Industrial Hemp in the United States:
Status & Market Potential
A Critique by David Marcus
Although this USDA report has the credentials and size to give the impression that it is an exhaustive and reliable study, a close read reveals this to be far from the truth. The report does raise some valid questions, and presents a variety of interesting statistical information, but ultimately it's conclusions must be disregarded as the research is largely misdirected.
The report focuses the vast majority, say 90%, of its analysis on hemp's potential as a textile crop in the US. The remaining 10% of the report superficially glosses over hemp's potential as a seed and industrial fibre crop. Ironically, close to 90% of Canadian hemp production in the past two years has focused on the production of seed and to a lesser extent residual (industrial grade) fibre.
Canadian farmers, processors and manufacturers are acutely aware of what this report fails to recognise. In fact, only one Canadian hemp company, Hempline, has pursued the textile market. If hemp is to find a place among the large commodity crops grown in North America, it will most likely be as an oilseed, not textile crop.
The authors of the report do well to compare hemp to flax, crops which are very close both in their fibre and seed quality and production. Unfortunately, the vast majority of their efforts is spent comparing the market demands and domestic production of these crops for textile quality fibre.
The author's correctly note that textile or linen flax has not been grown commercially in North America on any kind of scale for four decades, despite domestic demand. What the report overlooks, however, is that flax seed (linseed), unlike its textile cousin, is an important North American crop.
In Canada alone, the annual acreage devoted to flax seed production is in the range of one million acres. Currenlty hemp seed yieds are still lower than flax, but there is considerable evidence that these yields will increase rapidly with time, setting the stage for hemp's emergence as a truely competitive commodity.
What the report does correctly convey is that unlike hemp fibre, the market potential for hemp seed as an oil and/or food ingredient is largely unknown. In fact, as long as the US continues to restrict the importation of this highly nutritious food source, market development is bound to be compromised. It's hard not to think that by overlooking the potential of hemp seed both as a food and oil, the USDA is revealing a complicitity in the DEA led effort to delegitimize this promising new industry.
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