Hemp’s Past, Present, and Future
Hemp has been grown for millennia, and our knowledge of its uses continues to increase.
Photo by: Shelby Ireland, @cannabeeecreative
In 1764, Frenchman M. Marcandier wrote A Treatise on Hemp. In Two Parts. The author recounts hemp’s history and its uses among the ancients and presents various methods of growing and utilizing it.
Nearly 300 years later, a great deal more is known about the cultivation and utility of hemp. With the introduction of the 2014 Farm Bill in the United States, it became legal to grow again and farmers were allowed to apply for permits for licensure and acreage.
Dormancy turned into development. And so we’ve learned a few things about hemp.
Hemp is well adapted to the temperate climate zone (Adesina et al., 2020). It requires similar inputs to corn and wheat (Kaiser et al., 2015). It has been found to improve subsequent yields of wheat and soy (Gorchs et al., 2017; Liu et al., 2012).
It even provides benefits to the soil through phytoremediation and can absorb 22 tons of CO2 per hectare (Adesina et al., 2020).
Perhaps the most advantageous aspect of hemp is its portfolio of potential uses. Hemp can be used in over 25,000 products in nine submarkets including agriculture, automotive, construction, cosmetics, food and drink, furniture, paper, recycling, and textiles (Johnson, 2018).
There are three main types of hemp grown today: hemp grown for grain, for fiber, and for CBD.
There is also the opportunity to use hemp waste as a resource. Stalks from hemp grown for CBD may not be suitable for fiber, but that does not mean they have to go to waste. Companies like Pollima, Restalk and Ecovative are making use of what is already in existence, bolstering the circular economy and keeping precious resources out of landfills.
Hemp currently faces some potential challenges. As Mark et al. (2020) puts it,
“Hemp is competing for acreage against
commodity and specialty crops
with established markets and
decades of agronomic research.”
It is no surprise, then, that an industry that is still rising from the haze of a half-century hiatus is experiencing growing pains.
Federal and state regulations add complexity to an already complex situation, and sourcing cultivars that produce high yields without exceeding the 0.3% dry weight THC limit adds another layer of difficulty for new growers.
Caveats for hemp include the need for seed standards at the state and federal levels (Mark et al., 2020), a better understanding of the plant’s most favorable planting conditions (Adesina et al., 2020), and reliable, transparent research and market information (Mark et al., 2020).
Deregulating production as well as increasing the THC limit to 1% would be welcome next steps for the hemp industry as this would increase overall accessibility and profitability. The next few years may see these changes come into fruition.
The environmental advantages of hemp presented by the literature, including carbon sequestration (Adesina et al., 2020; Jami & Kumar, 2017) as well its ability to withstand lower rainfall conditions, make hemp an advantageous crop to grow in the long run, and these advantages provide good reason for deregulating the extent of current restrictions surrounding hemp production.
credits.
Adesina, I., Bhowmik, A., Sharma, H., & Shahbazi, A. (2020). A Review on the current state of knowledge of growing conditions, agronomic soil health practices and utilities of hemp in the United States. Agriculture, 10(4), 129. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture10040129
Gorchs, G., Lloveras, J., Serrano, L., & Cela, S. (2017). Hemp Yields and Its Rotation Effects on Wheat under Rainfed Mediterranean Conditions. Agronomy Journal, 109(4), 1551–1560. https://doi.org/10.2134/agronj2016.11.0676
Jami, T, & Kumar, S. (2017). Assessment of carbon sequestration of hemp concrete. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.29338.95683
Johnson, R. (2018). Hemp as an agricultural commodity. Congressional Research Service.
Kaiser, C., Cassady, C., & Ernst, M. (2015). Industrial hemp production. University of Kentucky.
Liu, X., Li, Y., Han, B., Zhang, Q., Zhou, K., Zhang, X., & Hashemi, M. (2012). Yield response of continuous soybean to one-season crop disturbance in a previous continuous soybean field in Northeast China. Field Crops Research, 138, 52–56. doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2012.09.012
Marcandier, M. (1764). A treatise on hemp. In two parts. London.
Mark, T., Jonathan, S., Olson, D., Snell, W., Proper, S., & Thornsbury, S. (2020). Economic viability of industrial hemp in the United States: A review of state pilot programs. EIB-217, U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service.