Posts tagged ‘Industrial Hemp’
The ‘Snicker Factor’ Aside, Hemp is Serious Business
A great article in Sunday’s edition of the Globe and Mail on the benefits of industrial hemp.
“Manitoba Harvest is now one of the world’s largest hemp food manufacturers. Its sales growth has averaged about 50 per cent every year since 1998. It currently makes 68 per cent of its sales in the United States, 30 per cent in Canada and 2 per cent in Europe and Asia.
In addition to health food stores, it is penetrating mainstream grocery chains in the United States and collaborating with Maple Leaf Foods Inc. on hemp-based research and development in Canada. Manitoba Harvest has provided product and technical support to Maple Leaf’s majority-owned subsidiary Canada Bread as it experiments with hemp bakery products, Mr. Fata said.”
To check out the full article, which includes great coverage on NAT, click here.
CRAILAR named Fabric of the Month
We would like to thank Textile World for featuring Crailar® as Quality Fabric of the Month.
Hemp is one the most environmentally friendly bast fibers in the world requiring no pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers and very little water to grow and it can be grown in a wide range of geographical areas. Hemp exhibits up to eight times the tensile strength of cotton, and fabrics made from hemp are more insulating, absorbent and more durable.
Read Textile World’s article to find out how Crailar® made the cut!
It’s About Good Partnerships!
Earlier this year we announced that we’d signed a trademark licensing agreement with the good folks at Patrick Yarns. Under the terms of the non-exclusive, non-transferable license, Patrick Yarns will make and manufacture CRAILAR Organic Fiber yarns and related products for sale and distribution in North America to third party licensees of Crailar.
Our CEO, Ken Barker, had this to say about the agreement, “Through our partnership with Patrick Yarns we will start to develop markets in denim, work wear and related apparel markets, as well as the home furnishings and carpeting industries. We are very excited to be working with Patrick Yarns, one of the foremost spinning experts in the country, in a partnership that allows us to create a pull through marketing strategy with fabric and finished goods brands. The company has an incomparable track record of partnering with its customers to develop yarns that create brand awareness and market share.”
Based in the King Mountains of North Carolina, Patrick Yarns is a family owned spinning plant with over 50 years of experience and cutting edge technology.
Where other companies have been laying off workers, Patrick Yarns remains strong with 170 employees. The companies president, Gilbert Patrick, firmly believes that their specialized business strategy and their willingness to offer above average wages and employee benefits are a direct contributor to their continuing success.
Their strategy? Instead of aiming to please all markets, they’ve chosen to partner with customers to that are looking to develop innovative and profitable products that incorporate challenging components – naturally we knew this would be a good fit!
To find out more about Patrick Yarns, check out this great article in Time Magazine.
Dr. Wing Sung and Cleantech Science
In 2004, NAT began working with a leading biotech scientist with the NRC, Dr. Wing Sung, who has developed a commercially successful and environmentally friendly biotech enzyme process for bast fibers (primarily hemp) for use in fabric and composites. To read more, click here.
The Right Message with the Wrong Tactics
A group of hemp farmers and business leaders were arrested earlier last week for digging up the DEA headquarters lawn to plant industrial hemp seeds.
Among those arrested were Will Allen, a 70 year old organic sunflower and canola farmer from Vermont, Wayne Hauge, a 51 year old grandfather that grows garbonzo beans in North Dakota, Isaac Nicholson, owner of sustainable lifestyle clothing line Livity and David Bronner, president of US based multi million dollar soap company Dr. Bronners Soaps. For years now, both Nicholson and Bronner have been forced to buy hemp cross borders due to the DEA’s restrictions on industrial hemp.
Although we agree with the message and can completely understand their frustration, we have to disagree with the tactics used. Acts such as these encourage stereotypes of hemp activists and dilute the real story of a crop that has such great potential.
We’ve believe that it’s important to influence law makers by initiating and proving out the market potential for industrial hemp products. We are showing through our relationships with some of the worlds leading consumer brands, such as Hanes and Georgia Pacific, that there is a consumer pull for the product on a massive scale. We believe this pull will demonstrate hemp’s viability and will influence lawmakers and farmers to re-legalize and grow hemp.
Currently nine states – Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Vermont and West Virginia – allow industrial hemp production but federal law, which requires nearly “impossible to obtain” permits in order to grow hemp, trumps state laws.
Huffington Post Article
“Legalize It and I Will Industrialize It: Industrial Hemp Is the Engine to Kickstart This Economy”
A big thank you to Anna Brones, from The Huffington Post, for featuring NAT in this great article!
Click here to read it!
Count Hanes In!
I know you’re not supposed to toot your own horn but I can’t help it. We’ve recently entered into a joint development agreement with one of the worlds largest consumer brands – Hanebrands Inc. (that’s why our CEO is smiling).
“After nearly a decade of working to prove that burlap-like hemp can be as soft as cotton, Naturally Advanced Technologies Inc. has caught the attention of some…….click here to read more!
The Bureaucracy of Hemp
Hemp advocates continue to push hard to give back farmers the right to grow industrial hemp. Enthusiastic supporters were thrilled by the decision of Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski to sign SB 676 into law on August 4th, 2009. The law permits the production, trade and possession of industrial hemp commodities and products.
By signing SB 676 into law, which passed with strong bi-partisan support, Governor Kulongoski has taken a proactive position allowing farmers to provide American manufacturers with domestically grown hemp and to profit from that effort. American companies will no longer need to import hemp and American farmers will no longer be denied a profitable, new crop.
Despite industrial hemp being legal at a State level, Oregon growers are unable to get on with their business as they are required to obtain a permit from the DEA which is on the Federal level. Washington still classifies hemp as an illegal drug in the same category as marijuana instead of identifying it as the agricultural crop that it is. This sort of bureaucratic nonsense in turn prevents farmers from moving forward, leading to little progress for the state’s nascent industry.
Industrial hemp can be used in a wide variety of products including auto parts, building materials, fuels, paper, clothing and food to name a few. The HIA estimates that the 2008 retail sales of all hemp products in North America to be about $360 million. By allowing US farmers once again to grown hemp, legislators can clear the way for a new Billion Dollar Crop!
To find out what you can do to encourage and support domestic hemp farming, visit Vote Hemp for more information.
