Hemp: A historical crop making a modern comeback

• Hi, my name is Katelyn Kesheimer, and I’m an extension entomologist with Auburn University and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. Today’s webinar, however, as much as I’d like to, I’m not even going to mention insects, but rather focus on some background history of hemp and how its uses have changed over thousands of years. And this is really part of an effort to put out some more information on this seemingly new crop that’s been around since the beginning of agriculture, but is still really misunderstood, both on a basic level of what the plant is, how it fits into other plant taxonomy, what’s it’s used for, and also on a deeper research-based level of how do we grow this crop the best way it can be grown, especially here in Alabama? So for some brief background, over the last four years is where we really see this explosion of hemp production in the United States. And this has included increases in the number of growers approved to grow hemp, both in Alabama and in the US, the number of acres that are in hemp production currently, and then also the number of states that have legalized hemp production those few years. For example, in 2016, where these two graphs shown here start, there were only 15 states that had legalized hemp production.

01:23 - By 2019, however, that number has increased to 46 states with almost all the states in the US approving legalized hemp production. If we look at these graphs here, starting at 2016 through 2020, we see the biggest increase from 2018 to 2019. And this was a direct result of the Farm Bill from 2018 that reclassified hemp as an agricultural commodity rather than a schedule one drug. There were, however, a few other major milestones along the way that led up to this point. A few court rulings in addition to the 2014 Farm Bill that really got us where we are today.

02:10 - So I’d like to cover a very, very brief history and then a snapshot of what it looks like today here in Alabama. If you’ve driven around at all the past couple years, it’s likely that you’ve seen some sort of advertisement for hemp-based products, or seen hemp-based products in stores. They’ve really entered the wellness market with a bang over the last few years and aren’t showing any signs of letting up. You’ll even see household names like Martha Stewart and Rob Gronkowski that have their own line of CBD products. So some of them are shown here. CBD oil, ones that are claiming to help you with pain relief, or sleeping, or anxiety.

02:58 - However, it’s important to note that while there’s many different CBD products out there that make a lot of lofty claims regarding its medicinal properties for things I mentioned, including arthritis, or anxiety, or as an anti-aging product, the majority of these products are not, in fact, approved by the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA. They have not approved any CBD-based products in food or drink. Additionally, the FDA has found that many of the products on the market today do not actually contain the amounts of CBD that they do claim to have, or they make untrue claims about the benefits of their product. And as far as I know, currently, the FDA has only approved one prescription CBD oil for some forms of epilepsy, but that is it right now. So while we do see these billboards and these storefront signs for the CBD and wellness-associated products really everywhere these days, the interesting part about this plant is that it can be used for so many different things.

04:05 - It’s been called the plant with 25,000 uses, which does not actually like that extreme of an exaggeration when you look at this chart and all the things we can use hemp for. The first thing to note is that hemp, one species of plant, cannabis sativa, that low-THC varieties of hemp, they can be grown a variety of different ways for all these different end products. We can grow it for fiber, or grain, or for that CBD, those essential oils. So fiber hemp can include building materials, hempcrete, you can make entire houses out of hemp, clothes, rope, netting, animal bedding, even garden mulch. And so there’s a lot of variety in both the fiber hemp and the products that come out of that.

05:01 - Additionally, it can be used, the seeds are both animal and human food. For things like beer and granola. You may have seen hemp granola has made its way into local grocery stores. It can be made into flour for baked goods and the seeds can be cold-pressed and their oil used for skin care products, dietary supplements, or fuel even. And the hemp seed oil is marketed as having anti-inflammatory properties and being a superior moisturizer to any other products on the market today. So its marketed as having all these fantastic qualities in addition to all the uses.

05:44 - The hemp seeds themselves, when we’re talking about the hemp seeds and oil, they don’t contain any CBD or THC. And this in direct contrast to the hemp that is grown for the floral material, the CBD essential oils. And this is gonna be extracted from only female plants and then processed in a couple different ways depending on what type of end product. And, again, these are the ones that are associated more with wellness. And it’s because this plant is so versatile, that we see it being grown as early as about 10,000 years ago in mainland China and Taiwan.

06:23 - So in addition to those other very early crops that we think about at the beginning of agriculture thousands of years ago, so barley, or wheat, we really need to include hemp in that conversation because we do have records from thousands of years ago. And after its first record, we see it slowly move across continents and make its way to the Americas. The first record we have is in the 16th century in South America and the 17th century in North America, although there is evidence to suggest that hemp was already being grown by the Native Americans before the European settlers arrived. And by the 19th century, about 1850’s, is when Kentucky really becomes the center of US production for hemp. This plant was widespread across the entire world and commonly used.

