Hemp is Cannabis Sativa, a herbaceous annual plant from the family Cannabaceae, it takes many forms, from low THC industrial hemp to medicinal and recreational varieties, containing various concentrations of THC and other cannabiniods.
Hemp produces high quality fibre, seed, hurd/shiv, leaf and root used to manufacture a diverse range of end products. The crop grows between 1 to 6+ meters in a short growing season (90-120 days) producing 10 tonnes of Biomass per acre.
Hemp requires minimal agricultural inputs (pesticides, fungicides, herbicides) and grows well in well drained sandy loam soil. Successful farmers get best results when the soil has been well prepared, a suitable seeding rate is used and the harvesting is done well.
Hemp can be made into food, construction materials, paper, textiles, plastics, fuel and medicine.
Medicinal cannabis has become very popular around the world as people realise that it has cured people, reduced their symptoms and helped reduce pain and suffering for a huge range of health issues. In the US cannabis extracts and tinctures were one of the most prescribed medicines from 1842 to 1937 when hemp was prohibited as marijuana.
This prohibition immediately wiped out the hemp industry. The farmers could no longer grow a plant which was widely used as an industrial feed stock. This meant that paper now had to come from cutting down trees. fiber, cordage, textiles would be made by synthetic chemicals from fossil fuels, as would our plastics and fuel.
Thank you for visiting this page, if there is some more information you are interested in please email us richard@hemptatsic.co.nz
