And, because hemp is planted in thick, shady stands, weeds are virtually non-existent. Rotating hemp crops with corn, wheat, alfalfa, and clover provides healthy soil and good yields, though Kentucky farmers early in the 1900s often found that hemp grown for fiber, harvested before it seeded, and field-retted year after year, produced equally productive crops from one year to the next, improving the soil rather than depleting it. Jeffrey W. Gain is an Illinois farmer, a past chair of the National Corn Growers Association, and currently chairs the Alternative Agricultural Research and Commercialization Corporation. If we're smart about it, we can leave the planet in a lot better shape than we found it. The AARC is a Congressionally funded program through the US Department of Agriculture, that invests in entrepreneurs seeking to commercialize their biobased industrial products.
Preference is given to projects that benefit rural communities and are environmentally friendly.
Currently a hemp farm, should the DEA ever issue the necessary permits, would be akin to a prison farm, Gain said. There is a labyrinth of regulations that, among other requirements, calls for concentration camp-like fencing topped with razor wire. Gain is optimistic that logic will prevail, however. Even when hemp is finally differentiated from marijuana in the DEA's mind, technological advances in harvesting equipment must be made for the crop to enjoy maximum profitability. Harvesting methods are further complicated because how the crop is harvested depends on the end use, whether that be paper, seed, or fiber.