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[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]H[/dropcap]emp’s rich history is embedded in the story of the United States. What was once a staple crop in early American society, hemp’s legacy eventually fell—but it is slowly returning to its former glory. With uniquely sustainable qualities, the plant is an ideal agricultural product that could also help combat the fingerprint that mankind leaves behind on planet Earth. This month we celebrate Hemp History Week (which runs from June 4-10), and to honor another year of progress in the hemp industry, CULTURE spoke with the Pennsylvania-based Rodale Institute, which is conducting groundbreaking agricultural hemp research.

Although hemp was once a major industry in Pennsylvania for over 260 years, 80 years of prohibition made hemp farms an impossibility until recently. “According to Penn State Extension, the fiber of both hemp and flax was used to produce everything from clothing, to rope, to paper in colonial times,” Tara Caton, senior lab technician with Rodale Institute told CULTURE. “Historical records from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania reveal that over 100 hemp mills operated in the state to separate the fibers from the bark and the core. Industrial hemp became a victim of the 1937 banning of marijuana, a different variety of Cannabis sativa, because of morphological similarity of the two species.” The 2014 Federal Farm Bill, however, opened the doors to hemp cultivation once again, for research purposes.

Hemp and cannabis have very different purposes, but many remain uneducated about making the distinction. “According to U.S. law, hemp is the stalks, stems and sterilized seeds of cannabis; marijuana is the leaves, flowers and viable seeds of cannabis,” Caton explained. Legally, hemp is defined as having less than 0.3 percent THC, and the plant is typically grown for its fiber content.

Now operating in what used to be one of the United States’ most popular hemp cultivation areas, Rodale Institute is making great strides in research. It’s one of 16 organizations to receive a state-issued permit to cultivate hemp and unlike those other projects,  Rodale Institute is one of the few organizations that is conducting independent agricultural research on hemp, directly on its hemp farm. The institute is conducting a four-year research project, with emphasis on sustainable farming.

“We’re thrilled to have a new tool in our kit to find solutions for American farmers,” said Caton.  “We’re honored to be included among the first research institutions granted access to experimenting with hemp. One of the most pressing issues for organic farmers is how to best fight weeds. Hemp, used as a cover crop, has the potential to not only suppress weeds but to provide a higher profit for the farmer in comparison to other cover crops (e.g. sorghum Sudan grass).” A cover crop is a crop grown for the purpose of soil enrichment, suppressing weed growth and helping to control unwanted pests and diseases.

Hemp is more sustainable than many other types of plants, and members of Rodale Institute are very knowledgeable on the subject. “Hemp has a short growth phase and can be incorporated into a crop rotation, increasing the overall number of crops getting onto a field in a given year,” Caton explained.

“This allows us to keep the field planted at all times, reducing erosion and runoff, and to increase soil carbon as the plant sequesters it from the atmosphere and returns it to the ground,” she said. “Hemp is also less labor intensive than other fiber crops (e.g. cotton); one machine can harvest an entire field of hemp whereas hundreds of workers are needed to hand-pick cotton. Hemp can be harvested and its byproducts sold, but it’s also a great cover crop in no-till systems because it leaves a lot of biomass behind, useful in building soil over time.”

“We’re honored to be included among the first research institutions granted access to experimenting with hemp.”

 

For its unique position as a leading hemp research facility, Rodale Institute is being featured in a documentary called Deep Roots, in honor of Hemp History Week’s 2018 theme of the same name. With sustainability as the focus, the Institute is regarded as a prime example of success.

The new short film documents the cultivation of hemp within a regenerative organic no-till agriculture model. “No till farming has many benefits,” Ross Duffield, farm operations manager told CULTURE. “Limited disruption of the soil allows for the living organisms and fungi to grow and live undisturbed and in turn helps increase soil organic matter and soil quality. No till also helps keep soil in place and reduces erosion that is a big problem in tillage systems after extreme rain or drought.”

The regenerative no-till model is still a work in progress, Duffield admitted, since weed management is key to success when dealing with plants like hemp. “By rotating livestock through a grain or even a vegetable rotation and limiting the amount of tillage during a year, the regenerative organic approach can improve the health of the soil, the livestock, that and the farmers themselves,” Duffield said. “This approach not only sustains the organic land but improves it over time and will leave it in a better condition for future farmers to manage.”

Rodale Institute is helping to create hemp awareness through its research and its complex cultivation strategies. In honor of Hemp History Week, it’s important to remember how hemp cultivation changed the past, as well as how it can contribute to a more sustainable future.

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