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. (Hemp Seed Oil Europe Ltd./CBDepot.eu) 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: http://www.eiha-conference.org
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, Boris Banas, Mark Reinders,
Daniel Kruse, Olivier Joreau, Sylvestre Bertucceli, Bernd Frank
(f.l.t.r.)
LM Opening
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Responsible under press legislation (V.i.S.d.P.):
Dipl.-Phys. Michael Carus (Managing Director)