Oregon Hemp Farming Bill Becomes Law

New State Program for Hemp Farmers to be Established

Press Release

SALEM, OR (August 4, 2009) - Vote Hemp, the leading grassroots advocacy organization working to give back farmers the right to grow industrial hemp (the oilseed and fiber varieties of Cannabis), enthusiastically supports the decision of Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski to sign SB 676 into law today. The bill, which passed the House by a vote of 46 to 11 and the Senate by a vote of 27 to 2, permits the production, trade and possession of industrial hemp commodities and products. With the Governor’s signature, it now makes a politically bold commitment to develop hemp in a state whose slogan is “Oregon – We Love Dreamers.”

“I am glad that Oregon has joined the other states that have agreed that American farmers should have the right to re-introduce industrial hemp as an agricultural crop,” says SB 676 sponsor, Sen. Floyd Prozanski. “By signing SB 676 into law, which passed the Oregon Legislature with strong bi-partisan support, Governor Kulongoski has taken a proactive position allowing our farmers the right to grow industrial hemp, to provide American manufacturers with domestically-grown hemp, and to profit from that effort.” The new law sets up a state-regulated program for farmers to grow industrial hemp which is used in a wide variety of products, including nutritious foods, cosmetics, body care, clothing, tree-free paper, auto parts, building materials, fuels and much more. Learn more about hemp at www.VoteHemp.com.

“Oregon’s federal delegation can now take this law to the U.S. Congress and call for a fix to this problem, so American companies will no longer need to import hemp and American farmers will no longer be denied a profitable new crop,” comments Vote Hemp Director, Patrick Goggin. “Under current federal policy, industrial hemp can be imported, but it cannot be grown by American farmers. Hemp is an environmentally-friendly crop that has not been grown commercially in the U.S. for over fifty years because of a politicized and misguided interpretation of the nation’s drug laws by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). While a new federal bill in Congress, HR 1866, is a welcome step, the hemp industry is hopeful that the Obama administration will recognize hemp’s myriad benefits to farmers, businesses and the environment,” adds Goggin.

Many businesses in Oregon manufacture, market and sell hemp products, including Living Harvest, The Merry Hempsters, Wilderness Poets, Earthbound Creations, Sweetgrass Natural Fibers, Sympatico Clothing, Mama’s Herbal Soaps and Hempire. Living Harvest of Portland was recently ranked the third-fastest-growing company in Oregon, as awarded by The Portland Business Journal’s “Fastest-Growing Private 100 Companies” annual award. “We are looking forward to the opportunity to invest in hemp processing and production locally,” says Hans Fastre, CEO of Living Harvest. “This new law represents another step towards heightening the hemp industry’s profile within mainstream America and making hemp products more accessible to businesses and consumers.”

These Oregon-based companies have been on the leading edge of the growing hemp food and body care markets, which are currently estimated by the Hemp Industries Association (HIA) to be $113 million in North American annual retail sales. The HIA estimates the 2008 annual retail sales of all hemp products in North America to be about $360 million. By allowing U.S. farmers to once again grow hemp, legislators can clear the way for a “New Billion-Dollar Crop.”

Hemp Farming Gains Support from More State Governments and Law Enforcement

According to the Illinois Valley News, Josephine County Sheriff Gil Gilbertson said that he supports the legalization of industrial hemp. “I think it’s a good idea,” Gilbertson said in the article which appeared on July 29. “I think it’s a viable crop, and the entire county could benefit from it.”

On June 9, with little fanfare, Maine Governor John Baldacci signed the Maine hemp farming bill, LD 1159, into law. Maine’s House had previously passed the bill without objection, and the Senate later passed it by a strong vote of 25 to 10. The bill establishes a licensing regime for farming industrial hemp, although the licensing is contingent upon action by the federal government. Maine had previously passed a study bill that also defined industrial hemp. Like North Dakota, the new law in Oregon does not require a federal permit to grow industrial hemp.

During the 2009 legislative session, Maine, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota and Vermont all passed pro-hemp laws, resolutions or memorials. Sixteen states have passed pro-hemp legislation to date, and eight states (Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, Vermont and West Virginia) have removed barriers to its production or research. Like North Dakota, where farmers are in a federal court battle over their rights to grow hemp under state law without fear of federal prosecution, the new law in Oregon does not require a federal DEA permit to grow hemp.

About Vote Hemp

Vote Hemp is a national, single-issue, nonprofit organization dedicated to the acceptance of and free market for low-THC industrial hemp and to changes in current law to allow U.S. farmers to once again grow this agricultural crop. More information about hemp legislation and the crop’s many uses may be found at www.VoteHemp.com or www.HempIndustries.org. BETA SP or DVD Video News Releases featuring footage of hemp farming in other countries are available upon request by contacting Adam Eidinger at 202-744-2671.

Vote Hemp, Inc. Adam Eidinger Communications Director email: adam@votehemp.com phone: 202-744-2671

Tom Murphy National Outreach Coordinator email: tom@votehemp.com phone: 207-542-4998

Eco-Savvy Storytellers watching the greening of politics.

Food, Inc. Opens

“You’ll never look at dinner the same way.”

Opening throughout coastal cities in the nation, “Food, Inc.” features critic/philosopher and food lover Michael Pollan who takes the viewer on a trip through the food chain. If you are on the coast, see it. If you are living in the bread basket states, well, you’ll have to wait for the DVD release.

For more background, listen to this NPR story.

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Monsanto Sues Germany over GM ban

Op/Ed Piece Special by Amicus Curiae

Monsanto is now suing the German government (and, by that, the people) to force them to grow their GM Corn.

