Colorado hemp field coming into bloom in Boulder County

By Elana Ashanti Jefferson
Source thecannabist.co


Colorado Hemp Coffee owner Veronica Carpio 
examines hemp plants during a tour of her Boulder 
County hemp research plot on Aug. 17, 2014. 
(Elana Ashanti Jefferson, The Cannabist)

Veronica Carpio stood at the center of her Boulder County hemp field, surrounded by mature plants that proved their resilience this summer by growing taller and bushier in response to a nasty hail storm.

“We’ve got massive amounts of pollen coming off these plants,” Carpio said recently as she swept a partially-closed fist along the top of a hemp stalk and yellow powder billowed from the plant. (The businesswoman and activist won’t get a contact high touching these plants as hemp is marijuana’s non-mind altering cannabis cousin and has only trace amounts of tetrahydrocannabidol.) “This pollen could be a nightmare for marijuana grows.”

In coming weeks, Carpio, who owns Colorado Hemp Coffee, plans to host periodic tours of her flowering outdoor hemp field. Hemp enthusiasts can find out about the tours via Carpio’s Facebook page and business websites (coloradohempcoffee.com or Facebook.com/HempCoffee).

“I want to know what’s going to happen with the bees,” said Carpio, her forearms caked with botanical dust. Should that pollen come into contact with female marijuana plants, Carpio said, those plants would produce many seeds among the THC-rich buds.

The hemp pollen solution for indoor marijuana grows? A high-quality HEPA filter to keep out the hemp pollen. Anyone growing marijuana outdoors, and most especially near pollinating hemp, may be in for a disappointment, according to Carpio.

When Colorado voters approved Amendment 64 to legalize marijuana in 2012, they also helped inch open the door to an industrial hemp revival. Now entrepreneurs such as Carpio are experimenting with cultivating and processing the plant, which has myriad applications but has been especially popular lately for potentially possessing cannabis health benefits minus the marijuana high.

The handful of hemp growers and enthusiasts gathered for this particular tour often fell into excited chitchat about seeds, strains, cultivars, chemical compounds and hemp industry trailblazers.

Grant Orvis, a Longmont molecular geneticist, attended Carpio’s tour because of his interest in developing hemp that’s especially well-suited to growing in Colorado’s high and dry climate. “I want to see how many cultivars Veronica has here,” Orvis said.

Bill Hawkins, an herbalist and organic farmer, drove from Nebraska for the tour. He hopes that hemp will provide an avenue for economic revitalization in his state.

“It’s the excitement over these first plantings, and the reawakening of this industry” Hawkins said of his motivation to visit Carpio’s hemp field.

This harvest is earmarked for Colorado Hemp Coffee’s research-and-development initiatives. Carpio intends to use the crop to build a hempcrete shed alongside the field, and already started producingcannabidiol (CBD) caplets, which she says are quickly gaining favor among consumers.

“Most people think hemp is just for bracelets,” Hawkins said while fingering a piece of cream-colored Macramé tethered to his wrist. “But this is cutting-edge biogenetics.”

Energy Breakthrough, A Supercapacitor Battery Made From Hemp

By: : Paul Ebeling
Source: livetradingnews.com

Energy Breakthrough, A Supercapacitor Battery Made From Hemp

Marijuana could solve one of America’s biggest problems, without anyone smoking it

As Hemp makes a comeback in the US after a decades-long ban on its cultivation, scientists are reporting that fibers from the plant can pack as much energy and power as graphene, long-touted as the model material for supercapacitors.

Marijuana (Hemp) can be used to store energy

At the American Chemical Society’s national meeting this week, researchers from the University of Albertaunveiled a way to create extremely efficient batteries called “supercapacitors” using specially treated Hemp, a non-psychoactive variation of the Marijuana plant.

That means Hemp could be a low-cost, renewable raw material that revolutionizes energy storage.

How it works

 Hemp fibers are heated over the course of 24 hrs, causing the material’s carbon atoms to align and form nanosheets, each of which are only one carbon atom thick, and which can be used as conductors in batteries.

The basic structure of a supercapacitor

One of the battery’s most impressive features is its ability to discharge energy very quickly, which could drastically cut down charging times.

You could recharge the device you’re reading this article on in seconds.

