NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State
University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665
April 1, 1999
The possibility of raising industrial hemp as an alternative crop has attracted both attention and controversy in several states, including North Dakota. Once one of the world's leading fiber crops, hemp is now illegal in the United States because it is closely related to—and difficult to distinguish from—marijuana.
Hemp is the same species as the marijuana plant but differs in that it contains very low levels of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.
According to David Kraenzel, agribusiness development specialist at North Dakota State University, it appears that hemp would have potential as an alternative crop for North Dakota, and there may be a revitalization in the worldwide market for industrial hemp.
Hemp was grown briefly as a crop in North Dakota during World War II when imports of fiber from the Philippines were cut off. The supplies produced were not needed and mostly went to waste. Growing hemp again became illegal after the war.
Hemp production is currently allowed in Canada.
Fiber from the hemp plant, known as bast fiber, has many potential uses, including such traditional fiber uses as textiles, construction materials, paper and many other products. Other uses that appear to have great potential are for air and water purification, in cooling and ventilation systems, and in cleanup of toxic waste sites.
Kraenzel points out that there are other bast fiber crops that could substitute for hemp, including flax grown for fiber and kenaf. These crops could also have great potential as alternative crops for North Dakota farmers and have one major advantage over hemp: they are already legal to grow.
Before any of these crops could be more than a novelty in North Dakota, research on production, processing and marketing under local conditions would be needed.
The current legal status of hemp makes it very difficult to conduct production research, such as fertility management, planting and harvest schedules, and pest control. Obviously no herbicides are registered for use on hemp since there is no hemp production. Hemp itself was until recently listed as a prohibited noxious weed in North Dakota. The hemp plant (which is an annual) sheds considerable seed, so means of controlling volunteer plants following hemp in a crop rotation is another research concern.
Kraenzel points out that a preliminary feasibility study on hemp done at NDSU also gives insight into the broader bast fiber market, including flax straw, kenaf and even small grain straw. Proposals for further studies of the potential for alternative crops include these crops as well as hemp.
Flax has long been established as a crop in the area, so a considerable body of production research already exists.
Kenaf has been researched and grown in the Cotton Belt states, especially Mississippi. Kraenzel says kenaf would not yield as well in North Dakota as it does in the South, but there might be some advantages here as well.
Humid conditions have resulted in major insect, harvesting and storage problems with kenaf in the South, so there is interest in large scale production in northern areas. Such a shift in production could provide a profitable rotation with small grains, potatoes, sugarbeets or other traditional northern crops.
New enterprises involving production and processing of any of these alternative crops would require a critical threshold volume of acreage and production to succeed. Just what this volume is, along with other economic and legal concerns, are some of the questions that further research would have to address.
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Source: David Kraenzel (701) 231-7374
Editor: Gary Moran (701) 231-7865