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Dear Reader,
I really love the Fall. The kids are done with their daily
trips to camp and are headed
back to school. It's
nearing harvest time, and that means
fair time as well. Real, old-fashioned
agricultural county fairs are wonderful
things, and one really gets a sense of where
our food comes from.
Not too long ago, many people farmed and processed
their own food and fiber. I saw the flax break below
at a museum at my local fair, along with a
lot of other implements used to farm and process
raw flax into finished linen cloth. They are
very similar to those that were used to
process hemp fiber in the same manner. Before he
passed away,
my Grandfather gave us a spinning wheel for
flax fiber. It had been in the family for a century,
and my wife now uses it to spin hemp yarn.
A flax break
seen in the
Matthews Museum at the Union
Fair.
Some displays featured modern
equipment like wood stoves that use
compressed agricultural waste bricks or
pellets for fuel. These
bricks and pellets can in fact be made
from hemp hurds, a by-product of growing hemp for
seed or fiber.
While the Reason Foundation found in
their policy study Illegally
Green: Environmental Costs of Hemp
Prohibition that "it is unlikely that
industrial hemp would be a primary crop for
either biodiesel or ethanol production where
more valuable markets exist for hemp," they
did, however, state that "biomass could be
expected to serve as a secondary market for
fiber hemp (as is sometimes the case in
Europe) or as a local fuel source, whether in
the form of biodiesel, pellets for heating,
or other emerging fuels."
As transportation costs increase, and
thus importing fuel and fiber from other
countries becomes more expensive, we will need to
develop local sources of these raw materials. Entities
in other countries, like the Green Energy
Growers Association (GEGA) in Ireland (see our
featured
article), support bio-energy farmers and conduct
research on the development of energy crops.
America must not be left behind in these
developments — our country must consider all
options,
including hemp, and choose the best.
Help us make that happen. Please make a contribution
to Vote Hemp today, so that we may continue fixing the
situation here in the U.S.
We need and truly appreciate your support!
Best Regards,
Tom Murphy
Hemp News Update Editor
| Hemp a Growing Industry |
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Gordon Scheifele shows an industrial hemp
plant.
Photo credit: Brian Shypula/The Beacon
Herald.
By Brian Shypula
The Beacon
Herald
August 18, 2008
Tavistock, Ontario, Canada — A decade after it
became legal to grow in Canada, industrial
hemp finally looks closer to delivering on
its potential as a wonder crop.
"It's growing rapidly, but it's a delicate
balance still in the growth phase," Gordon
Scheifele, former president of the Ontario
Hemp Alliance, said at a field trial open
house held Saturday northwest of Tavistock.
"We want to communicate ... that 'Hey, this
is great stuff, it's going to change our
lives with regard to how it moves into the
industrial applications, and the hemp grain for
food,'" he said.
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| Time to Speak Up on Hemp Farm Licensing |
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The Land
August 26, 2008
A draft of the proposed new licensing scheme
to allow industrial hemp production in NSW is
available for public comment for 28 days.
The Iemma Government passed the Hemp Industry
Bill in June this year, paving the way for a
new industrial hemp industry in NSW.
Minister for Primary Industries Ian MacDonald
put out an invitation to farmers to comment
on the proposed licensing regulations, which
are necessary to ensure the crop is grown
only under license and only by applicants of
"good repute."
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| HIA Featured Member - Earth Friendly Network |
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The Earth
Friendly Network was founded by Amie
Nguyen in 2002 after her daughter was born
with abnormalities as a result of
environmental toxins. When she discovered the
cause of many of our health problems could be
traced back to our diet and environmental
toxins, she also decided that she was going
to tell everyone who would listen what she
had discovered. She channeled her energy into
developing four Web sites and an eBay store that focused
primarily on hemp products.
Earth Friendly Goods became the focus of the
Earth Friendly Network, and along with her
sister, Carie Cave, she opened a brick and
mortar store in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Although the
store was a bit ahead of its time in Tulsa
and had to be closed a year after opening,
the online
store continued to grow and flourish. It
is a variety store with a mission ... to
provide not only top-of-the-line hemp
products, but also information and guidance
to shoppers.
Former Earth Friendly Goods Store in
Tulsa, Oklahoma.
By the very nature of current restrictions on
the production of hemp in this country,
industrial hemp manufacturers have limited
market awareness of their products. The Earth
Friendly Network brings their products to a
wider audience of consumers, while promoting
and reinforcing hemp's image as a premier
source of earth-friendly products. Through
involvement in the HIA and other
industry-specific groups, contact with
customers, social networking and the
newly-developed Greener Network, they are
reaching out to the masses to help them
embrace industrial hemp products.
[If you are a member of the HIA and would
like to have your company featured here,
please submit a small selection of graphics
and a profile of no more than a few
paragraphs to tom@thehia.org,
or call 207-542-4998 for more information.
Space is limited and is first-come,
first-serve. Your member profile will be seen
in The HIA Member Newsletter, as
well as here in
The
Hemp News Update which is read by
thousands of subscribers.]
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| Hemp Food Week Highlights Seed's Versatility in Cooking |
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Biga Pizza chef and owner Bob Marshall.
Photo credit: Kurt Wilson/The Missoulian.
By Chelsi Moy
The
Missoulian
September 4, 2008
This little seed can be roasted, toasted,
fried, frozen, poured, stored and baked.
When it comes to hemp — and the seeds it
produces — the possibilities are endless. And
that's no hallucination.
This week, local Missoula business owners
tested the limits of hemp seeds in various
culinary delights, from hemp milk lattes to
pizza and breakfast muffins. Highlighting the
high-nutrition ingredient at local eateries
is all part of Hemp Food Week, an event
building up to this weekend's 13th annual
Hempfest at Caras Park.
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Gesco Network to Pioneer Biomass Field Trials of Hemp |
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By Ray Ryan
Irish
Examiner
September 4, 2008
The Green Energy Growers Association (GEGA) has
secured an exclusive agreement for Ireland
from the European Union-licensed National
Federation of Producers of Hemp (FNPC) in France.
The agreement enables GEGA, through its
associated Gesco Network, to provide farmers
and growers across Ireland access to a range
of industrial hemp varieties and technologies.
GEGA, based in Carrick-on-Suir, has also been
appointed as a representative for Ireland to
the EU Common Market Organisation for Flax
and Hemp. Hemp is one of the world's strongest
natural fibers. It has been used to make
cloth and rope for more than 10,000 years.
[More...]
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