HemperFi

Why hemp? Are there better options for fiber? Well maybe kenaf. Are there better super foods? Well maybe flax or soy. Are there better sources of ethanol? Maybe not, but do we want to farm half of the agriable land on earth to satisfy our energy needs? Probably not. There are better ways to harvest energy. Solar for instance. One onethousandth of one percent of the solar energy reaching the earths surface can satisfy all of the earths energy needs. Use this energy to make methanol out of cabon dioxide and not only do we have a superoir fuel but we stop and possibly reverse global warming (NPR Science Friday 4/28/06). So no, ethanol derived from hemp is probably not the answer to the worlds energy woes. Even so, what crop is more versitile than Hemp? I don't know of any.
There are countless reasons to employ hemp as one of the worlds most valuable resources. I'm not talking about making a quick buck. The energy traders in New York are making billions for a few exclusive investors using exotic hedge funds to speculate on crude oil futures and anyone buying gasoline is making those people mighty rich. I don't think I'll become a billionare by getting into the hemp industry but I do think I'd be doing the world a favor. People who use creative resourcefulness combined with one of Gods greatest gifts to the plant kingdom can get this planet back on the right track. God Bless

Posted by SRourke at 02:42 AM | Permalink

The Manitoba Co-Operator has declared industrial hemp (seed) to have "a better profit outlook than any other crop in 2006." With the breakeven yield for hemp seed at 388 pounds per acre, farmers feel there is plenty of risk buffer, given average Manitoba harvest yields of over 500 pounds per acre. Coupled with the fact that many of region's staple crops are projected to "under-yield" in 2006, this could be industrial hemp's biggest season ever.

Manitoba has been repeatedly cited as a good example of how government and farmers can cooperate to ensure effect market outlets for farmers. Multiple processing options and plenty of contracted acreage, practically ensures an economically viable seaons for farmers. Currently, Canadian authorities estimate some 30,000 acres of hemp will be planted this season.

The article points out that broader acceptance of hemp-based products in the United States, coupled with the DEA's irrational reluctance to issue cultivation permits, has helped restart Canada's industrial hemp industry.

Posted by M at 12:00 AM | Permalink

Kenaf, like flax and industrial hemp is a fibrous crop particularly suited for paper-making. Botanically related to cotton and okra, Kenaf grows in Southern states such as Alabama, Florida and Texas where the long growing season, with plenty of rain, helps Kenaf producers obtain maximum yields.

In the 1950s, the Department of Agriculture undertook a study of more than 500 plants to determine the most-promising non-wood plant for use in paper (including printed money). Kenaf eeked out a win in that study. Much like industrial hemp, Kenaf bast and core fibres can also be used in cardboard and other paper products. However, Kenaf enjoys the benefit that most paper mill equipment does not need to be modified. That alone makes it an interesting alternative to wood pulp-based newspaper for mills. Per the University of Wisconsin-Extension:

newspapers made from kenaf pulp have been shown to be brighter and better looking, with better ink laydown, reduced ruboff, richer color photo reproduction and good print contrast. Quality analyses showed kenaf newsprint to have superior tear, tensile and burst ratings.

Like so many other non-wood fibre crops, Kenaf's success is deeply lilnked with local processing options for farmers. Transportation costs of getting the fibre to a processing facility determine the profitability of this crop. However, Kenaf "...plants provide about three-five times more fiber per harvest than southern pine trees, which can take 7-40 years before they can be harvested." At least one paper company --Vision Paper-- has fully embraced Kenaf...their "About" page is worth checking out>. Among other things, it states: "We use the kenaf as our raw material instead of trees. We manufacture pulp and paper, without using any chlorine compounds, and we sell the paper to printers, companies, and organizations nationally."

Posted by M at 03:00 AM | Permalink

CoolFuel is a new TV series that features an Australian adventurer by the name of Shaun Murphy (and Sparky, his Jack Russell sidekick) in some 18 episodes as he and crew traverse the United States using various vehicles all exclusively operated with biofuels.

As reported in the Toronto Star: "In eight months, they cover 25,750 kilometres and 30 states using bio-diesel, pure vegetable oil, corn whiskey, hot rocks (thermal energy), and, yes, cow dung and Froot Loops. Just about anything but gasoline."