Why it’s a breakthrough

Prior to this finding, supercapacitors used lab-created carbon nanosheets, a material called graphene.

Hemp is proving to be far more efficient.

According to a press release, “The hemp-based devices yielded energy densities as high as 12 watt-hours per kilogram, 2 to 3 times higher than commercial counterparts.”

That means we can charge up electronic devices faster and more efficiently than we currently do.

But, the storage capacity of hHemp supercapacitors is less than ones that use graphene.

Despite a smaller storage capacity, Hemp is a better choice, because graphene is far more expensive to synthesize, and Hemp is a sturdy, renewable resource that can flourish in a range of climates.

With this discovery, supercapacitors could rely exclusively on Hemp rather than graphene, and the batteries would be inexpensive and easily replaceable.

At this point, it is a proof of concept, but it could challenge the current market for energy storage devices, which would struggle to compete with such a cheap alternative.

This research was  presented at the 248thNational Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society.

The meeting features nearly 12,000 presentations on a wide range of science topics that was held in Alberta, Canada through Thursday.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the US Congress. With more than 161,000 members, ACS is the world’s largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, DC, and Columbus, OH.

Whatever the future holds for this amazing technology, it will likely be a bright one.

Stay tuned…

HeffX-LTN

Paul Ebeling

Hemp Industries Association: Don’t Call CBD Oil “Hemp Oil”

Source: ladybud.com

Hemp food consumers and companies have raised concerns regarding extracts of CBD ( cannabidiol, a non – psychoactive cannabinoid in cannabis ) being marketed as “ hemp oil. ” Hemp oil is the common term for hemp seed oil (see Wikipedia), obtained by pressing hemp seeds that contain low levels of CBD, typically less than 25 parts per million (ppm). In contrast, CBD extracts are produced either directly from cannabis flowers that are up to 15% CBD (150,000 ppm),   or  indirectly  as  a co-­product   of   flowers  and  leaves that  are  mixed  in  with  the  stalks   during   hemp stalk  processing  for   fiber. Like  THC ( tetrahydrocannabinol),   CBD  is not  produced   or  pressed   from  hemp  seeds.

Cannabis  plants   with  high  CBD   may  well   contain  less  than 0.3%  THC  in  their  flowering  tops  and   thus  be defined  as “industrial  hemp ”  under   Section  7606 of  the  2014  federal  Farm  Bill.    That   provision allows  state  agriculture  departments  to   permit   and  regulate   pilot   programs and   research   on industrial  hemp   without  the  hemp  plants  being  treated   federally   as  marijuana,  in  those  states  in   which  such  cultivation  is  legal  under  state  law.

Thus,  under  that   2014   F arm   Bill provision , some   states   have issued regulations permitting  cultivation  of   industrial  hemp  plants  from  which  CBD   extracts  may  be  produced and  sold  commercially,  although   interstate  commerce   of  such  products is   a  legal  gray  area  under  federal  law.     The Hemp  Industries  Association recognize s that   studies  and   anecdotal  evidence  indicate  that   CBD   provide  significant  therapeutic  benefit  along  with  other   cannabinoids,   however  HIA cautions against  marketing  overhype and   health  claims in  this  regard.

For  these  reasons,  and  because  of  the  critical  importance  of  not  misleading  consumers,   CBD   products  in  the  market  should  not  be  termed  “Hemp  Oil”  and  we  are  working  with  vendors  of  such   products  to  rebrand  CBD  extracts  to  remove  the  market  confusion  this  causes.

It  is  important  for  American  farmers  and  processors  of  hemp  to  understand  that   most   CBD  in   products  mislabeled  as  “hemp  oil”  is  a   co-­product of  large -­scale  hemp  stalk and   fiber  processing   facilities  in  Europe  where  the  fiber  is  the  primary   material   produced  at   a   large  scale.     CBD   is  not  a   product  or  component  of  hemp  seeds,  and  labeling  to  that  effect  is  misleading  and  motivated   by  the   desire  to  take  advantage  of the  legal  gray  area  of  CBD  under  federal  law .   Hemp  seed  oil   does  not   contain any  significant  quantity  of   CBD.    Hemp  fiber  and  seed  cultivars  contain  relatively  minimal   CBD  and  CBD  production  from  such  plants  should  not  be  considered  a  primary  product.    There  are   high  CBD  cultivars  that  may  qualify  as  “hemp”  under  federal  law,  however  the  genetics   for  such   cultivars   are  closely  held  by  various  parties,  and  generally  hemp  cultivars  available  to  American   farmers  are  not  suitable  for  producing  CBD.

