Originally Posted by PureHarvest
As far as the pesticide claim, being that you don't have to spray hemp, that is not the whole story. Nobody sprays hemp because you can't (Legally)!
When it comes to ag production, you can only apply chemicals to crops that are registered on the label for the product. Because there has been no market for hemp, no chemical company has done the research and paid to list hemp as one of the crops their product is labeled to treat.
Hemp would fit into many corn/bean/wheat rotations, and you better believe that a farmer is going to do pre-plant herbicide treatments, and may also have to spray some insecticides to keep defoliating bugs from destroying the crop (think grasshoppers or beetles). Good chance they will also do seed treatments for insects and fungicide. You can argue whether or not these are necessary, but the same case could be made for corn or beans. The point is, unless its organic, the ag industry (product companies and universities) will make sure that hemp is treated just like all other field-scale commodities, and train farmers to grow it just like corn and beans, again, unless its an organic farm. When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail. This is the agronomy system in the USA 2018, and hemp is not gonna change that.
So, when you read any story touting hemp as an eco-friendly alternative crop that will save the environment, count me as 100% skeptical that it turns out that way.
If the market is truly freed-up, companies will do the research or pay the universities to give their data (which is occurring now) on what they are spraying, how often, and fertilizer rates, seed treatments, fertilizer ect...
If you want to support it to provide a better source of fiber, feed, etc., or that we can provide another market for domestic farmers, that I can agree on.
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