The World’s Greatest Conference ever about Industrial Hemp – New president elected

300 participants from 42 countries met last week in Wesseling near to Cologne, Germany for the latest data and developments, discussions, strategies and networking in the Hemp industry. Can industrial hemp reach 100,000 ha in Europe by 2030? Mark Reinders from the Dutch company HempFlax B.V. was elected as new president of the European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA).

The cultivation areas of industrial hemp in Europe, investment in new processing lines and the demand for hemp products is continuously growing in Europe and worldwide. From the year 2011 to 2015 the cultivation area in the European Union more than tripled to 25,000 ha.

Hemp fibre is used for light-weight paper, insulation materials and biocomposites for the automotive industry. Hemp shivs, the woody core of the hemp plant, is a high-quality animal bedding material. Shivs are also used together with lime for walls and bricks in construction.

The strongest growth is in hemp food. The production of hemp seeds increased from 2010 to 2013 by 92% and the production of flowers and leaves by an amazing 3,000%. The flowers for CBD production gave hemp farmers a considerable extra profit. CBD is used in high concentrations as a pharmaceutical and in low concentrations as a food supplement. The growth here will mainly depend on regulations and legislation on CBD in the following years.

There was a very inspiring and optimistic atmosphere at the conference, the main question was how we can expand the cultivation and processing to cover the growing demand. Will it be possible to expand the cultivation areas from 25,000 ha last year to 100,000 ha by 2025 or 2030? How many jobs can the hemp industry create? How many GHG emissions could be avoided by substituting less environmentally friendly products? How fast will hemp food become a high volume mainstream product? How can CBD be regulated in a way that will help patients and nutrition-conscious people?

The day before the conference, the European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA) organised full day meetings including the General Meeting of the association. After eleven years as president, John Hobson, GW Research, resigned as president and board member. All members thanked him for his excellent work. Mark Reinders from the Dutch company HempFlax B.V., a pioneering company in industrial hemp with cultivation and processing in The Netherlands and Romania, was elected as president with 86% of the votes. Sylvestre Bertucelli from InterChanvre, the French Industrial Hemp Association, became deputy president with 93% of the votes. Finally, Boris Baňas from Propaganda Production s.r.o. (Slovakia) was elected with 90% of the votes as new board member.

In these uncertain economic times, it was really refreshing to see the growth perspectives for the European Hemp industry.

More information: www.eiha-conference.org

A German version of this press release will be available at https://renewable-carbon.eu/news/novapress

Please find a picture of the new EIHA board and several pictures from the conference at http://www.eiha.org/media/2016/06/16-06-09EIHA-Conference2016.zip

EIHA Board Members:

16-06-01-EIHA-Board.jpg: Daniela Sfrija (CANAH International SRL (Romania)), Boris Banas (PROPAGANDA PRODUCTION s.r.o (Slovakia)), Mark Reinders (HempFlax B.V. (The Netherlands)), Daniel Kruse (Hempro Int. GmbH & Co. KG (Germany), Olivier Moreau (CAVAC BIOMATERIAUX (France)), Sylvestre Bertucceli (Interchanvre (France)), Bernd Frank (Planete Chanvre) (France) (v.l.n.r.)
LM Opening
Responsible under press legislation (V.i.S.d.P.):

Dipl.-Phys. Michael Carus (Managing Director)
European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA)
Executive office: nova-Institut GmbH, Chemiepark Knapsack, Industriestrasse 300, DE-50354 Huerth (Germany)
Internet: www.eiha.org
Email: info@eiha.org
Phone: +49 (0) 22 33-48 14 40

Source

nova-institute, press release, 2016-06-09.

Supplier

Canah International
European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA)
GW Pharmaceuticals
HempFlax B.V.
Hempro International
InterChanvre
nova-Institut GmbH
Planete Chanvre
Propaganda Production

Share