Last summer, researchers at the University of Illinois and the University of Wisconsin-Madison invited growers in their states to submit certain information about their crop for the database in exchange for a discount on cannabinoid sampling.

The result is the Midwestern Hemp Database, which also includes participants from Michigan State University, Purdue University and growers in their respective states.

“We wanted to work together to stop working in silos all the time and share information across the region, not just within our own state, and figure out what’s working and what’s not for our growers,” said Phillip Alberti, educator for commercial agriculture at the University of Illinois Extension.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]“Also very importantly, what sources of genetics, what varieties out there might be more suited to their environment for performance issues or ultimately (THC) compliance, which of these varieties are going to produce a compliant crop.”

First-ever data sharing

The database includes information on:

• When a particular cultivar was planted.
• When it started flowering.
• When it was harvested.
• A cultivar’s CBD and THC profile.

Collectively, the data also provides growers an idea of how high CBD levels can get before the plants exceed 0.3% THC, for example, or what soil type is being used most (silt loam), and what planting method is most popular (transplants from seed).

Alberti said the database also helps get a picture of when is the best time to test plants for THC.

“Because that ultimately determines compliance,” he said. “What is kind of the peak window that growers can expect they’re going to be busier, that they really need to be paying attention to cannabinoid levels.”

Alberti said growers pay $35 for cannabinoid testing – about half the normal cost – per sample at Rock River Laboratory Inc. in Watertown, Wisconsin.

“Cannabinoid profiling is very expensive,” he said. “It’s kind of the scariest thing growers have to deal with because in order to harvest their material, they have to show compliance.”

Success through the pandemic

Covid-19 restricted agriculture officials’ ability to collect data from the field last year, so having growers submit their own information was a good way to get data despite the pandemic, said Shelby Ellison, an associate professor of horticulture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“It was great that we were able to get participation across the number of different states,” she said.

Paul Grethey Jr., owner of Simple Livin’ Farms in Groveland, Illinois, was among the growers who shared information for the database last year.

“What’s really cool about the hemp database is now you can actually compare what you grew against what other farmers grew, compare your soils, your nutrients…and you can see what’s going yield best in your type of soil,” he said.

The universities plan to continue collecting data again this year and hope to add participants from other states.

Ellison advises farmers not to focus on one factor when analyzing the database, but instead look for the bigger picture.

“Really look at the trends that you’re observing to inform you for both agronomic practices and cultivar decisions for the next year.”

Source: Hemp Industry Daily

Images: Adobe Stock

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Source: BBC

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After all, the U.S. had not yet existed even 200 years. Compare that to ancient Egypt, a weed-friendly civilization that flourished and dominated the known world for about 3,000 years.

Lawmakers in the United States and most of the western world are just now catching up with what leaders in that long-ago civilization knew to be true: medical marijuana has the potential for treating a variety of conditions. They also found uses for hemp that included making fabric, rope, and ship sails.

And discoveries in burial chambers have led researchers to believe that Egyptians used cannabis during burial ceremonies, much like they did in ancient China. Reefer madness, indeed.

Ancient texts tell the tale

Ancient Egypt lasted for about 30 centuries. It started about 3,100 BCE when the different factions in Egypt united, ending when Alexander the Great conquered it around 332 BCE. During those thousands of years, Egypt reigned as the most powerful and influential civilization in the known world.

During that time, they learned a thing or two. Some of those things involved marijuana.

In a paper on the topic, Venice Ibrahim Attia, chief conservator at the Coptic Museum in Cairo, draws together many expert sources through the years on the use of hemp and cannabis in ancient Egypt. That includes use in ropes, ship sails, food and oils, fabrics, and an ingredient in medicine.

While he wrote that evidence Egyptians cultivated cannabis is scarce, there is ample evidence they used it in the above circumstances and religious and cultural ceremonies.

He cited the many different works that mention cannabis, starting with the famous Ebers Papyrus, a document from 1550 BCE that researchers believe is copied from older texts. It says the use of marijuana as medicine.

Magical uses for medical marijuana.

The Ebers Papyrus refers to many different magical spells that Egyptian doctors could use to help cure people of various maladies. Some of them involved the use of cannabis. For example, the Ramesseum Papyri, one of the oldest medical records ever discovered, notes that “celery, cannabis is ground and left in the dew overnight. Both eyes of the patient are to be washed with it in the morning.” Apparently, the doctors used this treatment for glaucoma and other eye issues.