Supposedly the show has received quite a bit of press. Along the way CoolFuel received help from Daryl Hannah who hosts Murphy during one episode at her fully sustainable ranch. In Episode 8, the team takes a Chevy S10 pickup truck running on hempoline (supplied by a Canadian company) across the Southern United States...as the CoolFuel web site recounts:

George Washington farmed it. Henry Ford built a car out of it. Levi Strauss made their original jeans from it. So why not fuel up with it? The COOLFUEL crew use hemp oil to make Hempoline, but their first batch is a disaster. It looks like horse manure. They manage to get moving, taking a journey through Montgomery and Selma, Alabama. Shaun sings with George Jackson (Ol’ Time Rock ‘n Roll) and the crew gets their hands on an $80,000 jet turbine engine truck. Refusing to use fossil fuel, the COOLFUEL Crew tries to run the truck on hempoline. Heading to Mississippi, the locals can’t believe the fuel; the crew can’t believe they’ve made it to the Deep South.

CoolFuel may just catch on in a big way...helping raise industrial hemp and biofuel awareness.

Posted by M at 12:50 AM | Permalink

Every industrial hemp discussion touches on ethanol. Every ethanol discussion touches on processing/refining capacity. Unfortunately, not every processing/refining discussion touches on farmer-owned facilities. The fact is that famers have been getting screwed out of the value--added processing that occurs after harvest. Capital intensive processing and refining facilities attract big business' deep pockets, and that means profit maximization. As HemperFi has already reported, farmer-owned processing plants are good, when executed properly, but as per recent experience in Manitoba, such plans can also lead astray.

Although it's a lengthy read, I've recently stumbled upon David Morris' excellent article Ownership Matters: Three Steps to Ensure a Biofuels Industry That Truly Benefits Rural America. In Ownership Matters, Morris lays out three governing principles to ensure an ethanol economy with the rural farmer as an active participant. Quoted directly from his work, the three principles are:

-- First, create an aggressive and broad national and even international educational effort focused on the importance of and benefits of farmer and local ownership.
-- Second, establish mechanisms to allow farmer-owners of ethanol facilities to get their equity out of the biorefinery while enabling continued local ownership.
--Third, change the federal ethanol incentive into a producer payment that favors local and farmer ownership.

According to Morris, John F. Kennedy once described Farming as " the only business where you buy everything retail and sell everything wholesale." Profitable rural farming hinges on equitable participation in profit margins enjoyed at the retail-end of agricultural output, not at the wholesale end.

As Morris states in The Carbohydrate Economy, Biofuels and the Net Energy Debate:

For farmers and rural areas to truly reap the rewards of a carbohydrate economy they must gain some of the value created by processing the agricultural raw materials into finished products. That can occur only if the farmer and rural residents own a share in the processing or manufacturing facility.

Posted by M at 10:31 AM | Permalink

Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protecion leader, Kathleen McGinty, has announced that Pennsylvania may host the largest ethanol processing plant in North America. An announcement is expected within July 15th and McGinty claims the plant could be online within 1 year.

Pennsylvania's roots in oil and coal run deep...very deep. In fact, two of the state's nicknames --"the Oil State" and "the Coal State" serve as a constant reminder of Pennsylvania's ties to hydrcarbon economy. In 1859, the birth of the modern oil industry occurred in Titusville, Pennsylvania when Colonel Edwin Drake successfully drilled on the banks of Oil Creek.

Given it's history and industrial base, I think it's profound that Pennsylvania has positioned itself as the leader of America's alternative fuels race.

It's unclear if Pennsylvania will allow one of the Big Ag guys come in and rule the roost or if incentives for distributing shares to farmers will be put into place to encourage equitable development. According the Associated Press: "The central Pennsylvania plant would start by fermenting ethanol from corn, McGinty said. But plans for the plant involve eventually using crop waste or dead forest timber to produce cellulosic ethanol, which is far more energy-efficient to produce."

Pennsylvania does not rank highly in crop production...the wheat and "feed grains" are the top agricultural exports, but the state's output for these two crops ranks 17th and 16th, respectively. Pennsylvania's agricultural output centers on dairy and cattle, not corn, soybean or other ethanol feedstocks.

