INDIANAPOLIS— Hoosier farmers facing declining profits and the
financial uncertainties of the United States’ ongoing trade war with
China won a chance to cash in on a new crop this month.
After
years of legislative waffling, Gov. Eric Holcomb signed Senate Bill 516 into law,
allowing Indiana farmers to grow hemp, the non-THC containing cousin of
marijuana.
The decision comes after Congress passed the 2018 farm
bill, which had a provision removing industrial hemp from the
Controlled Substances Act, thereby enabling states to legalize growing
and selling hemp for fiber and CBD oil production.
The
USDA cites an abundance of uses for the fibrous crop. Medical and food
oils can be derived from the seeds, and hemp fibers can be used to make
clothing and paper, as well as offering a renewable replacement source
for wood and plastic.
Cultivation of industrial hemp currently
brings about $100 to $300 more per acre compared to corn and soybeans,
according to the Purdue Hemp Project.
While
hemp is not expected to replace those Hoosier-staple crops, it gives
farmers an alternative for diversified planting and to shield profits
from droughts and market fluctuations.
“It really is going to have
an enormous impact nationally and in Indiana, as well,” Jonathan
Miller, general counsel to the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, wrote in a press
release.
The legalization of hemp can be a win for farmers and environmentalists alike.
Hemp
thrives in a variety of climates and soil types and is naturally
resistant to most pests. Because the crop can be sewn without much space
between plants, hemp fields are not susceptible to weed invasion.
And, as a natural substitute for cotton and wood fiber, hemp can be turned to pulp using fewer chemicals than wood.
Because
of its high biomass, long root structure and height, hemp absorbs more
carbon dioxide (CO2) than it produces as it grows, according to a study
of the plant’s environmental effects by the Virginia Industrial Hemp
Coalition.
After the plants are harvested, farmers can char the
leftover roots and stalks, then mix them into the fields to put the CO2
the plant pulled from the air back into the ground.
“Hemp
is one of the highest yielding biomass crops on the planet, and it
takes far less water and fertilizer to grow than other high-yielding
biomass plants,” according to the report’s author, Sam Johnston.
As
a quick-growing replacement for wood, hemp could slow deforestation by
reducing the harvest of trees for the production of paper and other
wood-pulp products.
Resin derived from the oil and fibers of the
hemp plant can also be used in the production of plastics while
retaining the plant’s carbon-sequestering benefits.
As more states
legalize the crop, experts predict a 10-fold increase in the already
budding hemp market, which in 2017 was about $1 billion, according to
research by the Hemp Business Journal. The U.S. is the largest consumer
market for hemp products in the world.
Justin Swanson, a board
member of the Indiana Hemp Industries Association, expects farmers to
jump at the opportunity to grow the plant.
“I think you’re going
to see close to 3,000 acres licensed to grow in Indiana outdoor this
year,” Swanson said. “The trend in Kentucky was they licensed a lot more
acres than were actually grown.”