May 13, 2010 – WASHINGTON, — The Hemp Industries Association (HIA), a trade association consisting of hundreds of hemp businesses, released final estimates of the size of the U.S. retail market for hemp food and body care products in 2009. Data supporting the estimates show that retail sales of hemp food and body care products in the U.S. have continued to set records in 2009 despite the sluggish economy.  Strong sales of popular hemp items like non-dairy milk, shelled hemp seed, soaps and lotions have occurred against the backdrop of increasing grassroots pressure to allow hemp to be grown here for U.S. manufacturers. The new sales data further validates U.S. farmers’ concern that they are being shut out of the lucrative hemp market that Canadian farmers have cashed in on for over a decade now. The Grange passed a pro-hemp resolution in 2009 while the Farmers Union passed a similar resolution at its annual convention in March 2010.

The sales data, collected by the market research firm SPINS, was obtained from natural and conventional food retailers, excluding Whole Foods Market and other establishments not providing sales data ? and thus underestimate actual sales by a factor of at least three. According to the SPINS data, combined hemp grocery and body care sales grew in the sampled stores by 11% or $3.94 million, over the previous year ending December 26, 2009, to a total of $37.9 million.

Due to significant sales excluded from the SPINS data, such as The Body Shop, Whole Foods Market and restaurants, as well as the fact that many unreported leading mass-market brands of suntan lotion and sunscreen products include hemp oil, the HIA estimates the total retail value of North American hemp food, vitamin and body care product sales to be in the range of $113-129 million for 2009.

“Farmers who have been hit by drops in crop prices as a result of the economic slow-down want to grow hemp which continues steady double-digit growth in 2009,” says David Bronner, who makes Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps and uses hemp oil in all his top-selling products.  ”The HIA is confident that the total North American hemp food and body care market over the last year accounted for at least $113 million in retail sales,” adds Bronner, who also chairs the HIA Food and Oil Committee.

“We expect double-digit growth in the hemp food sector to continue through 2010 as retail sales in general have been making a come back and consumers continue to value healthy ‘green’ products,” comments Eric Steenstra, HIA Executive Director.  ”We estimate the total retail value of hemp products in the US at around $400 million when including clothing, building materials and other non-food or body care products,” says Steenstra.

Currently there is legislation in Congress to bring back hemp farming. The chief sponsors of HR 1866, “The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009,” Representatives Barney Frank (D-MA) and Ron Paul (R-TX),  have been joined by 20 other U.S. House members from both sides of the aisle. More information on the bill can be found at: http://www.VoteHemp.com/legislation.

The Hemp Industries Association (HIA) represents the interests of the hemp industry and encourages the research and development of new hemp products.  More information about hemp’s many uses and hemp advocacy may be found at www.HempIndustries.org and www.VoteHemp.com.  DVD Video News Release featuring footage of hemp farming in other countries is available upon request by contacting Adam Eidinger at 202-744-2671.

WASHINGTON, March 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The national, single-issue, non-profit advocacy group Vote Hemp applauds the new policy supporting industrial hemp adopted by delegates of the National Farmers Union (NFU) at its 108th annual convention in Rapid City, South Dakota last week. The policy urges the Obama administration and Congress to direct the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to differentiate between non-drug industrial hemp and marijuana and allow states to regulate hemp farming without requiring DEA permits.

At the conclusion of the convention, the NFU issued the following statement on its new policy: “We urge the President, Attorney General, and Congress to direct the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency [sic] (DEA) to differentiate between industrial hemp and marijuana and adopt policy to allow American farmers to grow industrial hemp under state law without requiring DEA licenses.” The 2010 NFU Policy may be found at: http://nfu.org/about/policy.

For the last four growing seasons, farmers in North Dakota have received licenses from the North Dakota Department of Agriculture to grow industrial hemp. Despite the state’s authorization to grow hemp, these farmers risk raids by federal agents, jail time and possible forfeiture of their farms and assets if they try to grow the crop, due to the failure of the DEA to distinguish non-drug industrial hemp from drug varieties of Cannabis. Vote Hemp applauds the new policy adopted by the NFU and strongly encourages the Obama administration to heed their request. “American farmers, as well as the American economy, will benefit greatly from the right to grow industrial hemp as a rotational crop,” says Vote Hemp President Eric Steenstra.

There is widespread support among national farming organizations for a change in the federal government’s position on hemp. The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) “supports revisions to the federal rules and regulations authorizing commercial production of industrial hemp.” The National Grange voted to support hemp in 2009, stating that it “supports research, production, processing and marketing of industrial hemp as a viable agricultural activity.” The North Dakota Farmers Union 2010 Program of Policy & Action and the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union 2010 Policy both also ask that the Obama administration direct the DEA to “differentiate between industrial hemp and marijuana.” These organizations passed the resolutions in 2009, leading up to the NFU 2010 convention.

Grown commercially in Canada since 1998, hemp has become one of the most profitable crops for farmers north of the U.S. border. While American farmers often net less than $50 per acre for soy and corn, Canadian hemp farmers just across the border net an average of $250 per acre.

Currently, Vote Hemp and the Hemp Industries Association (HIA) are organizing Hemp History Week, a national campaign sponsoring local educational and retailer events in all 50 states from May 17-23, 2010. The effort is an unprecedented industry-wide project involving hundreds of hemp manufacturers, retailers and volunteers. While 16 states have passed pro-hemp farming legislation to date, Hemp History Week organizers want to influence significant policy changes on the federal level as well, and they expect to deliver 50,000 hand-signed postcards to the Department of Justice in support of hemp farming. For more information, visit: http://www.HempHistoryWeek.com.

Vote Hemp is a national, single-issue, non-profit organization dedicated to the acceptance of and a free market for low-THC industrial hemp and to changes in current law to allow U.S. farmers to once again grow this agricultural crop. More information about hemp legislation and the crop’s many uses may be found at www.VoteHemp.com or www.TheHIA.org. BETA SP or DVD Video News Releases featuring footage of hemp farming in other countries are available upon request from Adam Eidinger at 202-744-2671.