So what gives? Why build an ethanol plant in a state whose farmers don't rely on offloading corn, soybean or other cellulosic content. I'm not sure, but my guess is that Pennsylvania sees itself as strategically located between the grain producing states East of the Mississippi River and the ethanol consuming markets on the United States East Coast.

The logistics challenge of transporting hemp fibre to Pennsylvania from pro-hemp states like Kentucky would probably make the Pennsylvania ethanol facility economically unviable for hemp producers in Kentucky and other nearby states.

Posted by M at 12:44 AM | Permalink

I believe that the mass cultivation of energy crops will eventually precipitate to the forefront of Western politics. In many ways, oil and gas dependence has characterized nation states' foreign policy since the First World War. The supply-side realities coupled with geopolitical instability and ever rising demand all suggest that we will see oil at 100 dollar-per-barrel mark within 18 months.

It's truly mind-boggling why our society has not poured more intellectual might into creating a carbohydrate economy, supplied primarily by organic feedstock (including industrial hemp). "Western" society's future is inextricably linked with oil dependence and my hope is that higher oil prices will eventually serve as a energy-awakening "tipping point". It's true that current processing technology is still not at a level that makes industrial hemp based fuel, or other cellulitic-based fuels for that matter, an economic slam dunk. But for goodness sakes...we've grown ears on the back of fluorescent mice and figured out how to put rovers on Mars. With a little volition, we will figure this out as well.

Imagine an economy where cellulitic biofuel has 5% of the fuel market. The dampening effect of such a demand-led curve shift would ease oil reservoir supply-driven fears and stabilize prices. The world is depleting oil reseirvoirs at a rate of 5 to 10 percent per annum...having biofuel as a mitigating and stabilizing alternative would have profound implications for oil prices...and ultimately foreign policy.

Posted by M at 09:20 AM | Permalink

1945 saw the peak of ethanol production in the United States at a whopping 600,000,000 gallons of ethanol production. Many people do not realize that back then plant matter served as the primary feedstock for all sorts of chemical products, including paint, ink, solvents and fuel. The Once and Future Carbohydrate Economy published by the Institute for Local Self Reliance brings the point home: In the 1820s, Americans used two tons of vegetables for every ton of minerals. Over the next 100 years, that balance would effectively reverse itself.

Not known to many, the American nation has a deep roots in ethanol and biofuel production. By the mid 1930s, common household tems, such as Rayon (made from wood pulp), telelphones, silk stockings, dentures (made from cotton), and a broad range of other bio-plastic consumer items were widely used by Americans. Quoted from the The Once and Future Carbohydrate Economy:

At the end of the 19th century the names of chemical companies and products often contained a form of the word cellulose, a living chemical consisting of a long string of carbon and hydrogen and oxygen molecules (thus the word carbohydrate). The name of one of the country's largest chemical manufacturers, Celanese Corporation, was a contraction of "cellulose" and "the easy feeling" of wearing acetate apparel.

Ultimately what killed the carbohydrate economy was the incredibly weak prices of oil. In the 1940s, oil sunk under 1 dollar a barrel and effectively wiped the carbohydrate economy off the map.

The The Once and Future Carbohydrate Economy is some of the best reading on ethanol that I've come across...I highly recommend it. In case you don't have the time to read the whole piece, I've clipped one more section on the history of gasoline and ethanol that's a must read (in fact, read on).

It's a fascinating segment:

After World War I, car companies introduced high-compression engines. Existing fuels caused knocking, a result of uneven combustion. The industry feverishly sought an anti-knock additive. Ultimately, it narrowed the choice to two: ethanol or lead. Ethanol would require 10 percent of the gas tank. To achieve the same effect, lead needed less than 1 percent. The car companies, unsurprisingly, chose lead, and stuck to it even after outcries from the public health community about the effects of leaded gasoline.

In the 1970s, as part of its air quality efforts, the Environmental Protection Agency phased out leaded gasoline. Oil companies again could have substituted ethanol. Instead they chose to reformulate gasoline to increase the proportion of aromatic chemicals like benzene, toluene, and xylene. Then, in the late 1980s, the nation discovered these chemicals were carcinogenic and imposed limits on their use. The oil companies again could have switched to ethanol. Instead they chose MTBE, a product made from natural gas-derived methanol and isobutylene, a byproduct of the refinery process.

