Wisconsin’s Misunderstood Plant
When you think of hemp, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? Do you associate this plant with its many health benefits and abilities to be used in our food? Is it a plant that is associated with an illegal substance? Or are you hemp-friendly and look for it as an alternative to help reduce waste in our planet?
A member of the cannabis family, hemp is often associated with a more notorious member of the family – marijuana. When I first heard of hemp I assumed they were the same. I was wrong in my ways. However, I know I'm not the only one who thinks that way. There are many people who pin the two as one, but why?
Hemp has an interesting timeline here in Wisconsin. As early as 1908, the Office of Fiber Investigations worked with the University of Wisconsin Agriculture Experiment Station to plant hemp in Mendota and Waupun. Throughout the early 1900s, Wisconsin continued to see an increase in hemp farming. By 1921 the USDA highlighted that increase in hemp acreage was more in Wisconsin than any other hemp-producing region in the world. Ten years later, Wisconsin would lead the nation in hemp production. Hemp was being used to create paper and was in high demand by the U.S. Navy to create rope during World War II. In 1941, The Capital Times ran a headline that read “Wisconsin hemp is a $3 million crop and the state produces 75% of raw material for cordage and rope.”
In less than a century, hemp would go from being one of Wisconsin’s leading agricultural profits to one that was fighting its way to be legally grown. By 1970, US Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act that put hemp and marijuana in the same drug category, thus banning hemp cultivation in the United States. More recently, the Agricultural Act of 2014 set to legalize industrial hemp cultivation for State Departments of Agriculture and institutions of higher education to conduct academic and market research on industrial hemp. At the same time, the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin met with the U.S. government to discuss growing industrial hemp on their tribal lands.
In July 2015, a law was passed that allowed the Menominee Tribe to legally grow low-THC cannabis. However, in October 2015, the US Drug Enforcement Agency and state/local police raided the hemp farm on the Menominee Reservation, calling the plants high-grade marijuana.
The Menominee Tribe filed for a declaratory judgment against the U.S. Department of Justice and Drug Enforcement Agency, but in May 2016 a federal judge ruled in favor of the DEA and ruled that the state of Wisconsin must pass a legalization law in order for the Menominee Tribe to grow hemp. Wisconsin’s industrial hemp bill passed in 2017, allowing the state’s farmers to obtain licenses to grow and process the crop through the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP). Under the bill, all hemp grown and processed must have a concentration of no more than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Marijuana exceeds the 0.3% level.
There is so much history behind the growing of hemp here in our state, and much of it (including the provided timeline above) can be found on Hempstead Project HEART’s website.
BUILDING AWARENESS
Hemps tead Projec t HEART is an organization that was founded by Native American poet, philosopher, and recording artist John Trudell to help build public awareness of the many benefits of growing industrial hemp. Hempstead Project HEART helps do this through research, education, advocacy and by building alliances. Its goal is to “legalize industrial hemp in the state of Wisconsin” and to “create a viable business plan for cultivation and processing of industrial hemp on a tribal reservation.” Under Trudell, the organization helped rebuild understanding of hemp in the state of California, leading to the relegalization of industrial hemp in 2016.
In 2015, Marcus Grignon (now director of Hempstead Project HEART) wrote to HEART concerned about the lack of education on industrial hemp farming. As an academic researcher at the College of the Menominee Nation and the University of Wisconsin- Green Bay (working on an industrial hemp plot on the Wisconsin Menominee Indian Reservation), Grignon understood the significance that hemp held culturally, economically and environmentally. Trudell answered Grignon and the two worked together after the Menominee Reservation was raided. While the two were working towards bringing that same education the organization had brought to California, Trudell was diagnosed with cancer. Days before his passing, Trudell asked Marcus to take the lead on Hempstead Project HEART. The goal didn’t leave once Trudell passed. Grignon and Hempstead Project HEART are still working daily to bring public awareness to hemp cultivation.
I recently had the opportunity to virtually sit down with Grignon and learn more about hemp.
Marcus Grignon
“Did you know if you plant 2.2 acres of hemp, you can pull 22 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere? Hemp is one of those beneficial plants for humans and the environment.”
–Marcus Grignon, director project HEART
What exactly is hemp? I feel like it gets a bad reputation due to its association with cannabis. Can you help clarify any misjudgments? How does this plant relate to cannabis/CBD?
“Best way I can explain hemp is using a pepper analogy. You have all different hot peppers: habañero, jalapeño, ghost pepper, chipotle; these are your high-grade marijuana plants. Hemp is more of your bell pepper type of pepper. All of these peppers are in the same family, but distinctly different. I can say the same about hemp and marijuana being a part of the cannabis family. You cannot grow hemp and marijuana together due to the cross-pollination issue … All cannabis plants have CBD and THC. A lot of the hemp CBD dominant varieties are just simplified high-grade THC plants. The plants are bred out of their THC levels for higher CBD levels. THC and CBD cannot live in harmony together in the hemp plant. One will be dominant over the other.”
What are some of the known benefits of using hemp?
