http://pr.cannazine.co.uk : April 14th was a big day in the eyes of the Canadian hemp industry. It was the day a venture capitalist called Avrio Ventures pledged a big money investment into what is quite literally, Canada's fastest growing industry.
Making hay while the sun shines: A hemp bailer at work
That industry is hemp.
A plant which in under six months from seed to harvest, will offer a better return for the farmer as well as a more beneficial and nutricious food source than most any other crop.
Avrio Ventures is a venture capital firm that supports the development of Canadian commercialization and growth stage industrial bio-products, nutraceutical ingredients and food technology companies into world-class organizations. And its no surprise these companies, often called guardian angels in Europe, are looking into hemp as the next big return on investments.
Andrew Lahde Indeed hedge-fund manager Andrew Lahde, a man with a blistering 833% return on his investment portfolio, spoke out recently, as he stepped down from fund management just prior to the economic crash the world finds itself basking in currently.
In case you're wondering, Lahde is the man who betted against the American sub-prime financial markets.
Whilst all the experts were investing heavily in the more risky sub-prime sector, Lahde bucked the trend and successfully predicted the financial crash which all but destroyed the global banking system, and in doing so, and as a result of some ballsy spread-betting, he was the man who made a pretty penny out of financial disaster.
Before he left the financial industry for good he published a letter in the Wall Street journal explaining his reasons for departing the markets. In the letter he launched a scathing attack on the American financial industry which as Mr Lahde so eloquently explained is controlled not by Wall Street or the FT indexes, but by US Congress, and vice-versa.
He also explained where the next lucrative investments were to be found. Information you would have had to pay him for just twelve months ago.
"I would like to bring attention to an alternative food and energy source. You won’t see it included in British Petroleum’s, “Feel good. We are working on sustainable solutions,” television commercials, nor is it mentioned in similar commercials created and produced by ADM, (Archer Daniels Midland Company)."
Mr Lahde then went on to point out some of the historical uses humanity has found for the much-maligned hemp plant.
"Hemp has been used for at least 5,000 years for cloth and food".
"As well" he continued, "As just about everything that is produced from petroleum products".
"So,why is this innocuous plant illegal"? he asked. "Is it a gateway drug"?
"No, that would be alcohol, which is so heavily advertised in this country".
"My only conclusion as to why it is illegal, is that Corporate America, which owns Congress, would rather sell you Paxil, Zoloft, Xanax and other addictive drugs, than allow you to grow a plant in your home without some of the profits going into their coffers."
"This policy is ludicrous".
"It has surely contributed to our dependency on foreign energy sources. Our policies have other countries literally laughing at our stupidity, most notably Canada, as well as several European nations (both Eastern and Western)."
"Although you would not know this by paying attention to U.S. media sources though, as they tend not to elaborate on who is laughing at the United States this week."
In closing, Mr Lahde made a heartfelt plea to the United States, and its a plea the rest of the world would do well to heed.
"Please people, let’s stop the rhetoric and start thinking about how we can truly become self-sufficient. Grow Hemp".
About Hemp
Hemp foods and functional foods containing hemp-derived nutraceuticals are among the hottest categories in the natural products industry.
According to research by the natural products market information company SPINS, from 2007 to 2008 sales of hempmilk grew 162%, shelled hemp seed rose 44% and hemp protein powders increased 21%.
Foods such as hemp, which provide Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) are big news right now, because medical evidence demonstrating their health benefits continues to grow.
Health-savvy consumers are also finding that in addition to being a nutritional powerhouse, hemp foods have a great flavor and gourmet appeal.
Hemp Nutrition
Nutrition experts are backing hemp due to its balanced concentration of Omega-3 and Omega-6 Essential Fatty Acids, strong digestible protein profile, plentiful fiber, and abundance of vitamins and minerals. Hemp foods are the richest vegetable source of Omega 3 & 6.
Hemp also contains all of the essential amino acids and has an overall protein content that is comparable to soy beans and higher than that found in nuts, other seeds, meats, dairy products, fish and poultry. Hemp foods offer potential benefits associated with the prevention or attenuation of many of the leading health conditions that challenge people in North America and further afield, including diabetes, cancer, lupus, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, hormone imbalance, depression and hypertension.
The role of essential fatty acids in human growth and development, as well as their role in diseases like coronary heart disease, are hot research areas.
April 14th 2009 - The United Kingdom
On the same day as Manitoba Harvest (www.manitobaharvest.com ) announced a major inward investment, the UK's largest hemp grower and processor Hemcore (www.hemcore.co.uk ) was also in the news, but for quite different reasons.
Whilst Mike Fata and his Canadian 'Manitoba Harvest' brand had focused on the nutritional benefits of hemp, Hemcore, a British company which started out in 1993 as a consortium of 20 farmers looking for new pastures, had looked at other possible outlets for their newly planted hemp harvests.
They settled on building and construction, animal bedding and the automotive industry. Industries which almost 2 decades ago must have looked lucrative and ripe for the picking.
But after what can only be put down to poor management, the Hemcore brand never made the transition from niche, fringe product, into a mainstream juggernaut as it has in Canada. And regardless of the fact the hemp plant sequesters literally billions of tonnes of CO2 from the environment as it grows, making Canada a true world leader in ecological industrial practices.
Meanwhile, just down the road in the United States, US Congress uses the Drug Enforcement Agency to keep hemp outlawed and as such, out of reach for a US agri-industry which is suffering just like the rest of us.
In the meantime, a more eco-savvy US public is clamouring to buy everything the Canadian hemp industry can produce, creating a market which is worth almost as much as America spends to keep hemp outlawed.
And this is the reason Canada is laughing at the United States.
Which all begs the question. Why is the United Kingdom not involved in this newly emerging global industry?
Instead of quite literally making hay while the sun shines, our own fledgling hemp industry is being choked back by a government which, in a similar vein as the United States, is not controlled by democracy and freedom of choice.
Its controlled by blue-chip corporations which pick up the pieces from the mis-management of government.
A government which thinks nothing of spending trillions of pounds sterling to keep hemp outlawed, at the behest of a petroleum industry, a pharmaceutical industry and an alcohol industry which stand to be hit the hardest when (and it is a when, not an if) hemp is eventually brought into the mainstream markets.
Realistically this isn't going to happen anytime soon, but whilst you wait for more and more hemp products to appear on the shelves of your favourite supermarket, do some google search's into the nutritional benefits of hemp, and then ask your elected representative why we are not as a nation, growing hemp wholesale, to feed to our children.