In the late 1990s, the nation discovered that MTBE was polluting ground water. Nineteen states began to phase out MTBE. So long as the Clean Air Act's oxygenate requirement remained, highly polluted urban areas had only one alternative: ethanol. The phase out of MTBE is the primary reason US fuel ethanol consumption has doubled in the last three years.

More on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in upcoming posts on HemperFi.

Posted by M at 10:26 AM | Permalink

The new Tasmanian Minister for Primary Industries, David Llewelly, indicated yesterday (April 13th) that he will work to change Tasmanian legislation to allow for hemp farming. According to (Australia's) ABC news, Llewelly is quoted as saying "I was not aware the hurdles in legislation here in Tasmania are now making it a little more difficult," he said. "We'll address that and sort it out." Sounds promising.

It turns out that the Deparment of Primary Industries has a well-informed horticulturalist on staff by the name Peter Simmul. Simmul has authored a number of industrial hemp articles/studies, including this 2003 informative study. In it, Simmul concludes:

Hemp fibre could be used as a sustainable substitute for imported wood kraft fibre for papermaking. With its food value yet to be fully realised, it could prove to be an ideal supplement for animals and humans. The oil is reported to have many uses with a favoured one being for use in skin conditioners. Until the scale of production increases significantly, and efficient machinery is employed in value adding systems, the economics of industrial hemp production and marketing in Tasmania will remain something of an unknown.

Two days ago, Simmul was quoted in ABC Rural news supporting hemp:

"I think it’s just one of those things where you’ve got a lot of competition on fibres, a lot of competition on food oils, and I think it's got to establish itself in the market place and be seen to be a worthy opponent in the competition field....There’s always a perception issue with these kind of things, some people would interpret it as being an undesirable thing because of the illicit components of it. But these crops are just so safe… there is no illicit component in them. The greater issue here is marketing and getting the confidence of people who are prepared to invest in it."

It's always refreshing to hear folks in government talking sense.

Posted by M at 09:30 PM | Permalink

Last June, the Tasmanian Health Minister made Australian history by issuing the first permit that allows the use of hemp in a food product. It's a small, but very significant step, particularly given that the license is only valid for dog food. Ian Rochfort, a part-time paramedic and geese farmer, is no stranger to hemp...he's been feeding his geese hempseed for years. “The geese loved it, and they grew on it beautifully,” Rochfort is quoted as saying in The Veterinarian.

Looks like Australia lags behind the Europe and North America on industrial hemp legislation and commercialization. There are some good signs. The Australia and New Zealand Food Advisory Committee has recommended that the Australian federal government legalize the use of hemp in human food, but so far, there's been little in the way of legislation. There is a growing list of Australian states that have -at some poin in the past 20 years- held industrial hemp trials. They include, Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, Western Australia, South Australia, but not, the Northern Territory. Of these, Victoria has the most progressive industrial hemp laws, which allow commercial cultivation. Of course, without a market, the total acreage is less that 100 hectacres per year.

By the way, Rochfort has posted a somewhat uninspiring "Why Hemp?" treatise...consisting of largely chemical analysis of hemp seed. If you were wondering what exactly was in hemp seed, Rochfort's one-page-site tells all.

Posted by M at 01:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I've found a great article by Don Lotter posted on the New Farm website. In two parts, the article covers the virtues of hemp and (more interestingly) reports on how two farmers are having a go at industrial hemp farming in Canada. A good reading for anyone considering hemp cultivation.

According to the article: "Hempseed yields in a good year are 1,500 lbs/acre for conventional and half of that from organic fields. Paul considers the 50% lower yields of organic hempseed to be attributable to inability to get enough nutrition to the crop, especially nitrogen."

The article also confirms what we've already reported on HemperFi...that growing hemp as a fiber crop (as opposed to seed) is risky business. The bailing, transporation and processing costs associated with hemp fiber makes it uneconomical in many geographies.

Posted by M at 12:00 AM | Permalink

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Posted by M at 02:50 PM | Permalink

Flax, much like hemp, has a myriad of commercial uses, many of which overlap with industrial hemp as a fibre and food crop (i.e., seed). It turns out that flax has had marginal success in the United States. Flaxseed prices peaked in 2004-2005 at nearly 700 Canadian Dollars per ton, but are projected to drop to 325 Canadian Dollars per ton in 2006.

