Growing Hemp Legalized In United States

Story at-a-glance

• Hemp, a species of cannabis plant, has been valued since ancient times for its fibers and seeds, but it’s been illegal to grow in the U.S. for decades
• The 2018 Farm Bill included a section legalizing hemp production, paving the way for what many are calling the next big cash crop
• While both marijuana and hemp come from the cannabis plant, hemp is low in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is the substance that produces the “high” associated with marijuana
• Hemp is beneficial for the soil as it doesn’t require the use of pesticides and has a short growing cycle, making it sustainable
• Hemp is valued as an omega-3-rich plant food and fiber and has more than 25,000 industrial uses
• Many of hemp’s health benefits relate to its cannabidiol (CBD) content, which has been found to offer neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory benefits

Hemp, a species of cannabis plant, has been valued since ancient times for its fibers and seeds, but it’s been illegal to grow in the U.S. for decades. That all changed in late 2018 with the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill. It included a section legalizing hemp production, paving the way for what many are calling the next big cash crop.
Hemp has many uses, ranging from food to fiber, but it’s also the source of the hemp-derived compound cannabidiol (CBD), which shows promising medical uses. The CBD market in the U.S. was estimated at $600 million in 2018, with projections shooting up over $20 billion by 2022.¹
The change in hemp’s legal status was a long time coming and paves the way for this beneficial plant to be treated like other crops, instead of an illegal substance.

The History of Hemp

The legalization of hemp is cause for celebration for more than just hemp supporters, who have been spearheading legalization attempts for decades. The move has ramifications for human health and the environment, now that this plant will no longer be treated as an illicit drug.
Hemp has been valued for thousands of years, with perhaps the oldest discovery of hemp dating back to a piece of hemp fabric from 8,000 B.C.² As noted by the National Hemp Association, hemp has been used throughout the world for centuries:³

“The spread of cannabis took place from China to the Middle East and the Mediterranean area and, subsequently, to Europe, probably via nomadic peoples. Starting around the year 600, the Germans, Frankish tribes and Vikings produced rope, cloth and garments from hemp fiber.

In the Middle Ages, most people wore hemp sandals. Many farmers grew hemp on a small scale. Since the Middle Ages, the industrial use of hemp has seen a number of peaks.”

In the 17th century, for instance, ships took to the seas with sails and lines made from braided hemp fibers. Hemp clothing was also popular, and Rembrandt used hemp paper for sketching. In the U.S., Presidents Washington and Jefferson grew hemp, and according to the Hemp Industries Association (HIA), “Americans were legally bound to grow hemp during the Colonial Era and Early Republic.”⁴
By the 19th century, however, alternative materials like cotton and wood pulp began to take hemp’s place, making it less popular. In 1937, the Marijuana Tax Act was passed, which grouped hemp with marijuana, making hemp sales heavily taxed. The financial strain caused may hemp businesses to close and the hemp industry further declined.⁵
WWII brought with it a brief boost for hemp, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) encouraging U.S. farmers to grow the plant and the government offering subsidies for hemp cultivation. About 1 million acres of hemp were planted in the U.S. during that time, and the stiff fiber was used to make parachutes, uniforms, tarps and other products useful to the war industry.
“After the war ended, the government quietly shut down all the hemp processing plants and the industry faded away again,” the HIA noted.⁶ The final nail in the coffin came with the passage of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, which grouped hemp and marijuana together as Schedule 1 substances, a classification reserved for drugs with "high potential for abuse" and "no accepted medical use."
Three years later the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) was formed to enforce the newly created drug schedules, and the fight against marijuana and hemp use began.

Marijuana Versus Hemp: What’s the Difference?

