Industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa with THC < 0.3%) is a versatile, sustainable plant that has been cultivated for thousands of years. Hemp was criminalized in the US in the 1970s and 1980s due to an over-zealous and inaccurate equating of the fibrous plant with marijuana. In 2018, hemp was legalized by the federal government, leading to a rapid growth in the hemp industry, focused on its use in building materials, industrial and consumer textiles, bioplastics, packaging, and food.
Since the hemp economy is relatively new, we have opportunities to direct its development, including to provide economic opportunities for communities of color who have traditionally been disenfranchised by drug criminalization, thus helping to close racial equity gaps. In addition, the versatile hemp plant sequesters significant carbon and has a strong potential to contribute to efforts to tackle climate change. The plant also has phytoremediation properties, which is the ability to remove chemical pollution from the soil, and can be used to remediate brownfields and other polluted lands.
The PSU Hemp Collaborative brings together research and community engagement at PSU related to industrial hemp and works to support efforts throughout the region to promote industrial hemp. The first output from these efforts, a report on the economic feasibility, carbon sequestration and phytoremediation aspects of industrial hemp is shared below.
For more information or opportunities to engage, please contact:
Beth Gilden, Institute for Sustainable Solutions
Sahan Dissanayake, Department of Economics and Institute for Sustainable Solutions
Read the report: "Industrial Hemp – A review of economic potential, carbon sequestration, and bioremediation"