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Hemp hardwoods and bioplastics expand crop use beyond CBD

Accra, Oct. 2, (UPI/GNA) – Most U.S. farmers
are growing hemp for cannabidiol, but hemp-based hardwood and bioplastics
businesses have sprouted up this fall, expanding the newly legal crop’s
potential beyond CBD.

Hemp has been promoted as a plant material
that can be made into 50,000 different products, but uses other than extracting
CBD — a compound found in marijuana that doesn’t get you high — have been
slow to grow.

Murray, Ky.-based HempWood opened a
15,600-square-foot factory last month with the introduction of a
wood-substitute plank made from hemp. The pressed boards are 20 percent denser
than oak, and the plant material can be grown in six months as opposed to 200
years for an oak tree, the company, Fibonacci LLC, said.

Hardwood panels, which can be used for
flooring, furniture and other woodworking projects, are based on a technology
adapted from the bamboo industry, said John Crye, the company’s director of
sales and marketing.

“We’re in the forefront of the hemp
fiber industry, and I don’t know how many people are buying it besides,
us,” Crye said. “There appears to be lots of room for new entrants in
the market.”

Industrial hemp stalks, about 6 feet high,
are harvested and cold-pressed with resins to make a grain-patterned wood
product, Crye said.

The stalky fiber plant has a different shape
than the bushy hemp plants grown by many U.S. farmers for CBD. All hemp plants
are members of the cannabis family, relatives of their THC-laden cousin
marijuana.

Fibonacci employs eight people and plans to
hire two more per month, ultimately hoping to employ 50 workers to run two
shifts, owners said.

The Kentucky Economic Development Finance
Authority granted $300,000 in employment-based tax incentives for the $5.6
million factory.

Crye said the idea is to use tall fiber hemp
grown within 100 miles. The firm has contracted with local farmers in Western
Kentucky for 1,300 acres.

The chairman of the House Agriculture
Committee, Collin Peterson, D-Minn., and Republican U.S. Rep. James Comer,
R-Ky., who represents the western part of the state, visited the factory last
month to learn about potential for the industry.

Owners still need to navigate hemp-related
banking restrictions and other hurdles, but have plans to eventually.

GNA

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