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Michigan hemp industry gives harvest & business updates

Leaders of Michigan’s hemp industry met with reporters Monday to discuss the state’s first harvest and potential growth opportunities for the industry.

iHemp Michigan president John Freeman tells Brownfield he founded the organization after the 2018 Farm Bill was passed and is working to unite farmers and business leaders.

“We’ve come a long way in seven months.”

Freeman says he first saw industrial hemp used as a Marine during Vietnam and believes it can help replace the use of plastics and benefit the environment.

“The plastic pollution of the planet, the oceans, everything it’s destroying—industrial hemp will replace bioplastic, but it will be a fight, the petrol companies don’t want this.”

David Conner with the Paw Paw Hemp Company Brownfield his company intended to plant 40 acres this year and just started harvesting a crop that’s a little more than half of that because of propagation challenges.

“We committed to growing for CBD oil because that’s the one product in hemp that has a supply line and marketing channel already, but we see maybe in the next five to ten years a significant shift into more fiber.”

Conner expects to plant about 100 acres next year and about 500 acres will be planted in his area with a farmer collective.

ihemp Michigan plans to host the largest industrial hemp conference this coming January for growers and processors across the Midwest.