Industrial Hemp is Rapidly Expanding in America In a time long forgotten, somewhere in a valley surrounded by mountains a seed sprouted. From the seed grew a tall, strong plant with wild-looking leaves and a peculiar scent. It must have caught the attention of humans and due to its special traits, it became one of the world’s first domesticated crops. It’s a fast-growing annual plant with distinct palmate leaves that produces stalks with strong fibers and a woody core, fragrant flowers coated with resin glands that produce a highly medicinal oil and nutritious oil-rich seeds. It’s story goes back farther than recorded history. Hemp is the name given to varieties of Cannabis Sativa plants that lack the intoxicating properties it’s notorious for, as well as for any products made from their material. As an extremely rare dioecious annual plant, it has both male and female plants each with the lifespan of just a single season. The species’ survival naturally depends on successful sexual reproduction by the end of every growing season. With male and female plants with different appearances that exhibit different traits, we have developed plenty of uses for its stalks, leaves, seeds and flowers. Evidence of cultivation of this plant is linked to some of the world’s first civilizations. How and why we first started growing this special plant are not completely known, but without hemp, the civilization we know today wouldn’t exist. For much of human history its strong durable fibers have been used to make paper, canvas, and rope. Hemp canvas sails and hemp ropes were used to power ships before engines had been invented, allowing for growth of the global trading network we rely on today. Before the oil industry provided fuel for farming equipment, hemp ropes guided plow animals to increase production on farms. As industry grew and replacements for typical hemp uses sprang up hemp production decreased. With the passage of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, rules restricting hemp production created an obstacle for farmers and the crop’s products were replaced by pollutive substitutes. Hemp’s Comeback In December 2018 the Hemp Farming Act of 2018 was included in an update to the United States Farm Bill. This change allowed farmers to grow hemp, as long as it contained less than 0.3% THC, the intoxicating compound commonly found in Cannabis. The change resulted in a rapid expansion of the CBD industry. Cannabidiol, or CBD is a therapeutic resin found on hemp flowers that’s used for many conditions including inflammation, anxiety, and seizures. CBD from hemp crops is extracted and used to create a wide range of products including tinctures, lotions, and gummies. Because of the dioecious annual nature of the plant, rapid progress was made in selective breeding programs and a large number of varieties or strains rich in CBD have been developed. With high profit margins and rapid growth in popularity, CBD is the most popular use for hemp right now, but this is just the beginning of hemp’s revival. Hemp is one of the world’s fastest growing crops and its growth removes large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere, sequestering carbon in the products made from the plant. This, along with the replacement of more pollutive products is helping the earth heal from decades of destructive policies. Hemp crops can be grown for seed, fiber, or CBD and each requires different cultivation techniques. As the industry matures and processing capacity increases we will see many new and innovative products created from American-grown hemp. Industrial Hemp will offer an eco-friendly option to replace many products responsible for polluting the earth, including plastic, fiberglass, steel, concrete, timber and cotton. Companies are already beginning to create new products using industrial hemp, and as America’s hemp industry expands so will the options. For anyone concerned for the health of the planet, Hemp is an obvious choice for the future.