They may not have been right on the details, but they were on the right path, thinking of the potential medicinal uses of cannabis.

Many experts believe the term Shemshemet referred to cannabis in ancient Egyptian texts, and scholars have found the word in many different sources over the years. In her book, An Ancient Egyptian Herbal, Egyptologist Lise Manniche writes that cannabis is one of many plants used by the Egyptians in a culture that promoted plant-based medicine.

Some of the uses, according to experts who have read the texts, include:

• As an anti-inflammatory
• As part of a salve applied to the vagina to “cool the uterus and eliminate its heat,” a seeming reference to treating menstrual pain
• Used as part of a balm to reduce the pain of injured fingers or toes
• As an ingredient in a suppository to reduce the pain of hemorrhoids

Attia notes that Diodorus Siculus, a Sicilian Greek historian, also “mentioned that Egyptian women used cannabis as a kind of medication relieving sorrow and bad humor, relieving insomnia, an anesthetic, and to kill pain.” That essentially describes the way many use cannabis today.

Burial ceremonies

Another sign of cannabis use in ancient Egypt is historical records showing Roman emperor Aurelian imposed a tax on Egyptian cannabis in the third century. Experts also have noted depictions of the plant can be found in ancient Egyptian carvings,

For example, artists often depicted the Egyptian Goddess Sheshat, the deity of writing and record-keeping, with a seven-pointed star-shaped leaf above her head, leading some to believe this shows the importance of cannabis.

Scientists also have found traces of THC in the remains of many mummies, starting with Ramses the Great, who had cannabis residue on his mummified body. Scientists also have found traces of THC in the lungs of mummified Egyptians, indicating they may have used marijuana for medical purposes before dying.

While the details remain a mystery, it’s clear ancient Egyptians used cannabis in many different phases of life. And as civilizations go, they did very well, indeed. Something to consider the next time national legalization comes up in the United States.

Source: greenentrepreneur

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Biden created the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy Wednesday and signed a series of executive orders aimed at tackling the climate crisis.

After signing an order to re-enter the Paris Climate Agreement on his first day in office, Biden signaled that more executive actions were coming, to establish the climate crisis as “an essential element of U.S. foreign policy and national security.”

Biden’s climate plans also include:

• A new national intelligence estimate on the security implications of the climate crisis.
• Directing all federal agencies to integrate climate strategies into their work.
• A Leaders’ Climate Summit on Earth Day, April 22.
• A new a Civilian Climate Corps Initiative, putting citizens to work restoring public lands and waters, increasing reforestation and protecting biodiversity – and sequestering carbon through regenerative agriculture.

Hemp advocates want the industry to have a seat at the table to help with climate change initiatives, citing the crop’s phytoremediation and carbon sequestration properties that help neutralize pollution.

Source: HempIndustryDaily

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THE FINAL RULE, WHICH TAKES EFFECT ON MARCH 22, SETS A HIGHER THC LIMIT — 1% — FOR DETERMINING WHEN PLANTS MUST BE DESTROYED AND MAKES IT EASIER TO DISPOSE OF THEM.

Two years after the 2018 farm bill legalized the cultivation of industrial hemp, the USDA completed work on a regulation to oversee production. Some advocates say hemp could become a profitable crop grown across the country while other analysts say comparatively low demand will limit hemp acreage to the level of a niche crop.

The final rule, which takes effect on March 22, sets a higher THC limit — 1% — for determining when plants must be destroyed and makes it easier to dispose of them. It also allows more time — 30 days — to harvest crops after collecting samples for THC testing and expands, for this year, the number of laboratories that can analyze the samples than initially proposed by the USDA.

“The transition from prohibition to a legal and regulated system takes time and USDA’s final rule is a historic step forward for hemp in the United States,” said attorney Shawn Hauser of the law firm Vicente Sederberg LLP.  “We will continue to work with regulators and through Congress to perfect the regulatory structure for hemp.”

With the change in administration on Wednesday, the hemp rule may come under scrutiny from Biden appointees, industry officials told Hemp Industry Daily. “While modifications provided relief for farmers on disposal, THC negligence and the harvest window after sampling, there are still several areas of concern that the USDA did not appear to budge on, including sampling requirements and the mandate for laboratories to register with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.”

Source: Successful Farming 

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