The  Hemp  Industries  Association  (HIA)  represents  the  interests  of  the  hemp  industry  and  encourages  the   research  and  development  of  new  hemp  products.    More  information  about  hemp’s  many  uses  and  hemp   advocacy  may  be  found  at   www.TheHIA.org and   www.VoteHemp.com.

Hemp farmers invite the public to first harvest

By Constantinos Psillides

Source: cyprus-mail.com

EVERYONE is invited to help, or even just watch, the island’s first hemp harvest in recent time being reaped on Sunday… except for the island’s politicians, hemp farmers said yesterday.

“No politician is to be photographed, or make a statement near our plantation. No political figure deserves that honour,” said the statement.

“This harvest is a blessing for those patients in need of cannabis oil and to all those who have supported our struggle.”

The hemp farmers, who also ask people to come wearing pants, shoes and be equipped with pruning shears if they are interested in harvesting. They did not say where the harvest would take place but did say free bus transportation would be provided for those who were interested in participating at 7am from the Makarios Stadium in Nicosia.

Hemp, a harmless variety of the cannabis plant that is used mostly in manufacture of textiles and clothing, has always been classified as illegal in Cyprus, due to the fact that the plant it indistinguishable from marijuana. Solon Gregoriou, one of the most prominent of hemp farmers, invited the Drug Squad to test his plants to prove that he is in fact growing hemp and not marijuana. All of the results came back negative.

Hemp has extremely low levels of the chemical Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the mind-altering chemical in marijuana.

Hemp cultivation is not only legal in the EU, but farmers also receive subsidies. Cyprus is being forced to amend its legislation, since farmers have already planted hemp and have applied for subsidies.

Gregoriou, who filed with the Cyprus Agricultural Payments Organisation (CAPO) for a subsidy said in June that he had no doubt as to the legitimacy of his actions.

CAPO has already moved ahead and included hemp in its list of subsidised products, with a €42-per-donum subsidy.

While the farmers celebrate, they are technically breaking the law since hemp cultivation is still illegal. Cyprus is still in violation of EU law since Health minister Philippos Patsalis and Agriculture Minister Nicos Kouyialis cannot coordinate to propose bill decriminalising hemp to the Cabinet. While Kouyialis has green-lighted hemp cultivation, the health ministry still has to issue decree de-classifying it as a controlled substance. Patsalis maintained that it was not within his legal remit to do so and turned the case over to legal services.

Hemp cultivation legalisation is now in limbo, with the legal services expected to draft a bill and take it to the Cabinet. While a representative of legal services told the press in June that it was only a matter of days. Almost two months later the bill still being drafted.

Canola growers turn to more profitable hemp

By Carrie Tait
Source: theglobeandmail.com

Jim Rogers admits it: He’s not sure how this experiment of his will work out.

Mr. Rogers is a lifelong farmer – a wheat-and-canola kind of guy. But he is dabbling in something new. He sowed hemp in some fields this year, hoping to cash in on a growing slice of Canada’s agriculture industry. Mr. Rogers did the math before he put seeds in the ground and figures his hemp crops could be worth much more than traditional crops. At today’s strong prices, experts say farmers can earn twice as much growing hemp as they can growing canola.

“It seems like it is going to pay,” says Mr. Rogers, looking at the 80 hectares of hemp he is growing on the edge of Jackfish Lake, about 170 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon. “I would’ve never done it if we didn’t pencil it out really good.”

And, he adds, “it is kind of fun growing something different.”

Mr. Rogers is part of a budding industry, one boosters hope will take off in the same way canola did. Advocates say hemp has a glowing future in the food industry.

Hemp oil can be used in products such as salad toppings and hummus. The kernels can be split and sold as hemp hearts. Hemp can used in everything from nutrition bars to coffee, flour, ice cream and pet food. Proponents trumpet its nutritional value. Unsaturated fat - known as the “good fat” - makes up 39 per cent of a hemp seed’s composition; saturated fat represents 5 per cent; protein accounts for 33 per cent; carbohydrates 12 per cent. It’s high in dietary fibre and free of gluten. There is also a market for the plant’s stalks, for such uses as clothing and rope, but it is not as developed in North America as it is in Europe.

