Hemp -- The Miracle Cash Crop

Is there a solution to our environmental crisis?  Is there a solution to our economic crisis?  Definitely!  It is called hemp and it can save our environment without damaging our economy.  It may be the most profitable venture yet!

It has over 25, 000 uses according to a 1937 Popular Mechanics article.  As a matter of fact, until 1937, 70% to 90% of all rope and twine was made with hemp.  Until 1883, 75% to 90% of all paper in the United States was made with hemp.  In 1941, Henry Ford built a car with a plastic made from hemp and wheat straw.  So what has happened to hemp?

It was banned back in 1937 because of the concerns of one DuPont, the huge American petrochemical company and one William Hearst, owner of several chains of newspapers and tracts of timber; they didn’t want any competition by a fast, growing cash crop called hemp.  Dupont just invented Nylon and wanted to get it patented.  Hemp was widely used in the manufacturing of paper and cloth and Hearst and DuPont wanted to monopolize the necessary chemicals to the make the same products. So, very cleverly and pulling a few strings among politicians, they engineered the banning of hemp because it was related to the marijuana plant.  Both plants were banned in 1938.

Hemp has many qualities which make it an ideal candidate to replace many of the harmful chemicals used in millions of products and almost all of the products manufacture from hemp are environmentally friendly and biodegradable.  At least five hundred products made from petroleum can be replaced by hemp.

What are some of the indispensible qualities of hemp?  It can be made into a fibre twice as strong as present fibres.  It has a very short growing season – 100 days!.  In Canada, we could grow two crops in one year.  As a food, the hemp seed is the most nutritious, practical, and profitable of all vegetable proteins.

The hydrocarbons in hemp can be processed into a wide range of biomass energy sources.  By farming six per cent of the continental U.S. acreage with biomass crops would provide all of America’s energy needs.  Hemp is Earth’s number one biomass resource – capable of producing ten tons per acre in four months.  Biomass can be converted to methane, methanol, or gasoline at a cost comparable to petroleum plus the fact that hemp is much better for the environment.  Hemp can produce ten times more methanol than corn and as an added bonus, hemp fuel does not contribute to global warming.

From the farmer’s point of view, hemp is an easy crop to grow and will yield from three to six tons per acre on any land that will grow corn, wheat or oats.    The long roots penetrate and break the soil making it able to leave the soil in perfect condition for next year’s crop.  The dense shock of leaves, eight to twelve feet above the ground, chokes out weeds.  No need for herbicides.  Two successive crops are enough to reclaim the land that has been abandoned because of Canadian thistles and quack grass.  No need for fertilizers – hemp helps to maintain healthy and fertile soil. Very few insects or pests ever attacks the hemp plant; thus, no need for pesticides.

The essential oils from hemp seeds are responsible for enhancing our immune system responses and reduction of cholesterol and plaques in our arteries.  A byproduct from the hemp seed is a high quality protein seed cake.  It can be malted or grained and baked into cakes, breads and casseroles.

And, is it possible that there is a cure for cancer?  Yeh, hemp oil!  The claim that hemp oil could cure cancer came from a Canadian, Rick Simpson.  In 2002, Rick was told he had skin cancer.  One part of cancer was surgically removed but two others remained.  Rick learned that THC, the main ingredient of hemp oil, could kill cancer cells.  He applied hemp oil to  his skin cancer and within four days, his skin cancer was gone..

Now just imagine for a moment.   Your county has several hemp farms and a some processing plants used to convert hemp to fuel, fibre and food.

Farmers and manufacturers in the county could be the main exporter of hemp fuel to the rest of the United States.  This helps Americans to become independent of foreign gas and oil.  We would provide their main source of fuel for heat and transportation.  Thus, we wouldn’t have to worry about oil and gas shortages from “rogue countries”, or having to depend on using dirty, unconventional oil from the Tar Sands.  It is a clean, environmentally friendly way to do business.  And we need to diversify our economy. We will run out of gas and oil within our generation.  We also will save our forests (the lungs of the Earth) by using hemp paper and it is easily recyclable.   We want to maintain a healthy soil environment for growing other crops and prevent erosion (which hemp naturally does an excellent job!) 

And,; in addition, a great way for the farmers and other entrepreurs to make money.  There is nothing wrong with the idea of  “greenies” to becoming capitalists!