Last of two parts
Marc Gunther continues his article in The Guardian regarding the beneficial uses of hemp.
“Hemp can build cars, homes, food, textiles and more,” Rob Jungmann said. “[It’s] as American as apple pie.” The Jungmann shirts are made from hemp, he said.
“The Agricultural Act of 2014, or more commonly known as the Farm Bill, did open a few doors: Namely, allowing states to experiment with hemp for research purposes. Plus it defined industrial hemp as having less than 0.3% of THC, compared to marijuana, which has 10%-30%.
“Still, hemp is different from other crops such as cotton, wheat, and soy, because farmers are required to get approval from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) before they sow the seeds. No other agricultural product has that stipulation to overcome.
“In a new short film produced by Patagonia, Harvesting Liberty, Michael Lewis, a veteran and hemp-grower in Kentucky, shares his encounter with the DEA. In 2014, after the passage of the Farm Bill, Lewis was keen to plant hemp in Kentucky. “[But] the DEA didn’t agree that we had a right to plant the crop. They said they would arrest us,” he said in the film. The matter ended up in the Louisville court, where a judge sided with the farmers. “[We] took our seeds up, got them registered and certified, and threw them into the ground before anyone could change their mind,” Lewis said.
“Lewis is the director of Growing Warriors, a project devoted to helping the country’s veterans find livelihoods in sustainable agriculture. Hemp is one of their flagship products; in fact, in 2014, Growing Warriors was the first group of private citizens to grow hemp on U.S. soil in 70 years.
“‘When you think about the type of industry that typically takes place in central Appalachia, you’re looking at coal and manufacturing,’ Lewis said.
“And those are very extractive industries. They pull things out without giving back. Industrial hemp is a more community-building industry.’
“Hemp allows farmers to build a livelihood from a crop that’s both good for the environment and the growers themselves. Hemp puts back nitrogen into the soil. Cotton, on the other hand, can deplete the land’s nutrients, especially if not rotated with other crops. Unlike cotton which produces shorter fibers, hemp, though brittle when dry, thrives when it’s wet, explained Derek Thomas, co-founder of Hemp Blue, an LA-based startup producing hemp-based jeans, jackets, and shirts. The long, wet fibers don’t break, but actually grow in strength, he said. Hemp’s longer, wet fibers have greater durability than cotton, which has short fibers that need to be spun and woven.
“‘Plus, hemp takes less water and produces more plants per acre,’ added Jungmann, which is why he’s an advocate of hemp in California, where cotton farming has historically flourished. Due to the drought, cotton farmers have been struggling to maintain yields. Jungmann sees hemp as a solution for California’s parched soil.
‘”However, even if federal regulations allow California to grow industrial hemp in abundance, there’s still another massive challenge facing the hemp fiber industry in the U.S. – infrastructure.
“Hemp is significantly more expensive than cotton,’ said Thomas. ‘That’s largely because the hemp supply chain is encumbered with setbacks. We just don’t have the machinery here in the U.S. to produce the hemp textiles.’
“People like Rebecca Burgess want to change that. As the founder of the Fibershed Project, she specializes in connecting farmers to weavers and designers to produce regional fabrics.
‘“Fibershed has connected Lewis to sheep farms that help him blend hemp and wool together to produce a soft, viable textile that can then be taken straight to designers. The aim of the project is to ‘inspire economic development for regionally produced cloth,’ said Burgess.
“Lewis has even built his own machine to process the hemp. Using a Patagonia grant, he created a piece of equipment called a ‘break,’ which incorporates design details borrowed from early European flax roller breaks. Lewis’ invention is a one-of-a-kind machine. It works by separating the hemp’s woody core from the fibers which are used in textiles. According to Lewis, the highest quantity of finished hemp fiber processed in a day using the machine is around 60 pounds, which means about 600 pounds of raw material. A newer version of the break, which Lewis is currently working on, will have a capacity to produce about 2,000 pounds per day of raw material.
“Jungmann and Thomas aren’t the only ones relying on China for their hemp supply. Today, Patagonia carries about two dozen products in hemp. Most are mixed with other materials, namely organic cotton. Jill Dumain, director of environmental strategy at Patagonia, developed the first hemp supply chain for the outdoor brand in the 1990s. She recalls trying to find suppliers of hemp fabrics in the U.S. and getting frustrated because most of these suppliers were more interested in legalizing marijuana, rather than industrial hemp for fashion. When she requested cost estimates for fabric, she would get price sheets for puny quantities: Five to 10 yards.
“‘But things really change when the purchasing power of America gets behind it,’ Thomas said. ‘And that’s what has to happen with hemp. That’s why I started this company – to give people the option of buying a pair of hemp jeans,'” Gunther’s Thomas said in a report.