Ahhh what could have been ... its too bad vested interests saw this too and acted before it cut in on their profits.
I'm all for hemp production. It will reduce the potency of any marijuana crop it's grown close to. That said, hemp is overrated. In the 18th century, I'd be all for it. Why? It's a generalist crop. There are a lot of things you can do with it. In the 21st century, it's not so good. There are crops that will do anything hemp does, but more efficiently. As the old saying goes, Jack of all trades, master of none.
Can you record media onto hemp, somehow? As a liberal, I feel guilty about renting out movies all day when they're printed on petroleum.
I dont see what crop your reffering too. It out performs cotton in water consumtion, need for pesticides, soil depletion and production per acre Out performs wood 10 fold on cellulouse, and paper, building material and doesnt rely on deforestation to obtain raw material. Hemp seed is the most complete plant protien source known to man. Tops soyprotien and tops flaxseed for omega fatty acids. is a great and cheap source of livestock feed. Hemp resin can be made in a multitude of chemicals ranging from explosives to plastics and soaps. Name a single plant that can do all that and still be beneficial to crop rotation and soil restoration.
Yes Hemp resin can be made into plastic.. although i have no idea if it can be made into such a specialized plastic as Media grade.. i wouldnt see why it couldnt though.. polymers are polymers.. if you can seperate them and reformulate them to suit demands of apllication..i dont think it matter where you get them from.
Only if you are intensively cultivating--i.e. want to plant/harvest 3 times a year. With trees, you only have to plant/harvest once. (Talking southern pine tree farms). Production by hemp is only about 2 times that of southern pine tree farms. If you want to go to intensive agriculture, kenaf is a better fiber source than hemp--outproduces hemp by 2 to 1. Actually, there are quite a few complete plant protein sources: amaranth, buckwheat, soybeans, quinoa, and spirulina. Hempseed isn't even the best of those--soybean is much better. Hempseed has a PDCAAS of about .60. Soybean about .9. (Animal protein 1.0 ) Inferior to soy protein in protein. No single plant can do all that. Different plants can do all of those better. I never said hemp wasn't good, the thing is, there is usually a better choice.
Hemp does what all those plants do and lots of things those plants cant. All those plants require more resources.. land water... pesticides. Hemp is a better choice to all those things from an economical to enviromental standpoint.
Comparing tree out put for paper to hemp is a losing proposition from processing to acre production.. no contest.. hemp produces at 4 times the rate of trees.. with much less enviromental impact.. with a much higher quality end product that can be recycled more easily and more times.
you're not just blowing smoke? I can think of more puns on this subject than I can count, but some law and order freak might get his nose out of joint and the discussion would rapidly go to pot.
You're basing that on 1916 data. Haven't looked it up in a while, but southern pine tree farms of the 21st century produce a lot more than they did in 1916. You also forget the vast difference in labor. Over 10 yrs (about the period a tree farm needs), you plant the trees once, and harvest them once. That would be 30 crops of hemp. If you can't harvest the hemp in time, it's ruined. If you can't harvest a tree on schedule, it just produces more. If hemp were as good as you say, the countries in which hemp has always been legal (France for example) would be producing and selling it hand over fist. Hemp is exaggerated dreams of pot smokers, for the most part. It's a great generalist product, it's just not the best at anything.
I'm all for legalizing industrial hemp, although I don't think it is a good crop. The pot farmers won't like it, though. It reduces the THC in marijuana when it cross-pollinates.
I've been screaming it for years. Illegalizing hemp was all about $$$ influence and political enrichers getting over on the public for profit. Alcohol ran all our engines, clean and cheap, prior to prohibition. Well, remove alcohol and replace it with petroleum, forever! Lot's of $$$ for very few. Run propoganda thru our minds that hemp = marijuana = POTHEADS = BE VERY AFRAID! Same with timber vs hemp. Hemp is the devil to us all, and timber interests become huge $$$ for a very few. Hemp can do almost anything. It can make a friggin tank!, or the most comfortable tissue/clothes you've ever felt. And cheap. Haiti would be thriving right now and forevermore instead of continuing decades of swallor. Any State in the Union could become highly self sustainable financially with hemp. But they won't even hear about it. Is it at all curious as to why hemp is still demonized? No, we know exactly why. Do you really think we smokers will allow that? A thousand years of proof say's you are wrong. And I see it detailed a bit for you below, stop arguing. +1
With the hippies on this one... well... them and the founding farmers. Amazing plant. George Washington loved it. Wrote about it in his farm journal. "September 25, 1765: Hempseed seems to be in good order for getting, that is of a proper ripeness, but oblige to desist to pull my fodder." Wonder why it was difficult to resist? Wonder what he thought the pungent smell of the bud had to do with the fibral structure. Why when fully grown and stinking you let it go for a few more weeks. I wonder why the third continental congress deemed that it never be deemed contraband twice... once under ship building materials, and once along with alcohol, tobacco, rice... "and in general all provisions which serve for the nourishment of mankind and the sustenance of life" Love to field any suggestions from my conservative friends.
This is a tricky one. I have a feeling though that if we made it legal there would be a horde of potheads ready to buy the living daylights out of it. Personally I'm divided on this issue. First, there is the whole thing about how hemp is good at making stuff. I know that hemp paper is even better than cotton paper, one of the most durable papers out there. However there is the threat of stoners heading out to the Davis farm to go get some of that sweet "hemp". You mentioned how Wisconsin has fields ripe for the growing of that sweet, totally groovy hemp. You think Madison, WI is wacky now, wait 'til they get their hands on the hemp outside the city! YOW-ZA!
