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Connecticut Studying Whether Hemp Can Be A New Cash Crop
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In Simsbury, CT there’s a farmer who would like to “throw some hemp seed in the ground and see how it grows.”
A Bolton entrepreneur thinks hemp pellets could be used in stoves, and a University of Connecticut scientist is convinced that hemp seed and oil used for nutritional additives could become a high-profit crop.
Unfortunately for them, it’s illegal to grow hemp — a close but non-intoxicating relative of marijuana — in Connecticut unless you obtain special permission from federal drug authorities.
That may be about to change. Three state agencies are now studying the prospects for growing hemp in Connecticut. They plan to offer recommendations for licensing and regulating hemp growers to the legislature in January.
“I think it’s got to become part of our agricultural economy again,” said Nevin Christensen, the Simsbury farmer who would like to experiment with growing hemp on his family’s 45 acres. “It has so many uses. … We never should have banned it.”
“It is a concept in these economic times that we ought to be looking at,” said state Rep. Melissa Ziobron, R-East Haddam, who has proposed that Connecticut consider allowing cultivation of industrial hemp.
By some estimates, there are more than 25,000 different uses for industrial hemp. The list includes shoes, canvas, automotive products, clothing, furniture, paper, construction materials, lightweight insulation and food products, according to a study published in June by the Congressional Research Service.
The state studies, by the departments of Agriculture, Consumer Protection and Economic Development, is the result of a bill Ziobron authored that was approved in the last legislative session. Connecticut is now one of 19 states researching hemp production or considering pilot hemp projects.
Source: http://truthisscary.com/2015/01/connecticut-studying-whether-hemp-can-be-a-new-cash-crop/