For anyone seriously considering flax (or hemp) as a rotational crop, the Canadian government has published a useful guide called Flaxseed: Situation and Outlook. The guide states: "The US is forecast to produce 0.43 Mt of flaxseed for 2005-2006, a sharp rise from the 0.27 Mt per year produced for the previous 3 years. The increase is due to a rise in seeded area resulting from the unusually high flaxseed prices of 2004-2005." U.S. farmers, not wanting to miss the pricing peak, are ramping up production for a record U.S. 2006 harvest. Free market economics dictate that, barring any drought, frost or other externalities, the markets will shoulder a much lower price in light of greater supply.

Ok, but what yield rates does one need to sustain to make money from flax? Canadian farmers need about 32 bushels per acre yield rates if they are to cover their costs. However, in 2000 Canadian farmers only managed to harvest approximately 20 bushels per acre.

That said, it's somewhat puzziling why Canadian farming acreage dedicated to flax has been on the rise. The short answer seems to be that farmers are willing to gamble that prices will rise again, and therefore include flax as a rotational crop.

Where processing facilities exist, especially processing facilities that target niche commercial segments (e.g. organic flaxseed oil), things seem to be going well. This is perhaps the biggest takeaway for soon-to-be industrial hemp farmers in the U.S.: entrepreneurs must link with co-operatives and local governments to ensure success. I'll have some examples shortly on HemperFi.

Posted by M at 02:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Flax as a rotational crop in North America is on the upswing. It can be grown for both fibre and seed, and farming implements required to harvest the crop are readily available and well understood by North American farmers. Much like industrial hemp, flax's versatility make for countless commercial possibilities, including: clothing, food (as an oil), feedstock, and paper. Somwhat delicate, prone to lodging and physically short, harvesting and processing flax has it's share of complications.

Canada leads global flax production while India, China, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Argentina are notable players in the international flax trade.

In 2001, the United States produced 11.5 million bushels of flax on 585,000 acres. North Dakota is the biggest U.S. producer with 327,000 acres of flax that yielded 6.8 million bushels annually, while in 2000 Minnesota had about 10,000 acres of flaxseed, yielding 198,000 bushels. The United States imports about 1.9 million and exports about 2.4 million bushels of flax annually. (Source)

Like hemp, flax is touted as an excellent rotational crop with similar commercial uses. Given the similarities, the question is why American farmers have not embraced flax more widely. Is the market limited?

More flax discussion to come on HemperFi...in the meantime, here are some useful links (and many more here).

- Fiber Flax Farming Practices in the Southeastern United States
- Flax: Alternative Field Crops Manual. Prepared by the ­University of Wisconsin and University of Minnesota
- Flax Crop Production - by the Flax Council of Canada

Posted by M at 12:30 PM | Permalink

I've been thinking about the market mechanisms needed to ensure a thriving North American industrial hemp economy: processing techniques, cultivar imports and certification, processing and harvesting machinery and co-operatives.

Farming cooperatives have a 200 year tradition in the United States...A cooperative is defined as a business with two unique characteristics. First, it's members own the business. Second, the earnings of the cooperative are paid back to the famers (user-owners).

In many ways, farming cooperatives are similar to cartels...in fact, the U.S. anti-trust code has a farming cooperative exemption. This means, that farmers can legally price-fix, collaborate on go-to-market strategies, legally influence market dynamics through supply-managed strategies, and buy collectively for better volume discounts on seed, farming implements, etc.

In short, cooperatives are generally a good deal for farmers. Particularly for inchoate markets like industrial hemp, where collective thinking and strategies can help mitigate market risks and provide the political clout to spur local government agencies to help.

One model, and perhaps the archetype for soon-to-be hemp growers in the United States, is the Kentucky Hemp Grower's Association. All aspects of hemp cultivation are handled through the co-op...many of these practices are based on time tested tobacco cooperatives.

Listed below are the Kentucky Hemp Grower's Association "rules of the road". These are taken directly from David P. West's Industrial Hemp Farming: History and Practice available here.