According to “Food Production Daily, the Monsanto files suit against Germany over GM ban:

MON810 maize is genetically engineered to produce Bacillus thuringiensis, which is toxic to the corn borer pest. Permitted in Europe since 1998 for animal feed, it is marketed as a way to save farmers money on insecticides and other pest controls.

However, German agriculture minister Ilse Aigner claimed last week that she had “legitimate reasons” to believe the maize to be a danger to the environment – and believes the Environment Ministry to agree with the view. Although MON810 has been permitted in Germany since 2005, she scrapped plans for 3,600 hectares (8,892 acres) to be planted in the eastern states for this summer’s harvest.

Now the biotech giant has hit back, according to a Reuters article, filing a lawsuit against the Germany government in the administrative court in Braunschweig, northern Germany. The wire quotes a spokesperson for Monsanto as saying the ban is “arbitrary”. A clause in EU law does allow member states to impose such a ban, but Monsanto claims they can only do so once a plant has already been approved if new scientific evidence has come to light.

If the outcome of the lawsuit is in Monsanto’s favour, the cost to the German government has been estimated at between €6m and €7m….

France also invoked the clause on new scientific evidence that cast doubt over its safety last year….

Other countries to implement bans are Hungary and Austria. Last month European ministers voted – for the fourth time – against forcing these countries to lift their bans, despite EFSA’s view.

Makes trying to refuse those sprouts at dinner seem familiar? Several other intelligent EU countries have reservations and have refused to grow these products that are inefficient, low producing, chemically ruinous, fertilizer intensive, UN-tested for toxicological harm to humans, and dubious safety for animals. This is a good indicator that not ALL the world has been fooled by Monsanto.

Some American growers are also moving away, after they have had land become so Roundup resistant they can no longer farm it! News Source France 24 reports:

“Superweeds” are plaguing high-tech Monsanto crops in southern US states, driving farmers to use more herbicides, return to conventional crops or even abandon their farms.”

I do hope that Germany can not only win, but by doing so, set a precedent the rest of the world to follow. JUST SAY NO!! AND MEAN IT!

1. A form of mental alienation, marked by a delusion of greatness, wealth, etc.
2. A mania for big or great things.

I personally think a “form of mental alienation” is the correct term to sum up this news. The level of hubris that must exist for a corporation to attempt to force us to grow anything we do not want to grow, or eat anything we think is unsafe. Leave us to farm in peace without being harassed by GMO-contamination of our crops, animals, honey… whatever it is we produce.

This is a company forcing a government and a people to accept a product they do not want. Somebody certainly has a delusional issue, and it is NOT those who refuse to accept genetically altered food.

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Cabot Says No More Growth Hormones in its Milk

Cheese sales on the line, makers of Cabot brand of cheeses, cooperative owner Agri-Mark has informed its member farmers that if they want to continue using bovine somatotropin to boost production their milk they will have to go to sell their milk to the New York region. Trucking the milk that distance will increase the costs of production so much that the writing is on the wall, making the use of rbST unprofitable.

“I’d say most have seen it coming for quite a while, and feel if it impacts everybody the same way they can accept it,” said Bob Wellington, senior vice president of Agri-Mark, the largest producer cooperative in New England. “Some will wait right up to the very end, because they believe it makes them money.”

The author suggests that the New England dairy industry will be “rbST-free” by the end of summer 2009.

Monsanto Seeds Sustainable Agriculture Greenwash

This Greenwash moment is brought to us by Monsanto who intends to meet the challenges of tomorrow by redefining “sustainability”.

From the Monsanto website:

By 2030, Monsanto commits to help farmers produce more and conserve more by:

• Developing improved seeds that help farmers double yields from 2000 levels for corn, soybeans and cotton, with a $10 million grant pledged to improve wheat and rice yields.
• Conserving resources through developing seeds that use one-third fewer key resources per unit of output to grow crops while working to lessen habitat loss and improve water quality.
• Helping improve the lives of all farmers who use our products, including an additional five million people in resource-poor farm families by 2020.

That’s sustainable agriculture. And that’s what Monsanto seeds are all about.

Monsanto was primarily a chemical company, prior to focusing on the seed market. It helped us keep our lawns green with toxic herbicides now known to be dangerous. In 1980, concurrent with the Reagan Administration, the United States Patent and Trademark Office began to grant patents on seeds. Since then, Monsanto has purchased seed companies worldwide and has become the leader in genetic modification of seeds, monopolizing control of food production through a combination of its seed and pesticide sales. It systematically uses legislative pressure and lawsuits to fight the blocking efforts of farmers and stores who reject their products.

This Vanity Fair article, “Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear” provides a fascinating and well-researched piece on Monsanto’s march to monopolize the seed market. It illustrates that Monsanto’s definition of “sustainable” is about sustaining itself.

Michael Pollan Discusses Impact of Food Production Facing New Administration

In this video, Michael Pollan offers a new plan for America’s food production in this Web 2.0 2008 discussion held in San Francisco in early November. Pollan, gifted with a great sense of humor as he exposes hard truths about our food production and eating patterns, suggests that President-Elect Obama use the bully pulpit to:

• replace 5 acres of pristine Whitehouse lawn and replace it with organic crops, providing a backdrop for all those news segments that sends a new message to Americans;
• appoint someone like Alice Water, who values organic and sustainably grown food, as head chef;
• additionally, appoint an organic farmer to a Whitehouse post, in order to elevate the perceived value of farming.