October 2019 - Page 4 of 6

TuesdayOct 15, 2019 4:00 pm

Alabama Starts Receiving Hemp Cultivation Applications

CBD is, without a doubt, one of the most versatile medical treatments of the century. It has slowly been gaining approval among the public, who after experiencing the numerous benefits associated with the cannabinoid, have been quick to share and spread awareness on the compound. For a long time, the industry remained undeveloped primarily because CBD was classified as a Schedule 1 controlled substance, and it was illegal to handle it in any form. Not to mention the stigma that came with it due to its association with cannabis and its primary psychoactive agent, THC. The Farm Bill of 2018…

TuesdayOct 15, 2019 9:00 am

Wisconsin Senate Passes Hemp Bill

In Wisconsin, the state’s Senate passed a bill designed to enable farmers to start growing industrial hemp on a commercial scale. The legislation is supposed to grant the right to control the state's hemp program to the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. According to the Associated Press, the program was initiated in 2018 where the state of Wisconsin issued hemp growers with 250 licenses for a pilot program. However, this year, the applications were ten times higher. Michael Brady, who is 48 years of age, has lived in Galesville with his family since he was born. They have…

MondayOct 14, 2019 4:00 pm

Hemp Grower and Processor Sue Each Other Over Hemp Crop

Last Tuesday in New York, two cannabis-based companies sued each other in rival federal cases over allegations of misspent advances and bad crops. Early this year, Go Farm Hemp, a Nevada based cannabis grower, entered into a contract with Canopy Growth, a cannabis processing giant headquartered in Ontario, Canada, agreeing to grow hemp for the processor in Colorado, Kentucky, New York and North Carolina. On Tuesday, Go Farm Hemp filed a $1.9 million federal suit in New York. It accused Canopy Growth of failing to pay a portion of the funds it had agreed to advance Go Farm Hemp. Canopy…

MondayOct 14, 2019 9:00 am

Why the World of Fashion Should Turn to Hemp

2018 was a good year for the fashion industry in the United States, because Americans spent $391.5 billion on clothes and footwear. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis NIPA, the growth was equivalent to a 4 percent increase year after year. Furthermore, it was the highest level of growth since 2011, whose spending spiked to 5.1 percent. The Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey further analyzed the data and found that the amount of disposable income spent on clothing and footwear by Americans has declined from 3.8 percent in 2007 to 3.0 percent in 2019. What is more…

FridayOct 11, 2019 4:00 pm

Company Plans to Make Packaging from Hemp

Owyhee Produce, a company based in Oregon, has announced that it will raise the stakes of sustainable packaging by growing and using hemp to make its own packaging materials. The company intends to grow at least 500 acres of hemp and use the fibers from those plants to make compostable bags for packing onions next spring. Some CBD will also be extracted from the hemp plants from which the fiber for the packaging is obtained. Owyhee Produce released a list of goals that it is aiming to attain by 2022 in the area of sustainability. They include having 100 percent…

FridayOct 11, 2019 9:00 am

Hemp Pollen Researchers Get USDA Grant

According to the Augusta Free Press, two researchers, Shane Ross and Hussein Foroutan, from Virginia Tech and University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who are studying the transport of pollen from genetically modified hemp and switchgrass were awarded a $500,000 grant by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. To learn how the plants’ pollen travels, the team will apply mathematical models and drones. They are also collaborating with a professor from the University of Tennessee, Neal Stewart, who, in his previous project, genetically modified male switchgrass. A professor in the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences at Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and…

ThursdayOct 10, 2019 4:00 pm

China’s Hemp Industry Booms Amidst Regulatory Uncertainty

While China rigidly maintains a zero tolerance policy for marijuana, the country is the largest producer of hemp in the world. As the production of hemp increases in the country, the calls for the legalization and regulation of CBD have also increased. After a history of use spanning thousands of years, China eventually outlawed industrial hemp in 1985. However, a sustained campaign by locals resulted in the country permitting Yunnan Province in the southwestern part of the country to resume growing this crop on a commercial scale. Some sources also reveal that hemp is being grown on a large scale…

ThursdayOct 10, 2019 9:00 am

Supply Shortages Force Hemp Seed Processor to Leave Vermont

Lack of hemp seed has led to the closure of a hemp seed processing plant in Vermont, Victory Hemp Food, which used to produce hemp seed oil and hemp flour has either sold its equipment’s or transported them back to Kentucky. Northeast Hemp Commodities, a company which specializes in CBD extraction in Vermont, took over space previously occupied by Victory Hemp. The company plans to use the space for CBD extraction, manufacturing and retail sales of CBD products. The CEO of Victory Hemp Food, Chad Rosen, said that they had to close down the Middlebury facility because farmers in Vermont…

WednesdayOct 09, 2019 4:00 pm

Four Signs Smokable Hemp is Going Mainstream

As the CBD wave rises higher and higher across the country, one particular product is gaining more attention as well. Hemp flower has become a hit not just among health-conscious people but also among those who use cannabis recreationally simply because it is so relaxing. Here are some of the leading signs that smokable hemp will soon be a mainstream product. The 2019 Harvest is the Largest Ever Estimates indicate that approximately 138,000 acres of hemp will be harvested this year. These estimates are deliberately conservative because less than half of the 500,000 acres grown will reach harvest time. This…

WednesdayOct 09, 2019 9:00 am

Two-Thirds of Pennsylvania Hemp Farmers Don’t Have Purchase Contracts

The 2019 growing season has been full of challenges for hemp growers in the Mid-Atlantic States as they are used to drier climate during the harvesting season; however, this season, spring was soggy, and summer was humid. Hemp growers in the legalized states depend on state-level experts to help oversee the crop since the Department of Agriculture in the U.S has not enacted federal regulations for hemp production. For instance, the director of Pennsylvania State University’s Southeast Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Alyssa Collins, and Krystal Snyder, an extension educator at Penn State, have been offering guidance to the hemp…