HEMP IN OZ

The person taking the photo to the right remarked that they were not in Kansas anymore. They were in fact some 10,000 light years away in Australia, where hemp may be grown, unlike Kansas. The wicked witch has put a spell on Kansas and its 49 sisters so that they must ignore the advice of George Washington.

Australians are cultivating hemp and using it for a number of purposes, although their own wicked witch of the south has made hemp foods off limits for everyone; which is an irony, because in Kansas hemp foods can be consumed, as long as they are not produced in the good ol' USA. So maybe what is illegal to consume in the one country can be sent to the other country where that substance is illegal to grow? Call it a balance-of-trade equation...

One firm in Australia which is working with hemp is Ecofibre Ind. Lmt., and their latest newsletter, The Hemp Files [Spring 2006, Issue 8] talks about this in detail. They have harvested this year hemp in the Dalby and surrounding districts, cutting some in March after a November 2005 planting, and others in May. Those cut later were dual use crops, providing both seed and fibre.

Ecofibre's main office has recently moved, it has been in Toowoomab since mid-September 2006, closer to the growing areas in Brisbane.

Their new address and contact details are: Ecofibre Industries Limited, 230 Nelson Street, Toowoomba 4350, Australia. Phone: 07 4630 2166 Fax: 07 4614 0084 Email: info@ecofibre.com.au www.ecofibre.com.au