After Decades of Prohibition, the US Federal Gover

After Decades of Prohibition, the US Federal Government is Funding Hemp Research

Prior to the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, it was illegal to cultivate industrial hemp in the United States. Now Lincoln University is heading a project funded by the federal department of agriculture studying the crop. The project received $5 million through the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program, which is focused on supporting farmers who cultivate products with climate benefits.

The program is part of the federal agriculture department’s broader objective of mitigating climate change through agricultural market-driven solutions. Currently, over 100 projects are being funded by the federal department of agriculture, focusing on crops like rice, soybeans, and cotton.

Joshua Asiamah, a graduate student at Lincoln University, is part of the team studying hemp.

However, if research on hemp is to progress without any hitches so as to aid in the fight against climate change, cultivators will have to navigate the challenges of the crop’s extended prohibition, such as a lack of harvesting expertise, a lack of seedstock and challenges in the market.

Why hemp though?

For starters, scientists believe the crop may be good at carbon sequestration, a plus since countries globally are working to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere. The climate-smart commodities program is focused on lowering greenhouse gas emissions, with a focus on the agriculture sector in America, which contributes over 10% of total greenhouse gas emissions.

Hemp has deep roots as compared to other crops, which means that it can trap more carbon in the soil. Lincoln Hemp Institute’s chair Dr. Babu Valliyodan reveals that preliminary study results show that the crop can trap 2-3 tons of carbon in the soil per acre annually. In comparison, cotton can trap about 438 pounds of CO2 in the soil during the same period.

Researchers are also investigating hemp’s application as a rotational crop to help reduce the use of chemicals, improve organic matter and nutrients in the soil, increase yields, and disrupt crop-pest lifecycles.

So, what’s the Lincoln University team doing?

At the moment, the researchers are cultivating 3 hemp types; hemp for grain, hemp for fiber, and for both. In addition, they plan to convert hemp oil into a biofuel that can be used for transportation and heating. The researchers theorize that these end products will be more renewable as well as sustainable.

Cody Bagnall, a research scientist partnering on Lincoln’s project, adds that hemp has the potential to replace synthetic products with natural ones, which is good for the climate.

Hopefully, such studies uncover new uses of hemp that industry players like Software Effective Solutions Corp. (d/b/a MedCana) (OTC: SFWJ) can leverage to add to their extensive list of hemp-based products.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Software Effective Solutions Corp. (d/b/a MedCana) (OTC: SFWJ) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://cnw.fm/SFWJ

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