About Hemp
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Hemp is an amazing plant, filled with natural cannabinoids, terpenes and healing oils. Its healing and medicinal qualities, as well as its practical properties were widely utilized by the Native Americans and early settlers. 100 years ago, hemp was an agricultural giant in the United States, providing seed, silage, oils and fiber for rope and fabric. Indeed, much early made paper was made from hemp. In the 1937, hemp was declared illegal in the Marijuana Tax Act, which grouped marijuana and hemp together, declaring it would lower moral values. The growing of hemp and production of products derived from hemp became illegal in the United States, though much of the rest of the world continued to farm this wonderful plant.
Congress finally passed the 2018 Farm Bill, a bi-partisan effort that legalized the growing of hemp in the United States and most states, cautiously and with serious regulations and restrictions, allowing their farmers to begin growing the crop. The 2018 Farm Bill mandates the legal level of THC to be less than .3%. This is an arbitrarily low number which requires farmers to carefully balance the growing season with the harvest, attempting to maximize the cannabinoids (CBD) in the plant, while keeping the THC levels below the magic threshold of .3%. Farmers must have their pre-harvest hemp plants lab tested by the state as proof that the THC has not gone “hot.” If THC levels test above .3%, the field must be destroyed under the watchful eye of the state inspector.
Hemp’s official name is Cannabis Sativa and is a close relative of Cannabis Indica, commonly known as Marijuana. Marijuana plants commonly contain levels of the psychedelic THC above 5 % (greater than 12% is considered very high), and CBD levels of 1% - 4%, Hemp’s THC and CBD levels are much, much less.
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Hemp is good for the environment. It requires about the same amount of water as a crop of corn but most importantly, hemp is a carbon dioxide reducing plant, drawing C02 from the air for use in photosynthesis. Hemp is indigenous to North America and grows easily and freely, with few known pests, so the use of pesticides is minimal to none. It is a truly sustainable crop, producing seeds, oils, smokable flower and fiber for rope and fabric and other materials for silage and animal feed. Once dried and processed, the remaining biomass can be used as farm animal food or bedding. Nothing in this amazing plant is wasted.