While both marijuana and hemp come from the cannabis plant, hemp is low in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is the substance that produces the “high” associated with marijuana use. Whereas hemp typically contains 0.3 percent THC or less, marijuana may contain anywhere from 5 to 35 percent THC, according to HIA.
Interestingly, the 0.3 percent for THC in hemp came about quite by accident when a couple of Canadian scientists designated that number in a 1976 report they wrote on the two plants. Later, the DEA used the same number when they were formulating rules to ban hemp and all products with THC in them. The 0.3 percent later became part of federal law with the 2014 Farm Bill, explained later in this article.⁷
And while the THC percentage varies in marijuana depending on which part of the plant is used, the Alcohol & Drug Institute at the University of Washington says the average THC in marijuana dried leaves and buds in the U.S. can vary from less than1 percent to 20 percent.⁸
Marijuana is typically used for medicinal or recreational purposes, whereas hemp can be used for a variety of applications ranging from food and medicine to clothing, construction, body care and even plastic. You can’t get high from hemp, but its high CBD content makes it attractive for medicinal purposes.
Further, whereas marijuana must be grown in a carefully controlled atmosphere, hemp is easy to grow and thrives in most climates. Generally speaking, cannabis sativa, which has long and narrow leaves, is grown outdoors and has higher CBD and low THC, producing no psychoactive effects.
Cannabis idica, on the other hand, has shorter, wider leaves, grows best indoors and contains higher THC, which produces the high most recreational marijuana users are after.
However, because many hybrids have been produced, it’s not possible to identify these qualities from plant name alone.⁹ According to the 2014 Farm Bill, hemp refers to cannabis sativa plants containing 0.3 percent or less of THC, and that definition remained unchanged in the 2018 Bill.

The Slow Progress Toward Hemp Legalization in the US

In 2013, Colorado legalized industrial hemp farming for commercial and research purposes, provided the farmers verified the THC levels and paid for a permit. In 2014, the Farm Bill also included a section that allowed hemp cultivation for select research and pilot programs, and dozens of states introduced pro-hemp legislation to follow.
By 2017, nearly 26,000 acres of hemp were being grown in 19 states.¹⁰ Still, in a major waste of taxpayer dollars, the DEA would target hemp farmers. Ministry of Hemp noted that prior to the 2018 legalization:¹¹

“[F]armers in all these states still risk being raided by the DEA, going to prison, and losing their property because the federal policy fail[ed] to distinguish non-drug oilseed and fiber varieties of industrial hemp from the psychoactive drug varieties (i.e., ‘marijuana’)”

Now that hemp has been legalized, it removes restrictions for crop insurance, banking and other barriers to farmers looking for a profitable crop. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who spearheaded the bill, believes hemp could replace tobacco as a new cash crop, stating:¹²

“At a time when farm income is down and growers are struggling, industrial hemp is a bright spot of agriculture’s future. My provision in the Farm Bill will not only legalize domestic hemp, but it will also allow state departments of agriculture to be responsible for its oversight.”

What’s more, hemp is sometimes described as a miracle crop, providing sustainable material to replace trees for paper, for instance, because it has a growing cycle of just four to six months. Hemp is beneficial for the soil as well, as it doesn’t require the use of pesticides due to its dense, deep roots, which repel weeds naturally.¹³
Because it grows so close together, hemp can be grown in tight spaces, decreasing land use while still leading to high yields because of its fast growing rate. Basically, hemp grows like a weed, tolerating a variety of climates and soil types, and requiring relatively little water. It was even used to extract toxins from the soil at Chernobyl.¹⁴

What Will the Legalization of Hemp Mean for CBD Products?

With hemp’s legalization, CBD products, which are already on the upswing, are set to take off. Their legal status is another issue entirely. CBD is technically illegal according to the DEA, and it’s unclear whether it will be reclassified. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), meanwhile, classifies CBD as a drug and has no plans to change that. In a statement, FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said:¹⁵

“[T]he FDA requires a cannabis product (hemp-derived or otherwise) that is marketed with a claim of therapeutic benefit, or with any other disease claim, to be approved by the FDA for its intended use before it may be introduced into interstate commerce. This is the same standard to which we hold any product marketed as a drug for human or animal use.

Cannabis and cannabis-derived products claiming in their marketing and promotional materials that they’re intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of diseases (such as cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, psychiatric disorders and diabetes) are considered new drugs or new animal drugs and must go through the FDA drug approval process for human or animal use before they are marketed in the U.S.”

