huntington, who said he hoped to get through the DEA red tape and import as much as 3,000 pounds of seed, which would yield up to 100 acres to be cultivated by farmers contracting with him as a broker. He sees hemp as a jack-of-all-trades crop and identified two Vermont breweries that might make hemp beer. The crop’s uses, he said, include remediation of polluted waterways, since very dense plantings filter runoff, preventing it from entering the water.

Hemp is also “capable of fixing heavy metals [and even] radioactive isotopes,” he said. “It was utilized at Chernobyl.”

Some cultivars’ seeds, he said, contain up to 30 percent oil, a percentage he termed “off the charts. And the hearts are more nutritious than flax seed. And it’s gluten-free.”

For processing, his crops would go to Full Sun Company in Middlebury.

Netaka White, a co-founder of Full Sun, grew a garden plot of industrial hemp using low-THC seed ordered online from Europe last year – enough to yield a pound of seeds. This year, he intends to plant that seed, which he hopes will produce 60 pounds. In 2016, a 60 pound planting could yield a two-ton seed crop, enough by his calculation to plant 260 acres in 2017. That season’s yield would be enough to begin commercial processing for feed meal as well as food oil, which UVM’s Darby characterized as “the low hanging fruit” for Vermont’s nascent hemp industry, since processing facilities such as Full Sun already exist.

TOO SMALL TO BUST?

White did not obtain a DEA permit to import his seed. The DEA hasn’t come after him, he said, because “I really have to believe that the DEA doesn’t have a lot of interest in pursuing small endeavors.” An August 2013 policy memorandum issued to U.S. attorneys by Deputy Attorney General James Cole, outlined eight priority areas for enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act. Cultivation of industrial hemp was not one of them.

For their 2014 crop, Manfredi and Alberti, who like White have signed on to the state registry, ordered food-grade hemp seeds from abroad, since hemp as food can be imported legally, although the growing characteristics of the noncertified seed are unknown. They viewed the effort as experimental.

But, even with their quarter-acre – a thousand plants — “we still had the biggest legal plot in the Northeast,” Manfredi said.

Manfredi and Alberti are using the yield from those plants solely for seed.

“We’re going to expand from what we did,” Alberti said. “We’d love to get as many acres as we can.”

She and Manfredi would like ultimately to concentrate on growing a high-oil variety for pressing. They are not growing the seed on their own land, however, and that could put the farmers hosting the crop at risk of an uninvited visit from the DEA.

Hemp plants growing in Chittenden. Photo courtesy of Robin Alberti

“The Farm Bill does not exempt farmers in general from federal law that prohibits the growing of hemp,” the DEA’s Carreno said. Such farmers “could be at risk of DEA action. That said, in allocating its enforcement resources, DEA applies the guidance” in the Cole memo.

All of which answers the crucial question of possible busts with a definite maybe. In an interview, Schmalz expressed the uncertainty hovering over growers: “DEA reserves authority to come in and intervene if they feel someone is growing cannabis that might be more than 0.3% THC.”

Against that backdrop, Manfredi, Alberti, Bedard and White are supporting legislation in Congress that would remove barriers to the commercial production of industrial hemp by simply excluding low-THC cannabis from the federal definition of marijuana.

Sponsors include majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in the Senate and Peter Welch, D-Vt., in the House. In a noncommittal statement, the office of Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said he looked forward to “consideration of the bill on its merits” in the chamber’s Judiciary Committee, of which he is the ranking member. Jeff Frank, a spokesman for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said only that Sanders had sponsored similar legislation in the past.

With Kentucky — and cannabis-friendly Colorado — already making strides in hemp production, Vermont’s challenge may be to leverage its advantages before hemp’s potential finds a home in other states.

“If farmers are growing hemp for human consumption, for example, or the production of cosmetics, the Vermont label has a certain value,” Schmalz noted, alluding to the marketing factors that give “pure Vermont maple syrup” an aura that “pure Wisconsin maple syrup” hasn’t matched.

“We’re breaking new ground, and there are going to be some hiccups, but once they’re ironed out, hemp is … a good addition to the crops that Vermont farmers can grow,” Schmalz said.

“I imagine it is just a matter of time,” UVM’s Darby said, “before all this [legal wrangling] seems ridiculous and people look back and wonder how this happened.”

Canberra-based company morphs into a marijuana and industrial hemp company

By JOHN MCCARTHY
Source: couriermail.com.au


An Australian miner is morphing into a marijuana and industrial hemp firm and is aiming to be the first listed company of its type.

A STAGNANT Australian mining company, known as a zombie, is morphing into a marijuana and industrial hemp company and intends to be the first listed company of its type.

The Canberra based Capital Mining has barely traded with its shares valued at less than a cent, hence the zombie category, but it is now aiming at snapping up future global licences in countries where legislation surrounding marijuana changes.

Capital listed on the ASX March 2007 and was engaged in the exploration for deposits of gold, base metals, platinum, nickel, uranium and other rare metals in south eastern Australia.

It follows the listing of Phytotech in January, a medical marijuana company which is also aiming at the US market.

Capital will buying three separate companies in the North American markets and to do this will attempt to raise $15 million.

Analysts BBY said once all transactions are completed, CMY would be a well-positioned, vertically integrated medical marijuana company with diversification into the fast growing market for industrial hemp.

“We initiate coverage on CMY with a speculative buy rating given that we view the fast-changing global legislation around medical marijuana as a clear positive for CMY even though there will be integration risks and growing pains in the company’s new constellation,’’ BBY said.

Cannabis is now regulated in 23 American states and is sold for medical purposes in Canada.

Australian states are starting to view medical cannabis differently and trials are underway in NSW. Queensland is watching with interest.

Even Queensland conservative politicians like Dawson MP George Christensen have backed legalising marijuana and see not only medical uses but as another crop for the Queensland agriculture industry.

It is used as a treatment for a number of medical issues including cancer and epilepsy.

One of the companies to come under Capital’s wing will be Nutrawerx which has an exclusive agreement for development of branded hemp products including hemp-based food, cosmetics and nutritional supplement

Nutrawerx believes it can grab market share of US$580m hemp retail market within three years.

It is also developing mainstream, pharmaceutical-grade supplements for the global market as well as promoting the therapeutic potential of cannabinoids, with a focus on cannabidiol.

Capital said the US retail market for hemp-based food and health and beauty-aid products is estimated to have been in excess of $US600 million in 2014 and growing at a rate of about 25 per cent a year.