07:21 - It’s especially adapted where strength is required. So this can be seen in a lot of the materials for ships. Lots of cordage, fabric sails, and other products that were all made from hemp were used on ships. And it’s in a similar way that we have some of those other natural fibers like cotton that can produce a variety of products. So in addition to these everyday practical use products like paper and clothes and yarn, it was also used for its medicinal or wellness qualities the same way that we see it being used now.

07:56 - It was noted for the calming influence on the mind in addition to bodily improvement. So if you wanted to increase your fertility, or grow your hair our longer or faster, you could take some hemp products. We also have reports of hemp being used in marriage ceremonies to invoke good spirits, or to drive away evil spirits. And so very early on, we see that this one plant has a huge variety of uses, all the way from things you write on to driving away evil spirits. So if we fast-forward to the 1900’s, and so, again, I said this was gonna be a really brief history, and so we’re covering a lot of ground in a very short time.

08:39 - So by the 1900’s, the United States is using and producing a lot of hemp, although they do import a lot of hemp. And Kentucky has maintained its status as the center of US hemp production, producing 75% of the American fiber crop. California and Nebraska were also big hubs. It’s around this time that we really see how much hemp has made its way into pop culture and also they’re really realizing how many uses there are. And so it’s around the 1930’s that we really see this billion dollar crop.

09:24 - It can be used for 25 to a thousand different things. It’s gonna produce jobs, reduce the number of imports we have, a reliance on other countries. And so there was really high hopes for this crop around the mid-1930’s. However, around that same time that people are really realizing the full potential for hemp, there is this active effort to get hemp production banned in the United States. There were some earlier plans before the 1930’s that had tried to write some anti-hemp legislation, but they were unsuccessful.

09:57 - And so that’s where we end up with the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, and I could do an entire webinar on this one piece of legislation. But what it comes down to is it includes some clunky phrasing that legally included hemp along with marijuana, but did not explicitly state so. And around that time, marijuana wasn’t a common name so there was a lot of confusion about what this act did. And it also followed a few other laws throughout history where it wasn’t really a ban on producing the crop, but it made it so cumbersome for producers that it wasn’t worth their time or effort, or even economically feasible to grow this crop. However, shortly after that, we entered World War II, and it became difficult to continue that importation of fibers.

10:55 - And I mentioned earlier that a lot of those hemp products were used on ships, and so we really needed hemp for both the Army and Navy in wartime. So the US government produced a film called “Hemp for Victory” that encouraged growers to grow hemp. They had this video that explained all the uses, how to grow it, and to encourage farmers. All the restrictions from the Marijuana Tax Act were temporarily lifted. And so it became a lot easier to grow this crop and work around their restrictions.

11:29 - However, as soon as the war ended, and we were able to continue on with hemp imports, the taxes were immediately reinstated. And to further discourage growers from growing any hemp, feral hemp, and so any wild hemp that was still around, that was still growing, was killed with the herbicide 2,4-D. And so large amounts of 2,4-D went out. And honestly, likely harmed the environment more than anything because of the indiscriminate, widespread spray. So even though the Hemp for Victory project was successful in growing more than 150,000 acres, we saw hemp production decline immediately after the war with the last legal crop grown shortly thereafter. And then any hope of growing it soon was squashed with the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 that classified hemp as an illegal schedule one drug.

12:23 - Even though it was illegal to grow, and remained that way for a couple decades, there was still interest in products that could be made from hemp. And so about 30 years ago is when we start importing both hemp seed and hemp seed oil. And this market was further expanded with a major court ruling in 2004. This ruling stated that hemp for food and body care products, like shampoo or lotions, cannot be regulated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA, because they only contain trace amounts of both THC and CBD. And so without that enforcement and those strict regulations, this really opened up the market for a lot of the different products that you see today.

13:10 - But why this big increase in hemp production I mentioned earlier? So without going into too much detail, again, we could cover Farm Bills in a whole other webinar, the most recent Farm Bills of both 2014 and 2018, removed hemp as a schedule one drug and reclassified it as an agricultural commodity. And this really opened the door for production levels that haven’t seen in decades. However, with the lack of experience and equipment for some types of hemp, like the fiber and grain, paired with this modern wellness trend, you see the majority of hemp grown in the US and in Alabama is for its floral materials and essential oils. When we focus on just the crop in Alabama, we see that it’s on par with hemp grown around the country. According to some surveys the Alabama Cooperative Extension System conducted in 2019 and early 2020, just over 80% of the state, of hemp in the state, is being grown for CBD.

14:16 - The other interesting thing about Alabama hemp is the diversity of varieties grown. We surveyed growers over the last year to get an idea of what varieties were around the state. And you can see this list here. There’s a few common ones like cherry wine and BaOx, but beyond those, most of them fell into this other category. And I’ve listed a few of those here. And this is because we have this new market bringing lots of new companies that have their own hybrids. And so there’s a big diversity of plant material and hybrids out there.

