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Richard Evans is on a mission to save the world with hemp.
...
Richard says hemp is "renewable, sustainable and clean" and can be used to "create foods, proteins, fibres and medicines".If that wasn't enough, Richard also says the plant would be useful for decontaminating soil, storing carbon and could even be a contender to replace the oil industry.
The diverse potential of hemp is why Mirreco created its specialised machine—a world-first invention capable of processing hemp in a new way.
"I realised a few years ago that the bottleneck in the global hemp industry is processing," says Richard.
The machine allows for processing at farms, with rapid conversion into numerous materials that can be used for many purposes.
Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin saved cotton farming in the American South. Perhaps Mirreco's machine could do the same for hemp?
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday April 12 2019, @11:24PM (8 children)
Calling Betteridge!
Betteridge?
I hope people do embrace hemp. Requires less water than cotton, grows faster, requires less fertiliser.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday April 12 2019, @11:52PM
Betteridge gets summoned by the word "the", before you event reach the "?" at the end.
Like for green energy, there is no such thing as the key.
"A major contributor as part of a broad spectrum of solutions" doesn't make for an attractive headline, though.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 13 2019, @12:10AM (3 children)
The more complex processing and legal issues are what are holding hemp back. Without the legal issues, processing isn't so much an issue. Plus, hemp has so many uses grows in a much wider range of climates.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Saturday April 13 2019, @02:17PM (2 children)
Perhaps - but without the processing, hemp would be more profitable, which would increase the pressure on lawmakers to remove the legal issues.
(Score: 3, Informative) by NotSanguine on Saturday April 13 2019, @02:40PM (1 child)
While it is true that recreational cannabis is the largest cash crop in the US [drugscience.org] by dollar value, cannabis grown for its psychoactive properties is not as useful for fibers and industrial use as hemp, which has minimal amounts of psychoactive chemicals.
This is because the psychoactive chemicals are concentrated in the buds and flowering tops of the cannabis plant.
Growers of recreational cannabis grow strains that have been bred to maximize the buds, flowering tops and cannabinoid content, while hemp grown for industrial use is bred to maximize the stems and roots, as that's where the bulk of the fibrous materials are.
As such, it's not really a good comparison between recreational cannabis and cotton crops.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Saturday April 13 2019, @03:02PM
I'm talking about industrial hemp, not marijuana. Lots of legal hurdles for hemp, though it's getting better. If you look at the history, cannabis (of all kinds) was made illegal in the US thanks to an alliance of those who wanted to undermine the anti-war movement with the lumber and pharmaceutical industries. And industry was more interested in shutting down industrial hemp.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Saturday April 13 2019, @01:44AM
You didn't take that fertilizer bit far enough. It requires almost no fertilizer, true, but it actually adds to the soil. Cotton and corn are the two crops that deplete the fertility of the soil the worst. All other crops tend to put something good back into the soil, and hemp is almost as good as a legume crop in that respect. Hemp was an important part of crop rotation when it was commonly grown.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 15 2019, @11:15AM (1 child)
It's fibers are coarse and the fabric made from it is itchy. Cotton > flax > hemp. Flax fabric is somewhat tolerable, but wrinkles too easily. Hemp ... is good only for sacks, ropes, and mats.
(Score: 2) by jasassin on Monday April 15 2019, @08:46PM
Nothing could be farther from the truth. My 80% hemp 20% cotton t-shirt was super slinky and smooth like silk.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A