Most people reflect proudly on the idea of Mayflower's sails waving in the wind as America's first settlers approached the new land. But those same people probably don't realize those sails symbolizing our foundation were made mostly of hemp.
The hemp industry is one of the oldest on the planet, going back 10,000 years to the beginnings of pottery, according to the Hemp Industries Association website. It contributed to the foundation of America, as it came over in ship sails, lines and caulking of the Mayflower, reported an article from the Farm Collector in 2004.
Two Missouri legislators are pushing to bring back this cash crop. The House select committee on agriculture passed two bills Wednesday in executive session that would allow Missouri farmers to grow industrial hemp.
Hemp is still considered one of the planet's most important natural resources, said the Hemp Industries Association. It's used in food, fabric, paper, insulation, stain and other products.
Congress introduced legislation in 2014 with the Farm Bill, which allows universities and industrial institutions to cultivate industrial hemp for limited purposes, according to the NCSL. In Missouri, legislation sponsored by Rep. Paul Curtman, R-Union, and Rep. Craig Redmon, R-Canton, are pushing for the state to join 28 other states that have allowed industrial hemp cultivation under the Farm Bill.
Currently, Missouri businesses are able to import industrial hemp but not grow it themselves. Curtman said he has heard from Missouri farmers who wish to grow industrial hemp.
"It's important, I believe, for our farmers to be able to grow it in our state so our tax dollars and farming dollars and investment dollars stay in our state," Curtman said.
One of the biggest concerns is that the bill would be a "slippery slope" toward full legalization of marijuana or that industrial hemp could be used for hallucinogenic purposes, Curtman said.
"Nobody uses this plant for recreational purposes because the THC content is so low that you're gonna get a headache if you try to smoke it," Curtman said. "You're certainly not going to get high."
Lack of education is one of the reasons why people are opposed to the bill, said Rep. Bill Reiboldt, R-Neosho.
The difference between marijuana and industrial hemp is the level of THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, which causes the psychological effects of marijuana. Recreational marijuana can contain 3 to 20 percent THC while industrial hemp would contain only 0.3 percent THC by law.
Another concern held by the Missouri Farm Bureau Federation is that this bill does not meet the federal Farm Bill requirements, making the bill illegal under federal law. Ashley McDonald, director of state legislative affairs for FBF, said FBF's interpretation of the Farm Bill prohibits commercial use of hemp.
The Farm Bill says universities and state departments of agriculture are allowed to grow industrial hemp if it is grown for purposes of research conducted under an agricultural pilot program or other agricultural or academic research; and the growing of industrial hemp is allowed under the laws of the state in which such institution of higher education or state department of agriculture is located and such research occurs, according to the NCSL.
Curtman's bill originally wanted to place the pilot programs into universities for research, but the universities said they were not interested, he said.
"If we don't fall under that sliver of the Farm Bill of authorization, anything we do as farmers in growing it or possessing it remains illegal at the federal level, and we don't want our farmers and ranchers to be under that cloud of legal suspicion," McDonald said. "It's just a scary place to be, knowing that you're technically doing something illegal under federal law, but that the state's telling you it's perfectly fine."
On the national level, the American Farm Bureau has a policy that would support changing the federal Farm Bill to allow for legalized industrial hemp production, McDonald said. No farmers have approached the FBF about wanting to grow industrial hemp, she said.
"If they could come up with a way that we think fits under federal authorization, we could at least not oppose it because that would protect our producers," McDonald said.
Curtman said the bill does fall under the federal Farm Bill's language.
"According to the federal Farm Bill, the pilot program is basically whatever the states say the pilot program is," Curtman said. "This is not a bill to try to research to find a new type of medical use like CBD oil. This bill simply allows us to just grow our own raw material."