But hemp needs more than hot prices and health-food nuts to sweep the Prairies.

It needs risk-takers like Mr. Rogers, one of the first farmers to grow the crop in this corner of northwest Saskatchewan.

It also needs plant varieties with more favourable production and health characteristics, and the government to ease regulations that restrain the industry.

Hemp and marijuana are cousins, but hemp has only trace amounts of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, the chemical that gives weed smokers their high. Health Canada regulates hemp’s production.

Farmers planted between 34,000 and 36,000 hectares of hemp in Canada this year, according to estimates from the Hemp Trade Alliance, up from 26,700 hectares last year and 12,000 hectares four years ago. (A hectare is about twice the size of an NFL field). By way of comparison, grain producers had seeded nearly nine million hectares of canola by June 10 this year, according to a report from Statistics Canada released June 27.

Hemp processors are on a tear too. Manitoba’s Hemp Oil Canada provides seeds to farmers, contracts their production before it is planted, and processes the seeds into products like oil, hemp hearts, and powder that can be used in other foods. Hemp Oil’s founder, Shaun Crew, expects his company to process about 20 million pounds of hemp seed this year, compared with 12 million in 2013 and seven million in 2012. Hemp Oil, which is building a $13-million processing facility, controls between 30 per cent and 40 per cent of the hemp market, Mr. Crew said.

Because processing facilities are the big buyers, they heavily influence what farmers get paid.

“We kind of price ourselves being very sensitive to what the selling price is on canola, because often we’re displacing canola acres when we are growing hemp,” Mr. Crew said. “It has to be a better deal for the farmers.”

Hemp fields produce about half as much grain as canola fields, experts say. But what it lacks in yield, it makes up in price. Farmers can net between $620 and $1,240 per hectare of hemp, compared with $495 a hectare growing canola, Mr. Crew said.

The crop’s profitability comes with a catch.

“It is more work [for farmers]. Twice the profit, but twice the work,” said Kevin Friesen, operations manager at Saskatoon’s Hemp Genetics International Inc.

Hemp plants have an aroma similar to marijuana – Mr. Rogers says it’s more like crushed tomato leaves. They’re extremely tall, making them difficult to harvest. It is tough to see Mr. Rogers after he walks a few feet into some parts of his field. The stalks can grow well beyond two metres. They are thick and tough, making them hard on machinery. Stubble can be left a metre high. This is a problem: farmers can burn the stubble, bale it with hopes of selling it, or work it into the soil. Working it into the soil is tricky, because it takes about a year to break down and can cause problems seeding the following spring. Mr. Rogers is going to try to work the stubble in.

This is where plant varieties come in. Companies are trying to breed plants that produce a higher yield, do not grow as tall, and come with other farmer-friendly characteristics. Hemp is resistant to frost, pests stay away and further genetic modifications through breeding will make it even more attractive. Hemp Genetics has introduced three varieties of hemp, with another about to debut, Mr. Friesen said.

Canola had a huge head start when it comes to breeding more favourable genetic properties, according to Russ Crawford, the president of the Hemp Trade Alliance.

“If we’ve been able to work with hemp as we have with canola over the past 60 years, I don’t think there’s a doubt in my mind, at least, that it would be ahead of canola right now,” Mr. Crawford said. “There needs to be some catch-up.”

Farmers are expected to seed 40,470 hectares of hemp by 2015 and 101,170 hectares by 2018. Consumer demand, driven by the processing facilities, must grow first. It is rare for farmers to grow hemp without first having contracts in place from processing facilities.

Regulations also make farmers reluctant. Mr. Rogers said he has a binder five centimetres thick full of government documents necessary to grow hemp. Hemp advocates want the government to back off, arguing the plant has very low levels of THC and breeding could further reduce this amount.

Mr. Rogers complains about the paperwork, is nervous about harvest, but smiles when he looks at his hemp crop.

“I’m a risk-taker, “he said. “Give me a call in December and see if I’m still happy with hemp.”