14:53 - And what we run into here in Alabama, we’re only in our second legal growing season, and when a lot of these genetics are coming from other parts of the country or other parts the world, we don’t know how they’re going to perform here in the Southeast with our unique climate here. So this plant has so many uses. It can provide a diversity of products. Why are we not seeing everyone growing it and haven’t been growing it for such a long time? Well, the main issue comes down to a lack of research-based information, but also local research-based information. We don’t have a long history of research trials, or variety trials in different climates to understand the agronomics of this plant. And that makes it difficult, especially when it comes to pest management or varietal selection. Growers in Alabama last year ranked their pest problems with insects being the most problematic, but I can tell you, after the wet year we had in 2020, I would imagine that disease might move up on the list with people naming diseases as their most problematic pest management issue in growing this crop.

16:01 - Another issue that I mentioned is the lack of stability and history with the plant genetics. A lot of the varieties we’re growing are new hybrids and have not been tested here in our unique climate in the Southeast. And when we’re talking about Alabama, we have a completely different climate in the southern part of the state versus the central and northern part of the state. So we really have to hone in on local research to know how these varieties in this plant’s gonna perform. Another issue, and I think it’s one thing that caught a lot of people off guard was just how much time and energy is required to grow this plant.

16:39 - Especially if you’re growing for CBD or the essential oils. As a new agricultural commodity there hasn’t really been a focus on designing and implementing new equipment to make this crop efficient all the way from planting to harvest and post-harvest. As a result, there’s been a lot of hand-planting, hand-pest removal, hand-harvesting. And if you pair that with weather challenges and labor challenges and timing, it requires a lot of planning. Planning ahead and then having access to the necessary labor required to get everything accomplished in a timely manner.

17:23 - And also have the funds to conduct all this. And so as a new crop, we don’t have a well established market with a long history of success. The prices have been fluctuating for the last year, and paired with the high cost for plant material and labor, we haven’t really seen those sky-high returns that were once predicted. You know, this billion dollar crop, or make a $100,000 an acre. And some of that issue lies with a lot of excess product on the market, but also a lack of an established industry for processing and buying these hemp-based products.

18:10 - So what does that mean for hemp and hemp products in the future? So as more growers and those in the industry learn their way around this plant, I think we’ll see a shift to smaller operations to really help ease that burden of manual labor, and balance that quantity versus quality so you’re producing higher quality products, but in lower quantities. In some states that have been growing hemp for longer than Alabama, like Kentucky, they have specialized equipment. But even in those states, those types of equipment are the exception and not necessarily the rule when it comes to hemp production. Additionally, if we continue to produce large quantities of CBD hemp that flood the market, it may shift growers to produce more grain and fiber in order to make their input cost back. And so this is gonna hinge on having the equipment, having the machinery, and the regional knowledge to engage in the very difficult process of processing fiber plants.

19:19 - And so that’s a very unique process that we don’t see in other crops that requires a special type of expertise. We have some facilities here in the South, but they’re few and far between for the time being. In the meantime, you can still find hemp products everywhere, but some will be harder to find than others. For example, like I mentioned, you can still find hemp granola pretty regularly in grocery store, but a lot of this hemp is coming from other places like Canada and not in the US. And these are made with hemp seeds. I mentioned they’re edible, and technically it’s a nut, but they’re known for having high protein and have really good nutritional value.

20:00 - And they have a mild, nutty flavor, and are often referred to as hemp hearts. And the hemp heart, the inner soft part of the hemp seed, and you can also cold-press it and to make this oil. And you see that picture here on the left-hand side, the cold-pressed hemp oil. It tastes exactly what it looks like, an earthy, grassy flavored oil. You’ll probably also see more, if you haven’t already, hemp products for your pet at the local pet store.

20:38 - Hemp seed oil, like I said, is known for its moisturizing capabilities and so if you need to have a shampoo that moisturizes your dog’s coat, then you can find that at a local pet store. So all in all, we’ve had this crop around for basically 10,0000 years. And it’s likely that it’s gonna stick around for a lot more now that it’s back and legal to grow in the majority of the United States. And this landscape may change moving forward, especially as we learn more about how to grow it and how to use this plant. But in the meantime, there’s really no shortage of hemp-related products on the market these days, and so it’s really good to learn what’s out there and understand how the plant is used to make all these products.

21:25 - So with that, I’ll leave my contact information here. I realize that was a very brief history of a plant that has a lot of uses, but if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me. You can also find our Southern Hemp Research and Extension Facebook page, which shares information from all the Southern states in the United States. Thanks. .