CBD can come from either marijuana or hemp. Again, the distinction between these two plants hinges on the THC content. Hemp has very little if any THC, whereas marijuana will have varying amounts of THC. Hemp products such as hemp oil and hemp extract are legal.
So even though they may have small amounts of CBD, hemp products such as hemp oil can be lawfully marketed, provided they don’t reference CBD or claim to cure any diseases. This is a potential loophole the CBD industry could use. The drawback is hemp products may not have much CBD in them, and they may not be clinically effective.
That being said, the new legal status will open up hemp and CBD for research, potentially leading to more definitive knowledge about proper dosing and usage. And as noted by the Ministry of Hemp, “Attitudes are already changing. Even before being signed into law, the 2018 Farm Bill inspired the Alabama state attorney general to back off from plans to prosecute CBD stores.”¹⁶

The Many Benefits of Hemp

The hoopla over hemp is well deserved. Its seeds contain nearly as much protein as soybeans and all nine essential amino acids, especially arginine, which is beneficial for heart health.
Two main proteins in hemp seed protein, albumin and edestin, are rich in essential amino acids, with profiles comparable to egg white. Hemp's edestin content is among the highest of all plants. Hemp protein is also easy to digest because of its lack of oligosaccharides and trypsin inhibitors, which can affect protein absorption.
Hemp seeds are also an excellent source of plant-based omega-3s and include a balanced 1-to-3 ratio of omega-3 and omega-6 fats. Hemp seeds, especially those with the hulls intact, are also rich in fiber and contain a variety of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin E, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium, zinc and B vitamins.
Many of hemp’s health benefits relate to its CBD content as well, which has been found to offer neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory benefits.¹⁷ Potential uses for CBD and other hemp extracts include:^18,19

Parkinson’s disease	Alzheimer’s disease	Multiple sclerosis
Neuropathic pain	Childhood seizure disorders	Schizophrenia
Anxiety	Depression	Addiction
Posttraumatic stress disorder	Pain	Vomiting and nausea

Medicinal uses aside, hemp seed oil is used in body care products while the fiber can be used to make fabric, clothing, paper and even a recyclable hemp plastic and hemp concrete. There are reportedly more than 25,000 industrial uses for hemp,²⁰ and this probably only scratches the surface of what this versatile plant is good for.
The legalization of hemp in the U.S. will now make it easier for humans and the environment alike to enjoy the benefits of this natural wonder plant once again.

Read more: https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/01/08/growing-industrial-hemp-legalization.aspx?utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art2&utm_campaign=20190108Z1_UCM&et_cid=DM259304&et_rid=514332196

The First Sustainable Urban Agrihood in the U.S. Could Serve As A Model for Urban Development

Could fresh, healthy, affordable food be the future of urban neighborhood development?
In Detroit, Michigan, “the first sustainable urban agrihood” in the U.S. centers around an edible garden, with easily accessible, affordable produce offered to neighborhood residents and the community.
Each year, this urban farm provides fresh, free produce to 2,000 households within two square miles of the farm. They also supply food to local markets, restaurants, and food pantries.
The concept of agrihoods isn’t new —the Urban Land Institute estimated that about 200 agrihoods had been or were under construction across the U.S. — but this agrihood is unique because it’s the first truly urban agrihood. It plans to operate in a sustainable way, and is more accessible than most other agrihoods.
Agrihoods, also called agritopias or community-supported development, are an exciting concept because they create a remarkable improvement to the dominant food system.
They help tackle food insecurity and other community problems. They make it easy for people in low-income communities to get fresh, healthy food. And they give people a connection with the food they eat, the earth, and each other.

All about the first sustainable urban agrihood

The first sustainable urban agrihood, which recently debuted in Detroit, is the project of the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative — an all-volunteer nonprofit, which seeks to empower urban communities using sustainable agriculture.
The three-acre development has vacant land, along with occupied and abandoned homes centered around a two-acre urban garden, with more than 300 organic vegetable varieties, like lettuce, kale, and carrots, as well as a 200-tree fruit orchard, with apples, pears, plums, and cherries, a children’s sensory garden, and more.
The nonprofit is also working on other projects that go beyond farming, including:

• Turning a long-vacant building into a community resource center, which will offer educational programs, event and meeting space for the neighborhood, a nonprofit incubator, and two commercial kitchens
• Developing a healthy food cafe, and  
• Restoring a home into student intern housing and an off-grid shipping container.