MSU researchers on forefront of new hemp crop

Source: parispi.net

Bruce Schreiner

Food and Farm Kentucky Hemp

In this Aug. 1, 2014 photo, Tony L. Brannon, Murray State University's agriculture dean, stands for a photo near a hemp crop at the school's research farm in Murray, Ky. Researchers and farmers are producing the stateís first legal hemp crop in generations. Hemp has turned into a political cause in the Bluegrass state. (AP Photo/Bruce Schreiner)

MURRAY, Ky. (AP) — Call it a homecoming for hemp: Marijuana’s non-intoxicating cousin is undergoing a rebirth in a state at the forefront of efforts to reclaim it as a mainstream crop.

Researchers and farmers are producing the first legal hemp crop in generations in Kentucky, where hemp has turned into a political cause decades after it was banned by the federal government. Republican U.S. Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul advocate for it, as does state Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, a Republican who is running for governor next year.

At Murray State University, about 180 miles southwest of Louisville, plants have sprouted to at least 8 feet tall, turning a shade of green and yellow as they reach maturity. Harvest is approaching.

“It’s had a good growth period,” said Murray State agriculture dean Tony L. Brannon of Puryear. “It appeared to tolerate the extremes in weather from extremely wet to extremely dry pretty well.”

The comeback is strictly small scale. Experimental hemp plots more closely resemble the size of large family gardens.

Statewide plantings totaled about 15 acres from the Appalachian foothills in eastern Kentucky to the broad stretches of farmland in the far west, said Adam Watson, the Kentucky Agriculture Department’s hemp program coordinator.

The crop’s reintroduction was delayed in the spring when imported hemp seeds were detained by U.S. customs officials. The state’s Agriculture Department sued the federal government, but dropped the case Friday after reaching an agreement on importing the seeds into Kentucky. The seeds were released after federal drug officials approved a permit.

Since then, test plots have shown the crop to be hardy and fast growing - and a potential moneymaker with a remarkable range of traditional uses including clothing, mulch, hemp milk, cooking oil, soap and lotions.

“What we’ve learned is it will grow well in Kentucky,” Comer said. “It yields a lot per acre. All the things that we predicted.”

Hemp’s roots in Kentucky date back to pioneer days and the towering stalks were once a staple at many farms.

“We’ve got an excellent climate for it, excellent soils for it,” Watson said. “It’s a good fit for Kentucky producers. The ultimate question is going to come down to economics. Is there a market and can Kentucky capture that?”

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, Cannabis sativa, but hemp has a negligible amount of THC, the psychoactive compound that gives marijuana users a high.

Legal production of the crop has been gone for so long that it was a virtual blank slate in modern Kentucky agriculture.

Teams of researchers and farmers are studying seed varieties, soil types, etc.

“There are a lot of unknowns,” Watson said. “It’s those sorts of answers that producers are going to need before they can turn it into an economically viable crop on their farms.”

For now, growing hemp is strictly limited. The federal farm bill enacted this year restricts hemp production to research projects designated by agriculture departments in states that allow the crop to be grown. But commercial uses are also emerging.

Fifteen states have removed barriers to hemp production, according to Vote Hemp, a group that advocates for the plant’s legal cultivation.

Licensed growers were able to secure seeds in three states — Kentucky, Colorado and Vermont — the group said, but difficulties in obtaining seeds limited production. According to Eric Steenstra, president of Vote Hemp, the biggest obstacle was gaining approval from the Drug Enforcement Administration to import hemp seeds for planting.

In Vermont, about 12 farms registered to grow hemp, said Alison Kosakowski, a spokeswoman for the state’s Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets. The agency doesn’t know how many producers ended up planting a hemp crop.

The intentions were much bigger in Colorado. There were 56 registrations for commercial hemp production and 76 more for research and development, according to Ron Carleton, the state’s deputy agriculture commissioner.

Unavailability of seed likely kept “a fairly significant” number of applicants from getting hemp in the ground, he said. Some farmers able to produce a crop this year may harvest the seeds to grow next year’s crop, he said.

In Kentucky, the crop is being studied by researchers at a half-dozen universities.

Eastern Kentucky University researchers recently harvested their small hemp plot. Those plants reached 7 feet tall.

“It seems to be fairly easy to grow,” said EKU agriculture professor Bruce Pratt. “The plants got established so quickly that they shaded out the weeds.”

