Business
Will Hemp Take Over the Plant-Based Food Market?
Meat alternatives are on the rise globally. Could hemp take the lead as cannabis reform drives agricultural production?
Meat consumption is rising globally (starting with the U.S.). The American market alone is worth about $270 billion annually, out of a market worth about $1.5 Trillion dollars globally. Unfortunately this is also a vertical which is increasingly unsustainable from the climate change perspective—forget the moral issues involved. As Mr. Rogers famously said, he could not eat anything that had a mother.
Less prosaically, cow farts are the top agricultural source of greenhouse gases. Each cow emits about 220 pounds of methane annually. As a result, reducing methane emissions via transitioning the planet to animal-protein-free alternatives is also seen as the biggest opportunity to slow global heating in a relatively short 20 years or so. Given that this single source also creates about a third of the human-caused methane emissions, this is a significant issue. Particularly as other environmental efforts to halt the impending climate emergency—such as switching to solar and other fossil fuel free energy sources—are still so politically problematic.
That is also an impactful thing to say in world now suffering from a(nother) global heatwave this summer.
In Germany, where recreational cannabis reform is now in the offing, the topic is getting serious attention. Not to mention some funding. For example, the University of Hohenheim (in Stuttgart) was given a million euro grant last year from the regional government to study how hemp could replace protein-rich foods—from schnitzel to tofu and pasta.
No matter its “crunchy” reputation, the animal-free protein sector is also a highly significant market. Forty percent of the meat substitutes currently produced globally are sold across Europe. This is one of the reasons that the E.U. has actually moved ahead fairly quickly on this aspect of cannabis reform. This market is also expected to reach about $28 billion globally by 2025. That is good news for early adopters who are making the switch to vegan alternatives for health and environmental reasons—forget the economic incentives. The more mainstream, the faster broader adoption will be. This is good news too. The more animal slaughter can be reduced, so can the breeding of animals for this purpose.
The Superfood That Is High in Protein
There are many wondrous aspects of the cannabis plant. One of them is that hemp seeds are a superfood full of vitamins and other nutrients. Beyond this, the seeds of the hemp plant can contain as much as 25% protein—making them similar to egg whites. The seeds also contain all essential amino acids and are easy to digest. The end result creates a chewy, meat-like texture that is highly satisfying to consumers.
Not every hemp variety, at least according to German research during this study so far, creates the desired results. The scientists involved in the investigation are currently growing 20 varieties of hemp in test plots.
The idea is to create an extensive supply chain throughout Europe, while also increasingly the local food self-sufficiency of Baden-Württemberg located in the south-west corner of the country and bordering France and Switzerland. It is a part of the world known for a few globally recognized symbols including the Black Forest plus the Porsche and Mercedes-Benz headquarters.
It is hard to get more German than that.
This is, however, just one example of the coming hemp-based protein-replacement craze. The entrepreneurial endeavours necessary to drive the market demand beyond the lab are by now scattered all over Europe. In Estonia, one firm has even got a rather catchy name for their product—Crump. It probably tastes like chicken, even though it is designed to be a “protein crumble” designed to replace ground beef.
Beyond Europe, the trend is clearly global. A firm called Leaft Foods based in New Zealand received $15 million in financing this spring to grow its line of products that include not only beef but other animal-based protein substitutes.
Can Cannabis Help Heal the Planet?
There is no one panacea for global warming—or environmental disasters caused by the industries of the industrial revolution and the 20th Century. However, the much-maligned cannabis plant appears to hold many of the answers. From helping detoxify areas of land blighted by gold mining to reducing the first world’s dependence on animal protein—and of course beyond this, the medical efficacy of the plant—cannabis is starting what many assume will be a global ascendency in the next decade.
It is not hard to understand why. The mandate for trying to keep a limit on global warming is evident (again) this summer—even as multiple countries struggle politically in a world with much more expensive fossil fuels. Cannabis reform is creating a different narrative around such issues—from energy to meat substitutes, beyond medicine.
One thing is for sure. If there was a plant with the power to if not heal the world but significantly fix it, it would be good ol’ Cannabis sativa.
Source: https://hightimes.com/health/will-hemp-take-over-the-plant-based-food-market/
New Mexico regulators fined a cannabis operator nearly $300,000 and revoked its license after the company allegedly created fake reports in the state’s traceability software.
