Grown by George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, hemp is a hearty, drought tolerant, soil building annual which is highly suited for crop rotation. Cultivation began in China and Eurasia around 7500 BC, and since then has spread to virtually every temperate zones on the planet. According to the DEA, it is technically legal to grow hemp in the US, provided you obtain the necessary permits and follow all of the regulations. However, from an economic stand point, the costs associated with the red tape leviathan insure that no sane farmer would even contemplate growing industrial hemp, when the imports are so cheap.
Hemp produces more dry vegetable fiber than any other temperate plant.
Its strong root system controls erosion and plays an important role in reforestation, weed eradication, maintenance of wildlife habitat, and air purification. According to the US Dept of Agriculture, the number of acres of cultivated hemp needed to provide paper, building materials and usable pulp equal to that produced by 41,000 acres of trees is equal to 10,000. In other words, one acre of hemp yields the same amount of paper pulp as four acres of trees. Hemp paper fibers also have more recycling lives than wood based paper or cotton fibers. Hemp Makes Superior Paper and Fabric.