A 2013 report by the Congressional Research Service pegged hemp imports at $11.5 million in 2011, a tiny sum relative to other imported crops.

If widespread U.S. production is someday allowed, states able to attract processors close to where the crop is grown will be the winners, said University of Kentucky agricultural economist Will Snell.

“It’s a small, niche market, but it’s growing,” he said. “We can grow it. The problem is, other states and other countries can grow it as well.”

Hemp helps build a house in Tarpon Springs, likely first in Florida

By Tony Marrero
Source: tampabay.com



TARPON SPRINGS — Bob Clayton leaned over the gleaming, industrial-grade oven, his crystal blue eyes focused as he slathered crab spread on golden-brown pieces of bread.

While Clayton prepared the crostini, his dozen or so guests sipped beer and sparkling wine in the kitchen and combined living-dining room of his Florida-style ranch home. Scott McKenzie's San Francisco played softly on the Bose sound system. The Saturday afternoon gathering had the feel of any one of a thousand house parties likely happening in Florida at that same moment.

Clayton's guests, though, felt like they were making a little bit of history as they mingled.

After more than two years of fits-and-starts construction, the 64-year-old retired mechanical engineer was hosting the first party in his house made of hemp.

"I'm excited they're excited," Clayton said. "There's a real buzz in this crowd."

On a red-brick street near the Pinellas Trail south of Dodecanese Boulevard, Clayton has built what is believed to be Florida's first — and America's fourth — house constructed of hempcrete.

Composed of chunks of the hemp plant's woody core and a lime-based binder, hempcrete is typically poured into forms and packed around wood frames. The breathable material dries as hard as concrete but weighs about one-seventh as much.

The material is common in countries where it's legal to grow hemp. In the United States, though, hemp has a long, complicated history.

It was an important crop here in the 18th and 19th centuries, used primarily for rope, twine and bagging. Industrial hemp and marijuana both come from the Cannabis sativa plant, but hemp is cultivated from the plant's stalks and seeds, which contain only trace amounts of the narcotic in marijuana. Hemp doesn't get you high.

Still, the demonizing of marijuana that began with the 1936 filmReefer Madness made farmers shy away from the plant. The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 that lumped hemp with marijuana as a narcotic was "the last nail in the coffin," said Linda Booker, director and producer of Bringing It Home, a 2013 documentary about hemp construction. Booker traveled from North Carolina to attend Clayton's party.

She said a hemp resurrection is on the horizon as policymakers take notice of the millions of dollars of hemp products — from soaps to shirts to rugs — imported into the United States each year. In England, hempcrete is being used to build warehouses, townhouses and department stores.

"We now have some politicians that have seen we're cutting American farmers out of an opportunity that 31 other industrialized nations are taking advantage of," Booker said.

A small section in this year's Farm Bill authorized the growth of industrial hemp for research by departments of agriculture and higher education institutions in states where hemp cultivation is legal under state law. Not in Florida, though.

At least not yet, said Ingrid Setzer, a Cape Coral florist and the founder of the fledgling Florida Hemp Industries Association. Setzer organized Saturday's party to build momentum in Florida's grass roots movement.

"The time is right, right now, for hemp," Setzer said.

Clayton, an Ohio native who has helped install oil platforms in the North Sea and done graphic design work in Silicon Valley, wanted to know if a hemp building could stand up to Florida's hot, wet summers and hurricanes.

He worked with an architect to design the three-bedroom, two bathroom home that would blend well in Tarpon's historic district or in a traditional subdivision. He eventually parted ways with a contractor who had never worked with hempcrete and finished the job himself. He moved in this past January and kept working on the interior.

The walls, covered in stucco, are a foot thick and can withstand winds up to 150 miles per hour. Concrete production spews carbon dioxide, but the roughly 3 acres of hemp used to build his house absorbed the greenhouse gas without the need for herbicides and pesticides. His electric bill for the 1,640-square-foot home has peaked at about $90 this summer.

Hemp houses, he thinks, might help save the world.

The estimated $350,000 price tag is high, even with the granite finishes, maple cabinets and hickory floors, but Clayton said that cost would come down with a trained labor force working with materials grown stateside.

"Hemp is good for America, it's good for American workers, and it's a good, healthy home," he said. "I just wish people would wake up and eliminate this stupid ban and let farmers grow."