- Farmers plant seed provided by the co-op; this provides for control of genotype.
- The co-op manages issues related to hemp variety evaluation and certification in compliance with legalities. Just as the cannery specifies the pea variety to the farmer, so does the hemp co-op allot acreages for specific hemps.
- The co-op forward contracts with fiber end-users for the needed production. Acreages are alloted accordingly among co-op member farmers.
- Marketing of the fiber is handled through the co-op.
- The crop can only be grown under contract to the co-op. It cannot be grown "on spec."
- Supply/demand relationships are managed to maintain profitability for the farmer.
- A grower must be a member of the co-op and bonded.
- Members found violating variety control regulations lose their allotment and forfeit their bond.

Posted by M at 01:28 PM | Permalink

James Woolsey, former U.S. CIA Director from 1993 to 1995, recently praised the virtues of hemp at an energy security conference where he fielded a question from the audience on industrial hemp. Reportedly, event organizers tried to sweep the "embarassing" question aside, but Woosley insisted on answering.

What came next surprised many, as Woolsey went into a lengthy commentary on hemp benefits and the folly of current U.S. anti-hemp policy. Woolsey, who often speaks on energy security, hilighted the potential of producing cellulolsic ethanol from hemp and drew attention to the potential disruptive nature legal hemp would have on illegal marijuana plots:

"If you wanted to hide marijuana in a field of industrial hemp, you'd have to be very high," Woolsey said. He explained that industrial hemp has a very low THC level compared to marijuana for recreational and medical use. (THC is the psychoactive component of marijuana.) So low is that level that placing the two plants together causes the recreational marijuana to lose its potency because of cross-pollination with the industrial version (check out the full post written by Kurt Kobb of Resource Insights)

Posted by M at 06:00 AM | Permalink

The Industrial Hemp movement has inspired Bolivian president Evo Morales to tout the coca plant as a commercially viable industrial crop. Running under the moniker of "Coca sí, Cocaína no", Morales and supporters have undertaken a successful marketing campaign espousing the virtues of the coca plant. Much like hemp, the coca plant can be used in everyday products such as shampoo, food, and cookies.

Seen by many as a champion for the poor, Evo Morales' humble beginnings make him an ideal spokesperson for poor coca farmers. His political saavy was honed during his years as an influential union leader in Bolivia's central coca-growing region. His poplularity has extended beyod Bolivia...Morales is fast becoming a rising interntaional star. He recently met Condolezza Rice and presented her with a miniature coca-leaf guitar:

("The gift was well received. We will just have to check with our customs to see what rules apply. We certainly hope we can bring it back (to Washington)," said a senior State Department official who attended the meeting.)

It should be noted that the U.S. and other countries have contributed some 700 million dollars to combatting coca cultivation and production in the central Bolivia. Much of this money was spent on eradication and the establishment of seemingly suitable alternative crops such as pineapples. These efforts have been an total disaster for Bolivian farmers..."the development projects failed when it became apparent that the region's remoteness makes shipping pineapples and bananas too expensive, and that prices for the crops can't compete with coca" writes Der Spiegel.

The industrial hemp movement has clearly set an example for Morales, the decriminilization of coca lobby, and coca production farmers. The issue is, that unlike hemp (which is genetically and chemically different from marijuana), coca is used for both legitimate products and illegal cocaine. This could spell a disaster for the drug war, given that Bolivia could soon become a huge exporter of legally grown coca leaf. I thought the U.S. DEA had it's hands full with the industrial hemp issue, but really it's a cakewalk compared to Bolivia's coca legalization campaign.

Posted by M at 03:00 PM | Permalink

The Manitoba Composites Innovation Centre (CIC) received an additional $6.6M funding boost from the Canadian government. Much of the spending will be earmarked for the CIC's new bio composites lab. This lab, specifically researches molding and pressing techniques using straw, flax and hemp.

Funded by the national Canadian government, regional governemnt and Canadian composite technology businesses, the fact that this latest round formalizes the creation of a bio composites lab should not be overlooked. The CIC has a decent track record of commercial cooperation and has cleverly teamed-up, rather than competed with the potentially overlapping (and much larger) National Research Council of Canada (NRC). In 2004, the CIC signed a memorandum of understanding with the NRC to cooperate in composites, particularly aerospace composites...the primary focus area of the NRC's compsites effort.

Manitoba is the example to watch...they are clearly laying down a smart, well-orchestrated, demand-creation strategy. Ultimately, entities like the CIC create frutiful symbiotic dependencies...In this case, between hemp famers and Canada's composites industry.

Posted by M at 02:49 PM | Permalink