Other projects to make the place more sustainable include:

• Installing solar panels,
• Converting a basement into a water harvesting cistern that will automatically irrigate the garden
• A public composting toilet, and
• A retention pond made from the foundation of a blighted home to supply the farm with water. 
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• Read more: https://foodrevolution.org/blog/food-politics/first-sustainable-urban-agrihood/?utm_campaign=frn16&utm_medium=email&utm_source=email-automated&utm_content=2331&utm_term=existing-email-list&email=subzerohc%40yahoo.com&firstname=John&lastname=Zahos

Plants Can Hear Themselves Being Eaten, and Can Communicate the Threat to Their Neighbors

• Plants are capable of communicating with each other via extensive and complex networks, and can warn each other of the presence of pests. In response, the plants will mount natural defenses against the infestation
• When a bug such as a caterpillar chews on a plant’s leaf, the plant “hears” the vibrations of the chewing, and produces chemicals to defend itself from further harm
• These chemicals are also what give a plant many of its medicinal qualities, such as glucosinolates, which have anti-cancer properties, and other antioxidants
• This research even suggests that minor pest attacks may play an important role in encouraging plant growth that have higher levels of (to humans) important nutrients
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• Read more: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/10/11/plant-communication.aspx?e_cid=20141011Z1_DNL_art_2&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art2&utm_campaign=20141011Z1&et_cid=DM59063&et_rid=689341209 

Wood Chips—The Secret to Effortless, Inexpensive Biodynamic Gardening

• Using wood chips as ground cover, not compost, is a highly cost-effective strategy that will help radically improve your ability to effortlessly grow nutrient-dense food
• A few short months after putting down a deep layer of wood chips, you will end up with lush fertile soil beneath the chips that will support whatever you choose to grow
• Using wood chips has many benefits, from promoting soil fertility and earthworms that create vermicompost, to eliminating the need for irrigation and the use of fertilizer
• Most tree cutting companies will drop a truck load (or more) of wood chips right on your property, for free
• It’s important to avoid tilling your soil, as 70 percent of the soil microbes responsible for plant health and plant communication are fungi, and tilling will disrupt these mycorrhizal fungal filaments
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• Read more: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/10/05/wood-chips-ground-cover.aspx?e_cid=20141005Z1_SNL_art_1&utm_source=snl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20141005Z1&et_cid=DM57529&et_rid=681493691 

How Grazing Cows Can Save the Planet, and Other Surprising Ways of Healing the Earth

• The modern agricultural system is responsible for putting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than the actual burning of fossil fuels
• Herds raised according to modern, conventional practices contribute to desertification—turning land into desert—which does not support plant life and photosynthesis, thereby worsening atmospheric CO2 levels
• According to an African ecologist, dramatically increasing the number of grazing livestock is the only thing that can reverse both desertification and climate change
• According to estimates, grazing large herds of livestock on half of the world’s barren or semi-barren grasslands could take enough carbon from the atmosphere to bring us back to preindustrial levels
• Integrating biological farming principles can increase plant performance by 200-400 percent. What’s more, not only does it improve the quantity, it also improves the quality of the food you’re growing
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• Read more: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/01/12/grazing-cows-biological-farming.aspx?e_cid=20140112Z3_SNL_Art_1&utm_source=snl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20140112Z3&et_cid=DM37711&et_rid=396165763 

GMOs cause horrible deformities, birth defects in piglets

(NaturalNews) When Danish pig farmer Ib Pedersen first noticed the sudden uptick in disease, deformities and death among his farrow, his immediate reaction was to investigate the diet of his pigs to look for possible causes. And what he found confirms what a growing body of evidence also suggests: that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in conventional animal feed are increasingly responsible for triggering birth defects, deformities, spontaneous abortions and other growth and development abnormalities in both pigs and cattle.

