COMONDI

The following information is provided by Ecolution. Please visit them for more information at www.ecolution.com.

The Many Benefits of Hemp Agriculture

Hemp is the most environmentally positive crop, improving soil quality as it grows. It requires no herbicides and is naturally resistant to insects, fungus, and other pests. Hemp grows rapidly during its vegetative period, becoming tall and thick. It suppresses weeds, and shades and mulches the ground, which its deep taproots break up and aerate. These attributes promote healthy microbial soil life and leave the earth in a condition where it is easily worked and able to retain moisture during the next growing season.

Requirements of Hemp Agriculture

Hemp is so gentle on the land that it can be grown year after year in the same location, although this is not the most ecological option and is not permitted by many organic certification bodies. It is best for fiber hemp to be cultivated in rotation with cereal crops and legumes. In fact, cereal crops will yield an extra 15-25% when cultivated after fiber hemp, because hemp eliminates competing weeds and improves the health of the soil. Crop rotation with hemp works well, since the ground is usually available for other crops by the middle of August. Legumes such as soybeans are the best preceding crop, because they add to the soil a lot of nitrogen, the basic building block of plant growth. Nitrogen is a crucial nutrient for hemp production, since hemp reaches a height of 10 to 12 feet during its short growing season of less than five months. Supplying sufficient nitrogen is a big challenge with organic hemp agriculture, and the use of artificial chemical fertilizers is prohibited in organic agriculture. This requirement of nitrogen can be resolved with proper cover cropping, rotation, and, if needed, the addition of manure.

Cotton's Superior Alternative

Hemp provides an ecological alternative to environmentally destructive standard cotton cultivation. Cotton is one of the most environmentally destructive agricultural crops, annually using over 275 million pounds of pesticides in the US alone. This is in addition to massive quantities of fertilizers, defoliants, growth regulators, and general biocides such as methyl bromide. Cotton production requires an immense amount of water, which depletes this resource and can cause salts to build up in the soil, while hemp needs no irrigation at all. Also the wide spacing between cotton plants allows the bare soils to bake and oxidize, releasing carbon to the atmosphere and decreasing soil fertility.

Fossil Fuel Alternative

Hemp can reduce our use of synthetic textile fibers. Synthetic textile fibers are not biodegradable, generate pollution in their production, and are made from non-renewable petroleum. Hemp can also help us shift to a carbohydrate-based sustainable economy, because it is the largest biomass producer of any agricultural crop. This has tremendous potential for any biomass energy generation system and as a feedstock for bio-plastics, which are fully biodegradable and do not contaminate the soil after decomposition or emit harmful gasses if incinerated.

Deforestation Alternative

Hemp can be processed into construction materials and paper products of excellent strength and quality, easing some of the unsustainable burden placed on our forests. An acre of hemp actually produces more than four times as much pulp for paper making than an acre of trees when figured on an annual basis. Additionally hemp requires no bleach in processing, due to its low lignin content, and there is no dioxin produced from its manufacture.