1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:07,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:10,600 Speaker 1: I'm Lauren Vogel Bomb and in fields across the United States, 3 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: hemp is about to take over. It was once a 4 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:18,040 Speaker 1: staple of revolutionary age farms. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and 5 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:21,240 Speaker 1: George Washington all grew it, and caretakers at Mount Vernon 6 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:24,480 Speaker 1: still reap it. But it was banned for decades in 7 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 1: the United States for somewhat unfortunate association with its party 8 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:32,760 Speaker 1: hardy cousin cannabis. But now that Congress has passed a 9 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 1: new farm bill that contains provision that will legalize and 10 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:39,480 Speaker 1: regulate the plant, hempfields are poised to start edging out 11 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:42,479 Speaker 1: some of America's more traditional crops, from corn to cotton. 12 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:47,000 Speaker 1: The hemp plant holds great promise for belaggered farmers everywhere, 13 00:00:47,479 --> 00:00:51,879 Speaker 1: though for many it remains largely misunderstood. We spoke with 14 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:55,800 Speaker 1: Corey Sharp, the CEO of Hemp Logic, which provides services 15 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:59,760 Speaker 1: from seed to sale. The website claims to fledgling hemp farmers. 16 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:03,760 Speaker 1: Sharp said, my web traffic quadrupled right after the farm 17 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:06,120 Speaker 1: bill passed. I'm getting fifty emails a day when I 18 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:09,039 Speaker 1: was getting ten. I get asked this all the time. 19 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:12,399 Speaker 1: Does it feel like a gold rush? Yes, it absolutely 20 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:14,520 Speaker 1: feels like a gold rush. And I'm the guy supplying 21 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:18,920 Speaker 1: the shovels and the wagons and the supplieseen law allowed 22 00:01:18,959 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 1: the growing of hemp by states and some universities for research. 23 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:25,959 Speaker 1: The year before, forward thinking Colorado allowed a farmer to 24 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:28,679 Speaker 1: grow a hemp crop, the first in decades in a 25 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:33,720 Speaker 1: closely watched experiment. By seen nineteen states were growing hemp 26 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:37,040 Speaker 1: on some twenty five thousand acres, about three times more 27 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: acreage than the year before. Now, with the passage of 28 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:44,319 Speaker 1: this new farm bill, the shackles are off sharp predicted 29 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:47,160 Speaker 1: it's going to blow. It's wide open. It's the wild 30 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 1: wild West. We also spoke with Eric Steinstra, the president 31 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 1: of the advocacy group Vote Hemp. He said that in 32 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 1: seventeen growing hemp was an eight hundred and twenty million 33 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:01,360 Speaker 1: dollar industry in the United States and that in ten 34 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:05,120 Speaker 1: years there's no telling how much that might balloon. Quote, 35 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:08,680 Speaker 1: We're going to see a multibillion dollar industry. We're going 36 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:11,760 Speaker 1: to see hemp become a full commodity where it's not now. 37 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:14,400 Speaker 1: It's not a huge crop, not traded on the exchanges 38 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:16,920 Speaker 1: that kind of thing. I think we will see markets 39 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:19,560 Speaker 1: developing products in new ways to use this crop in 40 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:22,480 Speaker 1: ways previously not thought of. I think we're going to 41 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 1: see this become the number one crop in the United 42 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:28,840 Speaker 1: States eventually. I believe that the rise of hemp may 43 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:31,600 Speaker 1: come and cost two crops that require lots of water 44 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:35,519 Speaker 1: and pesticides like cotton, soybeans, and corn, and the allure 45 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:38,280 Speaker 1: of hemp is strong for many reasons. It grows more 46 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:41,160 Speaker 1: quickly than crops like corn, but with less water and 47 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:46,239 Speaker 1: fertilizer and less need for herbicides and pesticides. Sharp however, 48 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 1: cautions that while it can grow like a weed, it 49 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:51,560 Speaker 1: must be controlled for the crop to have any value. 50 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:54,160 Speaker 1: He said, I always tell people you want to grow 51 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:57,519 Speaker 1: two hundred acres, grow too. You have to be very, 52 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:02,080 Speaker 1: very careful with the passage of the farm bill. Hemp overcomes, 53 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:05,920 Speaker 1: at least for many, a huge stigma its association with cannabis. 54 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:09,320 Speaker 1: The two come from the same plant, Cannabis sativa, but 55 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 1: sharing a species doesn't mean that they share a genome. 56 00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:14,799 Speaker 1: A vote Hemp points out that Chihuahua's and St. Bernard's 57 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:18,640 Speaker 1: share a species too. Cannabis and hemp were lumped together 58 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 1: in the Marijuana Tacks Act of ninety seven and again 59 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:25,440 Speaker 1: with the Controlled Substances Act of nineteen seventy, but hemp 60 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:28,880 Speaker 1: doesn't contain nearly the levels of the psychoactive ingredient tetra 61 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 1: hydrocannabinal or th HC, the stuff that creates a high 62 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:35,920 Speaker 1: that cannabis does. Hemp is less than point three percent 63 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:40,280 Speaker 1: t HC, according to the Ministry of Hemp. The hope 64 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 1: from hemp backers and future hemp farmers is that with 65 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:45,800 Speaker 1: this new provision in the Farm Bill, hemp will again 66 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:48,720 Speaker 1: become legit in people's eyes, and that its myriad uses 67 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:51,520 Speaker 1: will benefit all as a food of fuel, or its 68 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:54,600 Speaker 1: fibers being spun into clothing or used in construction, just 69 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:58,280 Speaker 1: to name a few. Steinster said, it's kind of amazing 70 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:00,280 Speaker 1: how far we've come. All of a sudden. When we 71 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:03,160 Speaker 1: started on this, people like politician Mitch McConnell had a 72 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:06,119 Speaker 1: beef with us. They absolutely did perceive this as being 73 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 1: somehow connected to marijuana legislation. It took a lot of 74 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:12,400 Speaker 1: just basically knocking on doors, sitting in meetings, and crafting 75 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:15,280 Speaker 1: the message, focusing on the economics of this, the potential 76 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 1: for farmers and businesses, and that was a message that 77 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:25,600 Speaker 1: resonated with members of Congress. Today's episode was written by 78 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:28,200 Speaker 1: John Donovan and produced by Tyler Playing. For more on 79 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:30,839 Speaker 1: this and lots of other practical topics, visit our home planet, 80 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:43,480 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com.