Grange backs hemp

'Bill Is Good For Farmers, Economy'

Pioneer Press

Fort Jones , CA

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Page W1, Column 2

SACRAMENTO - To many Californians, including some in the Legislature and Governor's office, the word hemp is a synonym for dope and drugs. They don't realize industrial hemp has little THC, the resins which make recreational and medicinal drugs from Marijuana plants.  This misunderstanding has created a multi-million dollar problem for California 's farmers.

According to Agri-Food Canada , hundreds of millions of dollars worth of industrial hemp product is exported into the United States annually. California 's share of that market is zero. The California State Grange, established as an agricultural organization in 1873, wants to change that by pushing enactment of  AB 684, the bi-partisan Assembly bill written by Mark Leno (D) and Chuck DeVore (R). The bill would legalize industrial hemp crops in California and allow the state's farmers to compete with countries like Canada , China , France and Germany in producing this crop.  The bill is in the Senate Agriculture committee for hearing on June 19, and the Grange will be advocating its passage in the Legislature, and its signature into law by the Governor.

Industrial hemp was grown in California at the time the Grange was established. In fact, hemp cultivation for food and fiber has been around since the Stone Age, traces of the fiber being found in pottery shards in China over 10,000 years old. Hemp fiber is used to make cloth, shoes, ropes and paper. Thomas Jefferson drafted the United States Declaration of Independence on hemp paper. Hemp was used extensively by the United States during World War II to make uniforms, canvas and rope.

In 2006, industrial hemp was one of Canada 's more profitable crops. In America , pro-hemp laws have been passed in a dozen states, but the DEA delayed application of those laws until a legal distinction was made between industrial hemp and Marijuana. 

Hemp is widely promoted as a crop of the future, stimulated by technologies which make hemp suitable as a bio-crop, and hemp derivatives as replacement for petrochemical products.

Hemp foods boast of Omega fatty acids surpassing those found in fish, a diminishing resource. Hemp crops can give renewed life to areas that once depended on forest products.

The Grange claims it is unfair to California farmers and citizens that the state's farmers are not given the right to compete in this market. 

"Our farmers are not looking for handouts or buyouts," states Mike Greene, Legislative Chairman of the California State Grange.  "We are simply asking for the right to compete in this market, to restore farming as a business that will provide a living for us and our families."

Last year, a similar bill written by Leno and DeVore (AB 1147) passed the Legislature only to be vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger.  Should the bill reach his desk, the Grange asks the Governor to listen to farmers and consumers and sign AB684.

"Enactment of AB684 would open the growing US market for hemp products to California farmers, generating new on-farm revenues, and new off-farm industries, creating both employment and tax revenue for the State," declared Randall Lewis, President of the California State Grange.

Since 1873 the California State Grange has championed the interests of farmers, ranchers, and rural Americans.

The Grange stresses community service, and its youth programs are open to all, urban and rural alike. There are over 185 chapters across the state.  For more information contact the California State Grange at (916) 454-5805.

(Permission to post from the publisher.)