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Most experts agree that if hemp is not the potential savior of our society, it’s close. So why all the obstacles in its way?
There is one simple, easy fact about the future of hemp these days: Hemp is complicated.
It’s about relieving pain and getting to sleep, building homes, creating long-lasting textiles and limitless rope, making shoes, bioplastics, insulation, jewelry, biofuel, high protein powders, CBD and THC, veggie burgers, tea, coffee and a world of other drinks.
There is considerable evidence that hemp will ultimately not only be used to build homes, but to provide almost everything inside them, according to Debbie Custer of The Hemp Mill in Vinton, among others with considerable expertise. Henry Ford built an automobile body from hemp in 1941.
All of which sounds like a world-saver. But we haven’t yet gotten to the politics of it, of big pharma, political will, millions of dollars, laws that limit and … well … lots of controversy.
Hemp use dates in recorded history to 8,000 BC in China and Taiwan. Businesses dealing with hemp finally got the official blessing from the federal government in 2018 with the Farm Bill, removing it from the list of Schedule One controlled substances. Its cousin marijuana has recently been conditionally legalized in Virginia.
Susan Cromer, owner of Lily Hemp and a member of the Virginia Hemp Coalition’s board of directors, sees the brouhaha over Delta-8 as a distraction from the overwhelming value of hemp in our lives. It can, for example, replace wood and create recyclable, non-polluting plastic products. Many ordinary plastics contain potentially toxic chemicals, according to the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology. Hemp has medicinal value and it likely has many other uses not yet discovered.
(The Delta-8 distraction often blurs hemp’s extraordinary contributions to so many parts of our lives, so we’ve dealt with it in a separate story here.)
Sam Eakin, a big, bearded farmer who owns Jubilee Hemp, grows hemp in three counties. He began growing it three years ago on three acres of Craig County land. “That was a lot” of land to be dedicated to hemp at the time, he says. But he pointed to drag racing champion Matt Hagan’s 80-acre TruHarvest Farm near Christiansburg—which absorbed nearly $1 million in investment—as the role model for hemp farms.
“There’s a lot more work in doing it right than meets the eye,” Eakin says. “You have to concentrate on temperature and humidity control, and it’s all done by hand. We founded a small cottage niche, growing high-quality flowers,” which can be used for food, among other things.
“Problem is, you can hardly make a living on a small farm, and few in this area do. Hemp’s future is in industrial fiber, but the infrastructure is not there yet. Europe’s a couple of decades ahead of us in developing it. I mean, just look at the hemp clothing industry. Hemp is incredibly durable. I think it’s on the cusp of breaking loose as an industry, but it will take investment and vision. We’ll need mills and there is only one functioning mill in Virginia [in Elliston] and the fact is you can’t ship hemp and make a profit. You need more mills.”
Cromer insists that “you’ve gotta have both growers and processors” if the industry is to flourish. “We would like the THC limit for growers to be increased to one percent [from the current level of .3 percent] because meeting that low limit is difficult when growing. When processed into a product, the THC limit can be decreased to the legal limit.
“In an evolving industry such as hemp, new laws made to address products of concern need to be written so they don’t harm the accepted parts of the industry or historical uses of hemp.”
The new laws are structured to deal with Delta-8, she says, “to keep people out” of the process.” She agrees that the “industry needs regulation” but Delta-8 is “muddying the water” for those serious about hemp’s other potentials.
Want to learn more about the legislation updates on CBD and Hemp, as well as what more local businesses say about the matter? Read on in our latest issue now on newsstands or keep reading for FREE in our digital guide linked below!
The story above is a preview from our May/June 2022. For more stories, subscribe today or view our FREE digital edition. Thank you for supporting local journalism!