Status of States: Michigan

Trish — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 20:53:02 +0000

Under the 2018 Farm Bill, the United States Department of Agriculture put in place a system by which each state can register to have a legal industrial hemp program. This opened the door for every state to individually decide to create the infrastructure necessary to enter the industrial hemp market. Because the gateway was opened without a concise mandate at the federal level, it can be difficult to keep track of the varying hemp laws in each state. So, we thought we’d help condense the information and make it easier for farmers and potential hemp enthusiasts to learn where and how hemp can be grown legally. (3)

First up, Michigan. The Great Lakes State has become quite hemp-friendly since the passing of the Farm Bill and is working on streamlining the registration and growing processes both for statewide and interstate hemp commerce. (3)

The History

Michiganders are some of the newest to the industrial hemp industry, but they are a force to be reckoned with. In 2015, Governor Snyder of Michigan signed a bill that separated the legal definitions of hemp and marijuana, setting apart industrial hemp and allowing it to be cultivated for research. This is set into motion the trajectory that led to the state’s accessibility to the hemp market as a whole (4). While states such as Colorado and Oregon began their agricultural pilot programs to research Industrial hemp as early as 2009 and 2010, Michigan quickly caught up.

On December 28, 2018, Governor Rick Snyder signed Michigan House Bills 6330, 6331 and 6380 (Public Acts 641, 642, and 648 of 2018) into law. This amended the Industrial Hemp Research Act that was previously in place in the state, now allowing anyone over the age of 18 to register to grow industrial hemp. All growing, processing, and handling of industrial hemp will be regulated by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD). (2)

The Fine Print

In order to grow hemp in Michigan, farmers must register with the MDARD. This will allow the state to facilitate a healthy and ethical hemp industry. Furthermore, a program is in development now that will implement guidelines for the interstate trading of hemp in congruence with the requirements of both state and federal laws. (3)

The Industrial Hemp Research and Development Act (IHRDA) limits application fees for growers to $100, and $1350 for processor-handlers. The statute also states that the applicants must disclose the names of all corporate members and those with equitable holdings of 10% or more in each given business, allowing systemic regulation from both agricultural and economic standpoints. (5)

The IHRDA also states that growers may not plant industrial hemp in the midst of a crop that is not industrial hemp. Industrial hemp must be on its own plot of land (5). Another rule stated in the Act says that any hemp crop that contains higher than the allowed .3% TCH content will be classified as Marijuana and dealt with as such under Michigan law. (3)

The Gist

It is now legal in Michigan to grow industrial as long as you abide by all the laws stated in the legislation. The attitude toward this beneficial industrial crop is coming overwhelming positive in the state. In fact, under the new legislation, Michiganders may even have criminal charges involving small-scale possession of cannabis expunged from their records. (1)

Michigan, now is the time to plan for investing in hemp however you can, whether that’s growing hemp, investing in hemp futures, or anything in between.

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Cleaning Up Soil with Hemp: Phytoremediation

Trish — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 20:28:00 +0000

There is a prevailing degradation of soil that has been taking place in America, and across the world, for decades. It has become a widespread devastation specifically in the United States as the desire to drive profits has superseded proper care for fields and attention to soil health. Farmers have been dousing industrial crops in chemical pesticides and herbicides while also eliminating the practice of fallow periods. This has led to a severe decline in topsoil levels, as well as a stripping of nutrients from the earth. The United Nations has acknowledged it as one of the major threats to human health in the coming years (4).

Absorbing Toxins: Understanding Phytoremediation

Hemp could be the answer to the problem of failing soil health. A dense crop with full leaves and sturdy stalks, hemp plants have a relatively high capacity for absorption. Phytoremediation is the term used to describe the act of extracting toxins from the soil using the fast-growing roots of the cannabis plant.

This process was officially discovered and named by Ilya Raskin in the 1990s when he and his team used hemp to clean up the soil around Chernobyl (2). Through this process, toxins are absorbed into the roots of the plants and transformed into a harmless substance (1). Raskin and his team were able to extract radioactive strontium and cesium from the Ukranian soil.

The extraction capabilities were later confirmed by a team of German researchers who successfully decontaminated a field that had been polluted with lead, cadmium, and nickel by an overflow of sewage sludge (2). Now, Italian farmers in Taranto, Italy are turning to hemp to decontaminate their soil after a decade of tainted pastures caused by steel plant runoff had eliminated the space for the grazing of their livestock.

Lifting The Hemp Ban: 2018 Farm Bill

It is clear that hemp holds great potential to mitigate some of the damage done to topsoil in the US, but until the 2018 Farm Bill was passed, the agricultural community was at a standstill on this front. Colorado has led the charge for industrial hemp in many ways, one of which was the first comprehensive study of the cleansing capabilities of hemp on soil. Dr. Elizabeth Pilon-Smits had long been interested in and aware of the phytoremediative capabilities of hemp, but it wasn’t until 2014 that some of the red tape cleared and research surrounding the benefits of hemp crops was encouraged.

Still unable to secure funding for her studies on hemp, it wasn’t until 2017 that Pilon-Smits was approached by Colorado Cultivars with the perfect opportunity to delve into funded research (2). Over the last decade, other states have granted access to researchers via universities to explore the benefits of industrial hemp, and these findings are finally able to be set into motion in many regions across the US as bans are lifted and the growth of industrial hemp is allowed.

Beyond the Farm: Hemp In The City

Another untapped area where hemp could be widely beneficial is in the restoration of brownfields in urban areas across the nation. According to the National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals (NALGEP) and the Northeast-Midwest Institute (NEMW), there are more than one million brownfields nationwide. Not only are these vacant lots eyesores with hardpacked dirt made up of debris and strewn with weeds, but they are also lost opportunities to utilize land and benefit communities.

Cleansing the soil with hemp plants can rejuvenate the soil on these plots of land to make building easier and urban farming possible where it previously was not (3). Producing localized food for urban communities will help support the ever-expanding population of cities around the US, as well as contribute to cleaner air.

It is important to note that while hemp can clean up soil and groundwater better than most other plants, unmonitored consumption and production of these same crops could pose harm to the user (5). There should be a mindful separation of the crops used for phytoremediation and those processed for consumption to ethically maintain the highest level of health and quality.

Moving Forward With Hemp

With the burgeoning use of industrial hemp to clean up soil worldwide, it can also be used on personal land to stimulate individual agricultural aspirations. Click here to find out more about hemp growing laws in states across the US.

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