Hemp has the potential to be a profitable cash crop for state farmers, a one-year study by North Dakota State University determined this week. The study recommends allowing farmers to grow test plots of the crop for experimental production and research purposes.
“There’s real potential for [hemp] as a rotation crop with North Dakota crops,” said David Kraenzel of the NDSU agriculture economics department, who headed the study. The state Legislature mandated the study in 1997 by overwhelmingly approving House Bill 1305. North Dakota is the third state to authorize and complete such a study.
Authors of the study predicted that hemp could yield profits as high as $141 per acre to farmers, particularly those in the eastern one third of the state. Authors also noted that they will have a better understanding of the economics of hemp by observing Canadian efforts to commercially farm and process the crop. At least 29 nations — including Canada, France, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and Australia — allow farmers to cultivate hemp for industrial purposes.
For more information, please contact either NORML board member Don Wirtshafter of The Ohio Hempery @ (740) 662-4367 or Allen St. Pierre of The NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751.