On an annual basis, one acre of hemp will produce as much fiber as two to three acres of cotton. Hemp fiber is stronger and softer than cotton, lasts twice as long as cotton, and will not mildew. Cotton grows only in moderate climates and requires more water than hemp; but hemp is frost tolerant, requires only moderate amounts of water, and grows in all 50 states. Cotton requires large quantities of pesticides and herbicides--50% of the world's pesticides/herbicides are used in the production of cotton. Hemp requires no pesticides, no herbicides, and only moderate amounts of fertilizer.
Hemp based materials can replace other materials used to build homes and other structures. The three main components of the hemp plant can be manufactured into a variety of products that include but are not limited to plastic, fiberboard, wallboard, roofing tiles, insulation, paneling wood, plastic, pipes, paint, concrete like material, and bricks can even be made from the compressed inner short hemp fiber. The outer hemp fibers then can also be used like straw in bale construction paired with mud for an old-style cob building.
You can make foundations from the compressed inner short hemp fibers. You fill a hemp plywood frame with the inner short hemp fibers, lime, sand, plaster and stone cement along with enough water to dampen the materials. It will set in a day and dry in a week. This hemp plaster/concrete, also know as Hempcrete, is said to be half as light, seven times stronger, three times more pliable, waterproof, fireproof, self-insulating, and resistant to pests.
Hemp reinforced concrete is also being tested and used to reduce the amount of concrete needed as well as gain the strength benefits of the strong long hemp fibers. Homes can be made nearly 100% out of hemp materials. Pipes can be made out of hemp plastic. Walls can be hemp wallboard. Insulation can be made of hemp.Hemp plaster, paint made with hemp oil, hemp carpet, hemp bricks, and even a hemp roofing material. It goes on and on…
In the past two decades, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has spent at least $175 million in direct spending and grants to the states to eradicate feral hemp plants, popularly known as "ditch weed." According to figures from the DEA's Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program, it has seized or destroyed 4.7 billion feral hemp plants since 1984. That's in contrast to the 4.2 million marijuana plants it has seized or destroyed during the same period. In other words, 98.1% of all plants eradicated under the program were ditch weed. Ditch weed is hemp; Hemp is non-intoxicating; Therefore not a drug and shouldn’t be any of the DEAs business, yet it is the majority of there destruction.
Hemp prohibition is the result of propaganda by the petrochemical, cotton, and wood-based paper industries, who foresaw competition from hemp. Virtually anything that can be made from petroleum can be made from hempseed and other vegetable oils at a much lesser cost, and hemp fiber is many times more durable and resourceful than cotton or wood-based paper. Let's restore our right to grow this resourceful crop!
Hemp vs Cotton