CONSIDER HEMP OVER CANOLA FOR OILSEED PRODUCTION

Just about everyone would prefer biofuels to petroleum, but choosing
the right fuel crops for cultivation in North America isn't easy,
especially for Western states. That's because one of the most viable
crops - hemp - is legally off-limits.

Instead, canola is getting all the attention. The June 2006 report,
"Assessment of Biodiesel Feedstocks in Oregon," prepared for the
Portland Development Commission, presented canola as the best oilseed
crop for the region. Last month, the Oregon Legislature's Emergency
Board agreed to finance a $235,000 canola research study.

But not everyone is cheering over canola. Vegetable seed producers
have serious concerns not only over cross-pollination, but over the
potential for canola to spread diseases that are already a problem in
the Brassica species, including blackleg, Sclerotinia stem rot and club root.

"This is dangerous," said Sen. Kurt Schrader, D-Canby, at the
legislative hearing. "There's no reason on God's green earth to
introduce a known weed and carrier of pests."

We might take our chances with canola if there were no alternatives,
but that's not the case.

The 2002 American Society for Horticultural Science publication,
Trends in New Crops and New Uses, describes an excellent oilseed
alternative in a chapter entitled "Hemp: A New Crop with New Uses for
North America," (http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/ncnu02/v5-284.html).

Hemp is celebrated for weed and pest resistance, and like canola, it
boasts extensive root systems that improve soil tilth. Moreover, the
markets for hemp products are virtually infinite. In 1938, Popular
Mechanics magazine declared that hemp "can be used to produce more
than 25,000 products, raging from dynamite to cellophane."

Though hemp has not been cultivated for oil yield until recently,
even the strains cultivated for fiber already rival soybeans in oil output.

Advances in hemp oilseed production have been rapid and encouraging
since March 1998, when Canadian law was changed to allow commercial
hemp cultivation. Whereas European countries have focused on hemp
fiber production, Canada is specializing in oilseed production and processing.

"Hemp, in our opinion, is particularly suited to be developed as an
oilseed crop in North America," the ASHS report proclaims, noting
that, "While the breeding of hemp fiber cultivars has proceeded to
the point that only slight improvements can be expected in
productivity in the future, the genetic potential of hemp as an
oilseed has scarcely been addressed."

The biggest challenge for using hemp as a fuel source is yet another
sign of its great potential, say proponents: it is the very high
value of the oil. But prices would become more reasonable once
Americans could legally cultivate hemp rather than relying on
imports. In the meantime, farmers could see strong profit margins by
selling the highly nutritious edible seed and oil.

Many states have successfully passed bills to legalize hemp
cultivation in direct challenge of federal law. You can read about
these efforts at www.votehemp.com, www.industrialhemp.net,
www.hempreport.com and www.thehia.org.

Most recently, Assembly Bill 1147 was approved by the California
Legislature before it was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on
Sept. 30, due to the federal government's continued prohibition of hemp.

Long-time hemp advocate Jack Herer also opposed AB1147, but for a
very different reason. His concern was that the low-THC (0.3 percent)
varieties of hemp that would have been allowable under the law are
less productive for industrial uses compared to strains with natural
levels of the cannabinoid, which he said serves as a sunscreen for the plant.

Further, Herer worried that low-THC strains would cross-pollinate and
interfere with California's medical marijuana crops. Instead, he
urged the governor to legalize cannabis in its natural form.

Several different regulations have been promoted as a way to make
hemp acceptable under America's current War on Drugs, including
licensing, inspection, genetic modification and testing of THC
content. But all of these steps would unnecessarily increase
production costs while reducing the plant's value for medical use and
perhaps for all other uses as well.

How ironic that a plant's medicinal value could be the very thing
that prevents farmers from cultivating it to heal the earth.

The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author. Angela
Eckhardt writes on freedom and farming issues from her home in
Lostine, Ore. Her website is www.freedom solutionsnw.org.