Bulk Hemp Trials in Final Stages
Oct 20, 2008 News, Press Release
A company called Naturally Advanced Technologies (NAT) has been conducting bulk commercialization trials. The aim of these trials is to determine the potential for mass commercial use of industrial hemp, and the trials are expected to conclude in November. As the press release explains:
Naturally Advanced Technologies Inc., a pioneer in commercializing the use of bast fibers including industrial hemp for use in casual apparel, performance yarns, industrial filters and absorbent pulp and paper products, is conducting bulk commercialization trials with a leading U.S. apparel brand, and one of North America’s largest pulp and paper producers.
The results of these tests are expected to determine the next steps to bring its CRAILAR® Organic Fiber and Advanced Materials technology to market and are expected to be announced by the end of November.
“These trials are a significant milestone in our long-term strategy to commercialize the patented CRAILAR Technology Platform, which we developed in partnership with the National Research Council of Canada and the Alberta Research Council.”
“We are very excited to reach the final stages of the trials and look forward to discussing the results and our preliminary plans to apply this technology on a large commercial scale,” said Ken Barker, CEO of Naturally Advanced Technologies.
CRAILAR technology capitalizes on the superior natural properties of industrial hemp, such as greater tensile strength, thermo regulation properties, anti-microbial, and abrasion resistance.
If NAT can truly process hemp in a sustainable way, this could mean great things for both the hemp industry and the environment. After all, one of the things holding back the hemp industry is the lack of technology to process it en masse. Basically, hemp technology pretty much stopped being developed after the Marijuana Tax Act was passed in 1937. A new development that could springboard hemp production into mainstream commercial use at a rate that can meet modern market demands for textiles, then, could be an event of historical import. Of course, we’ll just have to wait an see.
Check out the original press release here.
Tags: apparel, bast fibers, hemp paper, industrial hemp, Naturally Advanced Technologies, pulp and paper, wood
Presedential Debate was on Hemp Ground
Oct 16, 2008 Facts
Last night’s presidential debate was the third and final didn’t attract as much attention as the previous did. As MarketWatch notes, ratings were down 8% from the last one. One aspect of the debate that went completely unnoticed, however, was the history of its locations.
Last night’s presidential debate was held at Hofstra University, which is located in Hempstead, New York, a town whose name isn’t all that incidental. As the Cannabis TV Vlog points out, this is:
where just a few generations ago, huge fields of Cannabis Hemp waved in the wind. Especially important during WW2, when the military contracted for hemp to make parachute webbing, rope and canvas, industrial hemp had been established as an essential crop in Hempstead since Colonial times.
Although the blog is focused more on marijuana than industrial hemp, the post carries on into an overview of all the ways in which industrial hemp can solve many of our economic and environmental problems, including some recent news items that are noteworthy. Cannabis TV also has a YouTube channel which might be of interest. Again, much of the content there is also more geared toward marijuana decriminalization rather than industrial hemp, but there are still a few clips worth viewing.
And here’s a map of Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York,and the surrounding area.
Tags: hempstead, industrial hemp, mccain, new york, obama, politics, presidential debate, WW II
Chinese Try Hemp in Tropical Climates
An Australian based firm, Hemp Resources, is preparing to harvest its first crop of industrial hemp grown in China. Although industrial hemp is already gown in China, the purpose of these trials is to determine how the plant copes in the country’s tropical regions. So far, the crop seems to be doing just fine. As The West Australian reports:
The Ord irrigation region has produced a variety of crops in its 45-year history, but few have attracted as much interest [...] as current trials of Chinese hemp.
Reaching 2m, the industrial crop was planted in June by Perth-based Hemp Resources to test its performance in the tropical region.
[...]
Hemp Resources got permission last year from the State Government to import 70 million hemp seeds from China and has begun trials in Kununurra and the South-West.
Mr [Kim] Hough [managing director] said the growth of the southern Chinese variety, known as Yunma Four, on a Department of Agriculture and Food site had been impressive.
The crop was due to be cut and the seed harvested in about two weeks. Depending on final results, more widespread plantings are planned in the region next year.
[...]
Industrial hemp crops are controlled under State legislation, with police and specially appointed inspectors able to enter and inspect properties, examine seed, plants or crops and remove them for testing.
Although industrial hemp is already grown in China, and valued for its food potential, it’s consumption is prohibited in Australia. Hemp resources, however, is lobbying to change Australian hemp laws.
Tags: australia, china, hemp resources, industrial hemp, tropical cultivation
New Hemp Variety Challenges Cottons
Researchers in the Netherlands have developed a new variety of hemp that they hope will challenge cotton’s stronghold over textiles. What’s interesting about this strain is that is supposedly contains absolutely no THC (the psycho-active compound in marijuana). Generally, industrial hemp contains less than 0.3% THC — not nearly enough to produce the psycho-active effects experiencde with marijuana, which contains about 5-15% THC or more.
These researchers, moreover, aren’t financially motivated. Rather, they’re out to help the environment. As Radio Netherlands reports:
[...] investigators from Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR) are extremely pleased with [their new] crop, as this new hemp variety may be able to break cotton’s monopoly position as the textile crop of choice.
[...]
The plant is doesn’t contain a single milligram of THC, the main psychoactive substance found in hashish and marijuana.According to the WUR researchers, the disadvantages of cotton production should mean that farmers the world over will be more than eager to seize on the hemp variety they have created. Dr Den Nijs explains:
“It takes an enormous amount of water to produce a cotton crop. Farmers have to use vast amounts of pesticides and herbicides to grow it. Basically, huge amounts of chemicals are necessary in order to produce a decent cotton crop. Hemp is entirely different; it can be grown in more marginal areas and needs very little in the way of pesticides or herbicides in order to produce a decent crop. Furthermore, it needs far, far less water than cotton”.
Dr Den Nijs’s comment is a prime example of scientific understatement: an acre of cotton needs 25 times more water than an acre of hemp.
These developments underscore the environmental potential of cultivating industrial hemp: it’s easier on the soil, and requires less water and not toxic chemicals. Hopefully a completely THC-free strain will help erode one more rhetorical point of contention that big industry has with switching crop.
In fact, in terms of some other practical advantages that hemp has over cotton, HempFarm.org claims:
- 1 acre of hemp will produce as much as 2-3 acres of cotton.
- Hemp is 4 times warmer than cotton, 4 times more water absorbent, has 3 times the tensile strength of cotton. It is also many times more durable and is flame retardant.
- Hemp breathes well and wicks moisture away from the body better than cotton.
Tags: cotton, industrial hemp, netherlands, research
.jpg)
