Pubdate: Thu, 23 Jul 2015
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)
Copyright: 2015 Star Advertiser
Contact: 
http://www.staradvertiser.com/info/Star-Advertiser_Letter_to_the_Editor.html
Website: http://www.staradvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5154
Author: Gary T. Kubota

UH'S HEMP READY FOR HARVEST

Advocates See the Plant As a Potential Commodity for the State

University of Hawaii researchers are poised to start their first 
harvest of industrial hemp in Waimanalo, while crop advocates explore 
opportunities to tap into the multimillion-dollar demand for the 
plant's products in the United States.

Advocates estimate some $600 million in hemp is imported into the 
U.S. annually.

"Our small little plot is the beginning of what I believe will be a 
major agricultural crop for Hawaii," said state Rep. Cynthia Thielen 
(R, Kailua-Kaneohe). "These plants are amazing."

Researchers are expected to initiate the plot's first harvest on Thursday.

Thielen, a leader in promoting hemp farming as an agricultural 
mainstay, said industrial hemp has thousands of uses, ranging from 
health products to fuel sources.

One of the major firms looking at hemp as a potential commodity is 
Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co., with 36,000 acres under cultivation 
on Maui. Biologist Harry Ako, the chief scientist involved in the 
cultivation at Waimanalo, said the sugar company is looking at 
growing hemp for hemp seeds and as a building material to make blocks 
called "hempcrete."

Hempcrete is made by combining the hemp fibers and lime in a mold. 
Ako said hempcrete is termite-resistant and provides better 
ventilation than various other building materials.

Ako, a retired University of Hawaii biochemist, said as part of the 
project, those involved in the hemp project in Waimanalo plan to make 
samples of hempcrete.

Three varieties of hemp were planted on less than a quarter acre of 
land in Waimanalo: subtropical hemp, which grew to almost 10 feet in 
15 weeks; seed hemp that topped out at 3 to 4 feet, with half of the 
plants bearing seeds; and a third crop from Italy that grew to 1 feet 
to 2 feet before flowering and dying.

Noting Hawaii already grows corn and soybean seed that's sold 
worldwide, Ako said hemp could be an additional crop. "There's a lot 
of interest," he said.

Although hemp is part of the cannabis sativa plant species along with 
marijuana, it contains a small fraction of the amount of 
tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, needed to get a user high. But in 1957 
the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration began interpreting the 
Controlled Substances Act to include prevention of industrial hemp growing.

The university project took shape when Hawaii's Legislature passed 
Act 56 after the federal Farm Act in 2014 allowed industrial hemp to 
be grown as a state or university initiative.

The National Conference of State Legislatures said 13 states, 
including California, Oregon and Colorado, have statutes establishing 
commercial industrial hemp programs.

Thielen said researchers had had difficulty getting authorization 
from the DEA to get hemp seeds.

Thielen said she will be meeting with members of Congress, as well as 
the assistant secretary of agriculture in Washington, D.C., to talk 
about passing national legislation to accelerate the farming of 
industrial hemp.

The DEA in Honolulu was unavailable for comment.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom