National Farm Bureau Supports Industrial Hemp

For immediate release: January 10, 1996

Reno -- The American Farm Bureau Federation, the largest farming organization in the United States with 4.6 million members, today passed a resolution unanimously at its 77th annual convention in Reno, Nevada which reads,

"We recommend that American Farm Bureau Federation encourage research into the viability and economic potential of industrial hemp production in the United States. We further recommend that such research includes planting test plots in the United States using modern agricultural techniques".

The endorsement of the AFBF comes just in time for the introduction of the Industrial Hemp Production Act to the Colorado state legislature. The Hemp Production Act (Senate Bill 96-67), sponsored by Senator Lloyd Casey (D-Northglenn), would allow regulated cultivation of industrial (low-THC) hemp by Colorado farmers. The bill permits planting no more than forty acres of industrial hemp in Colorado in 1996 for agricultural, commercial, and scientific research. The bill would allow hemp production to increase in subsequent years.

Senator Casey believes the endorsement of the AFBF will have a large impact on the passage of his bill. In addition to the AFBF endorsement, industrial hemp production has been endorsed by the Colorado Farm Bureau, the Kentucky Farm Bureau, the Wisconsin Agribusiness Council, and other farming associations. Bob Winter, president of the Weld County Farm Bureau, is working with Colorado State University to develop a research plan for the first hemp crop in Colorado. Companies such as International Paper, Masonite, and Inland Container Corporation have expressed interested in Colorado hemp as an alternative fiber source. Environmental groups see hemp as an alternative to trees for paper.

"The support of the American Farm Bureau Federation adds great credibility to the industrial hemp movement. Hopefully, our state legislators will see the economic potential of industrial hemp for Colorado farmers and allow Colorado to become the first state to produce hemp in the U.S. in over 40 years," said Laura Kriho of the Colorado Hemp Initiative Project.