ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Fanning Staff
NEW HOLLAND (Lancaster
Co.) More than 200 farmers and
a gri-industry representatives were
registered Friday afternoon for an
mformational meeting, described
by a proponent as “historic,” about
growing hemp in the area.
Farmers, industry representa
tives, and curiosity seekers were
set to meet for the presentation on
hemp growing and processing at
Yoder’s Restaurant in New
Holland.
Speaking to Lancaster Farm
ing on Thursday this week, Shawn
Patrick House, Lancaster Hemp
Company, said the event was “his
toric” because it showed how
important hemp products have
been since the U.S. was founded
and the industries that still rely on
hemp production.
For too long, according to
House, the government has been
restricting what farmers have been
allowed to grow. The cousin to the
illegal marijuana plant, industry
hemp has gotten a wrongful and
undeserved bad reputation,
according to the hemp broker.
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Industrial Hemp Growing
“If you restrict people, you
restrict ideas and potential,” he
said.
He noted that in 1937, Popular
Mechanics noted that 25,000 pro
ducts are made from hemp, what
the magazine called the “new bil
lion dollar crop,” he said. Hemp
can be used to make “cellophane to
dynamite to food to textiles,” said
House.
The meeting was scheduled to
be an informational fact- gathering
session for farmers and industry
representatives, according to Jane
Balmer, speaker at the event
Balraer noted that, in light of
extraordinarily depressed tobacco
prices, farmers need alternatives.
Hemp growing can be one of
them, noted House.
House said he has taken his
hemp product display on the road
in the past, including one stopover
a few years ago at the Acres USA/
EcoAg Conference at the Lancas
ter Host Farm Resort Recently
House attended the Pennsylvania
Certificated Organic Agricultural
Conference in Bird In Hand and
travels throughout the area, pre
senting the idea of glowing hemp.
Production
At the exhibit during Friday’s
informational meeting at Yoder's,
the exhibit included hemp pro
ducts from raw materials, includ
ing hurds, silver, bark, stalk, steril
ized seed, and tow.
Textile and industrial applica
tions from hemp include fabrics,
wood, compressed fiber, rope, cos
metic oil, and clothing. Food on
display included hulled bempseed,
bread, “Hcmpzcls” (locally baked
hemp pretzels), and other treats.
Also, cosmetic products can be
made from hemp.
The display includes an educa
tional center explaining the local,
state, and national history of hemp
and books cm healthcare and items
denoting the benefits of growing
industrial hemp.
Thousands of acres have been
devoted to growing hemp region
ally, said House. He knows of a
Halifax area farmer with 250 acres
in hemp, and another in New Pro
vidence. But many agribusinesses
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Meeting Topic
that support for or consult for
hemp growers were expected to
attend.
Speaking on behalf of the
loosely-knit Pennsylvania Hemp
Growers Association, House said
that many growers want to be free
to grow the products in demand.
“I’m a free-market person,” said
House. “I’m not interested in hav
ing to obtain permits and licenses
and all that ’politicalness.’” As
part of the presentation, a 20-mi
nute video produced during World
War D, “Hemp For Victory,” out
lined the importance of hemp at
one time to the country.
The oldest mill in Pennsylvania
dates back to the 17205.
House noted that William Penn
tried to convince German farmers
to settle the Conestoga River reg
ion for hemp production.
One hemp production town was
Hempfield, in Lancaster County.
“The colonials used to make
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 17, 1999-A29
people manufacture hemp," said
House.
House touts the agri
cnvironmcntal benefits of growing
hemp, including its natural ability
to remove hard metals from the
ground. The biomass product can
be used for ethanol production.
It can be used to make varnishes
and paints.
One item on display at the infor
mational meeting was a car part.
Information received from House
includes a story of Henry Ford’s
“biomass car” from the March
1941 issue of Popular Science
Magazine, a hemp-fabricated car
Ford “grew from the soil.”
One of the strongest demands
for hemp over the years was for
hemp pulp paper rather than tree
pulp, to reduce the cutting of trees.
An informational sheet noted that
one acre of hemp equals 4.1 acres
of trees for paper during the same
20-year period.
(Turn to Page A3l)
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