Ph.D., the only plant breeder in the U.S. actively involved in reestablishing industrial hemp, directs the hemp seed variety trial research in Hawaii. Hemp farming is of integral importance to Hawaii as the state's economy is still suffering from the loss of its main export sugar cane. Industrial hemp could meet both of these objectives. Once the DEA removes its restrictions on growing industrial hemp freely outside of the test plot trials, the vast economic and ecological benefits will make themselves known in Hawaii. Like Hawaii, thousands of American farmers are suffering from the declining profitability of crops they produce.
Farmers have a dearth of options.
The plight of the American farmer is aggravating for Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative president Andrew Graves who spearheaded the lawsuit filed against the DEA last year, in an effort to allow Kentucky tobacco farmers the right to grow industrial hemp in lieu of their diminishing tobacco crops. It makes no sense that the same government that encouraged and paid my father good money to grow hemp 40 years ago during WWII, is restricting me from saving my ailing tobacco business by forbidding me to grow the exact same plant. Despite the domestic demand for hemp-based products, American farmers are still forced to import hemp from any one of the 30 industrialized nations that grow the crop. The California Democratic National Party has adopted a resolution supporting hemp at its state convention last March, which is the first time in history that a major political party has embraced drug-free hemp. Dollars speak the loudest, however, and the exceptional global resurgence of hemp bears witness to the powerful commercial potential of this crop.