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“The world is here right now,” began organizer Morris Beegle, at the NoCo Hemp Expo held earlier this month in Loveland, Colorado. Beegle and his hemp paper enterprise, TreeFreeHemp.com were making history passing out samples of 100%  hemp paper made from the first legal harvest of industrial hemp in the state of Colorado.

Over the next two days, author Doug Fine (HempBound) introduced dozens of visionary, cutting-edge speakers addressing the regenerative industry of hemp production, with tri-cropping for biomass, seed/flowers and fiber a recurrent theme. The incredibly versatile hemp plant, outlawed in this country for over 70 years, is making a comeback in states like Colorado, Alaska, Oregon and Kentucky.  Marijuana’s non-mind-altering botanical cousin, hemp offers a vast and growing list of applications in textiles, paper, body care products, food, industrial products and even building materials.

A marijuana grower sitting next to me said he preferred to grow hemp, then clued me in on a major hitch regarding hemp production in the U.S.- the scarcity of seed. Because of long years of being classified as illegal, U.S. seed is by-and-large found only in pockets of wild plants known as ditchweed. Seed for cultivation must be imported from countries such as Canada, France, Slovenia, and Italy. The U.S. Government, along with most states including Minnesota, has not legalized hemp, and can hamper the purchase of seed even in states where growing is legal. Therefore Veronica Carpio of GrowHempCO could sell seed last year for $10 a pip.

Michael Lewis is Director of Kentucky-based Growing Warriors, an organization dedicated to training military veterans to become hemp farmers. A Wendell Berry student, he recognizes, as do Mitch McCollum and Rand Paul, the necessity of new agricultural industry in Kentucky to replace tobacco farming. Even a handful of acres planted in hemp can produce significant income, and Lewis is initially focussing on helping veterans grow fiber to make American flags actually made in the USA.

Entrepreneur Michael Yocco of Fay Farm in Puget Sound, began selling soap and eggs on a card table twelve years ago. He set out to make a decent living, developing and promoting hemp-based salves and body oils. His business has surpassed his wildest expectations; he and partner Stacy market to 21 countries and every state in the union. Yocco was the first presenter but not the last to talk about CBD or cannabidiol oil, used for skin disorders and as an anti-convulsant, anti-psychotic, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumoral and anti-depressant agent.

Several speakers described an exciting, new hemp development coming from the University of Alberta, hemp graphene, which is proposed for batteries and supercapacitors, using millimeter thin sheets. It costs 1000th of what rare earth products do, isn’t toxic, and doesn’t have to be sourced from other countries.

Canada is ahead of the U.S. by 17 years. Hemp was legalized there in 1998. Even so, Jan Slaski of the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance pointed out Canada’s massive needs for both long and short fiber, and its need of qualified personnel for processing facilities. He extended an invitation to visit the Alberta Biomaterials Resource Centre.

Long fibers are being used by Ford, Toyota and BMW in their automobiles and short fiber is in demand for buildings. China now is the world’s largest fiber supplier; the Chinese government mandated hemp production to release cotton-producing lands for food production.

John Roulac focussed on delivering hemp-based super-foods, and founded Nutiva. He, as Slaski, emphasizes the nurturing of healthy soil by using manures and alfalfa which at the same time sequesters atmospheric carbon. Roulac began selling 500 hemp bars ‘here and there’ in 1999, but has been realizing a 61% annual growth rate since 2004. He has created a $250 million business.

Hemp production and product development is wide-open. In the US, a lot depends on federal and state law, the subject of a future story.