With 13,000 pigs on his farm, Pedersen knows the ins and outs of how to properly raise swine, as well as what is considered normal in terms of pig health. This is why he grew particularly alarmed when many more of them than usual began to come down with strange illnesses. Besides noticeably lower birthrates, Pedersen observed more of his pigs than normal being born with strange defects like spinal deformities and limb problems, and many more pigs than usual were dying.

"When using GM feed I saw symptoms of bloat, stomach ulcers, high rates of diarrhea, pigs born with deformities," explained Pedersen to The Ecologist's Andrew Wasley, who recently conducted an in-depth investigation into the link between GMOs and animal health problems. "But when I switched [to non-GM feed] these problems went away, some within a matter of days."

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/043208_GMOs_farm_animals_birth_defects.html#ixzz2nA5x36B4

High-Performance Agriculture Can Increase Your Garden Yield Eight-Fold

• Farmers and food producers routinely harvest only about 10 to 15 percent of the inherent genetic capacity of any given crop. By optimizing soil composition and nutrient application, you can easily increase your garden yield six to eight times
• The foundation of healthy plants boils down to two things: Adequate mineral nutrition, and strong soil biology. Compost tea and plant nutritional supplements can address both of these components, thereby maximizing plant performance
• Addressing other environmental factors, such as increasing the organic matter in your garden soil by adding soil amendments, such as BioChar, which provides a suitable environment in which beneficial soil bacteria can flourish
• As plant nutrition is improved, they become naturally resistant to disease and insect pests, they become hardier, and form much higher levels of medicinal compounds and essential oils. This is when food becomes medicine
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• Read more: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/09/22/high-performance-agriculture.aspx?e_cid=20130922Z1_SNL_Art_1&utm_source=snl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20130922Z1 

Beekeeping Industry 'Doomed' -- Might We See Destruction of Food Supply Before the End of This Decade?

By Dr. Mercola

For several years now, scientists have been struggling to determine why bee colonies across the world are disappearing—a phenomenon dubbed colony collapse disorder (CCD).
As reported by Dan Rather, the US has recently experienced the highest loss of honeybee populations so far, with most of the nation’s beekeepers losing anywhere from 50 to 90 percent of their bee population.
Honeybees are perhaps one of the least recognized workers in the agricultural industry. They contribute $15 billion in annual agriculture revenue to the US economy alone, as a full one-third of the American food supply depends on them pollinating crops.
Just about every fruit and vegetable you can imagine is dependent on the pollinating services of bees. Apple orchards, for instance, require one colony of bees per acre in order to be adequately pollinated. So, unless the mysterious disappearance of bees is reversed, major food shortages could result.

California Almond Orchards Threatened by Bee Loss

As discussed in Dan Rather’s report, 80 percent of the world’s almonds come from California’s central valley, an 800,000 acre area of almond orchards that are 100 percent dependent on bees pollinating the trees. Surprisingly, almonds are the number one agricultural product in California.
Once a year, in late winter, 1.5 million bee hives from around the country are delivered to these orchards where the bees’ pollination efforts take place over the course of just a few days. It’s the largest mass-pollination effort in the world.
This year, however, the unthinkable happened. Many of the 6,000 orchard owners simply could not find enough bees to pollinate their almond trees, at any price... One of the beekeepers featured in Rather’s report is John Miller, President of the California state Beekepers Association. His family has tended bees since 1894.
Of the 11,000 hives brought to California by Miller, hundreds of hives turned out to be dead when opened up. According to Miller, “the past 30 years have been tumultuous with 40 percent of the national herd dying or dead.”
Another fourth generation beekeeper named Anderson lost 70 percent of his hives this year. Yet another outfit lost 100 percent of his bees...
Fortunately, unsurpassed efforts that included persuading beekeepers as far away as Florida to ship their bees cross country, delayed bloom, and unseasonably good weather thereafter allowed almond growers to dodge the bullet—this year—despite having fewer and weaker-than-ever hives...
This narrowly-achieved success may lead some to reach the mistaken conclusion that beekeepers’ concerns are overblown.
Don’t be fooled. One beekeeper goes so far as to say he believes the beekeeper industry is doomed and cannot survive for more than another two to three years unless drastic changes are implemented...

Read more: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/06/08/bees-dying-off.aspx?e_cid=20130608_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20130608