“Did you know if you plant 2.2 acres of hemp you can pull 22 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere? Hemp is one of those beneficial plants for humans and the environment. The late founder, John Trudell, of Hempstead Project HEART, said once that cannabis is for the human beings and hemp is for the Earth. What I have read over the years about hemp covers a lot of information on the plant. You would be surprised what you can find in the Wisconsin Historical Society, United States Department of Agriculture National Agriculture Library and the Library of Congress. Centuries of information on how to grow, process and store hemp. One of the coolest documents I’ve seen about hemp explains how hemp’s tap roots grow at least six feet into the ground to break up compacted soil. The result of growing hemp on the land creates more organic matter for other plants to thrive. Hemp is great for crop rotation.”
Tell me your background of how you got into hemp farming.
“I saw a documentary in 2007 called ‘Standing Silent Nation’ about Alex White Plume’s struggle to grow hemp on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. From that moment on, I became a hemp advocate. In 2015, my tribe, the Menominee, grew hemp on our lands and conducted research on the plant through our College of Menominee Nation. Unfortunately, we were raided by the federal government assisted by the State of Wisconsin due to hemp not being legal in the state at the time. This act against my tribe opened a door for me to be a community organizer and advocate for hemp to be legal in the State of Wisconsin through the nonprofit organization, Hempstead Project HEART. In my last year of undergrad, I utilized the University of Wisconsin to dig up the rich history of the Wisconsin Hemp Industry in the 20th century. I used this historical record to persuade the Wisconsin Farm Bureau to lobby for hemp to be legal for our farmers to diversify. The rest is history, as they say!”
What are you hearing about hemp/cannabis/CBD as a possible way to help fight disease?
“Best way to explain this question is to talk about the Endocannabinoid System. Every mammal has an Endocannabinoid System. If a mother breastfed her baby, there are endocannabinoids in breast milk. The Endocannabinoid system is a network of complex cells that regulate the human body. For example, many claims about CBD in the last couple of years have been related to a cure for all kinds of ailments, particularly inflammation. I don’t consider CBD to be a cure for everything, I consider CBD as a tool for the human body to rebalance.”
Hemp-infused battered fish. Contributed photo
I’m very interested on how we can use hemp in our food! You mentioned that there’s a lot there that hasn’t even seen its full potential. I am so interested (as a food writer) where you think hemp will take us and/or where it already is! Do you have any specific recipe you like to use hemp for?
“Hemp grain is the technical term for the food side of the industry. Hemp grown for grain usually takes the longest for the seed to form. When you harvest hemp for grain, there are four different products you can make: whole hemp seed, hemp seed oil, dehulled hemp hearts and hemp protein. Each process is different and requires different equipment to make a value-added product. Hemp as an ingredient in other foods needs to be more emphasized. I think folks need to think outside the box when it comes to the future of hemp foods. Innovation and creativity is key. I really like the Hempura batter mix offered by Legacy Hemp out of Prescott, Wisconsin. I could see it replace fl our batter in our Friday fish fries here in Wisconsin as a locally sourced healthy option. The batter is made from the hemp protein and includes high amounts of fiber, plant-based protein, and it’s easier to digest. Currently, many of the hemp food products on the market include — but aren’t limited to — hemp granola, hemp ice cream sandwiches, chocolate-covered hemp seeds, hemp seed protein bars, hemp leaves for salad or juicing, and Nutiva. Nutiva is a superfood company that makes amazing healthy substitutions from the coconut-covered donuts to the Little Debbies you find at a gas station. The dehulled hemp hearts with coconut oil pressed together is called ‘O’Coconut.’
I’m looking forward to the day we can source hemp-fed beef, turkey, chicken and pork. Right now, no one can sell livestock value-added products where hemp feed was used. Again, there are so many benefits of animals eating hemp and getting their endocannabinoid system balanced with cannabinoids. The Hemp Feed Coalition is doing great work to get FDA-approved hemp animal feed. I’ve tasted pork chops in Colorado at a hemp farmer’s dinner table and they were delicious; the meat was tender and tasty. I enjoy using hemp hearts or hemp protein in smoothies I make at home: a strawberry banana smoothie with hemp hearts or vanilla hemp protein is always amazing. I’m going to keep plugging it. Hempura on fish is one of the best things I’ve tasted out of the hemp food sector of the industry. All you need is the Hempura batter mix, a bottle of New Belgium Hemperor beer, your favorite fish to fry and a mixing bowl.”
Lastly, how can we help make hemp more community friendly? Again, how can we stop this negative space I feel it might still get because of its association.
“Buy more hemp products. The problem we are running into in the industry is the legitimacy of the product acceptance. The general public needs to try these new hemp products and help us build the industry. Sourcing local is always a good choice, because the Wisconsin Hemp Industry needs customers. More education through written articles and showcase hemp companies here in Wisconsin. For example, if you want to know more about the endocannabinoid system and good CBD products to purchase, Happy Trails CBD in Green Bay on Ridge Road in Green Bay, is a great place to gain more knowledge on hemp CBD products.”