The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CCD) accused marijuana manufacturer and retailer Golden Roots of 11 violations, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Golden Roots operates the The Cannabis Revolution Dispensary.
The majority of the violations are related to the Albuquerque company’s improper use of BioTrack, which has been New Mexico’s track-and-trace vendor since 2015.
The CCD alleges Golden Roots reported marijuana production only two months after it had received its vertically integrated license, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Because cannabis takes longer than two months to be cultivated, the CCD was suspicious of the report.
After inspecting the company’s premises, the CCD alleged Golden Roots reported cultivation, transportation and sales in BioTrack but wasn’t able to provide officers who inspected the site evidence that the operator was cultivating cannabis.
In April, the CCD revoked Golden Roots’ license and issued a $10,000 fine, according to the news outlet.
The company requested a hearing, which the regulator scheduled for Sept. 1.
At the hearing, the CCD testified that the company’s dried-cannabis weights in BioTrack were suspicious because they didn’t seem to accurately reflect how much weight marijuana loses as it dries.
Company employees also poorly accounted for why they were making adjustments in the system of up to 24 pounds of cannabis, making comments such as “bad” or “mistake” in the software, Albuquerque Business First reported.
Golden Roots was fined $298,972.05 – the amount regulators allege the company made selling products that weren’t properly accounted for in BioTrack.
The CCD has been cracking down on cannabis operators accused of selling products procured from out-of-state or not grown legally:
- Regulators alleged in August that Albuquerque dispensary Sawmill Sweet Leaf sold out-of-state products and didn’t have a license for extraction.
- Paradise Exotics Distro lost its license in July after regulators alleged the company sold products made in California.
Golden Roots was the first alleged rulebreaker in New Mexico to be asked to pay a large fine.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/new-mexico-cannabis-operator-fined-loses-license-for-alleged-biotrack-fraud/
Four marijuana companies, including a multistate operator, have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in which they allege the federal MJ prohibition under the Controlled Substances Act is no longer constitutional.
According to the complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, retailer Canna Provisions, Treevit delivery service CEO Gyasi Sellers, cultivator Wiseacre Farm and MSO Verano Holdings Corp. are all harmed by “the federal government’s unconstitutional ban on cultivating, manufacturing, distributing, or possessing intrastate marijuana.”
Verano is headquartered in Chicago but has operations in Massachusetts; the other three operators are based in Massachusetts.
The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the “Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional as applied to the intrastate cultivation, manufacture, possession, and distribution of marijuana pursuant to state law.”
The companies want the case to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.
They hired prominent law firm Boies Schiller Flexner to represent them.
The New York-based firm’s principal is David Boies, whose former clients include Microsoft, former presidential candidate Al Gore and Elizabeth Holmes’ disgraced startup Theranos.
Similar challenges to the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) have failed.
One such challenge led to a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2005.
In Gonzalez vs. Raich, the highest court in the United States ruled in a 6-3 decision that the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the power to outlaw marijuana federally, even though state laws allow the cultivation and sale of cannabis.
In the 18 years since that ruling, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult-use marijuana and the federal government has allowed a multibillion-dollar cannabis industry to thrive.
Since both Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice, currently headed by Garland, have declined to intervene in state-licensed marijuana markets, the key facts that led to the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling “no longer apply,” Boies said in a statement Thursday.
“The Supreme Court has since made clear that the federal government lacks the authority to regulate purely intrastate commerce,” Boies said.
“Moreover, the facts on which those precedents are based are no longer true.”
Verano President Darren Weiss said in a statement the company is “prepared to bring this case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to align federal law with how Congress has acted for years.”
While the Biden administration’s push to reschedule marijuana would help solve marijuana operators’ federal tax woes, neither rescheduling nor modest Congressional reforms such as the SAFER Banking Act “solve the fundamental issue,” Weiss added.
“The application of the CSA to lawful state-run cannabis business is an unconstitutional overreach on state sovereignty that has led to decades of harm, failed businesses, lost jobs, and unsafe working conditions.”
Alabama regulators are targeting Dec. 1 to award the first batch of medical cannabis business licenses after the agency’s first two attempts were scrapped because of scoring errors and litigation.
The first licenses will be awarded to individual cultivators, delivery providers, processors, dispensaries and state testing labs, according to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC).
Then, on Dec. 12, the AMCC will award licenses for vertically integrated operations, a designation set primarily for multistate operators.
Licenses are expected to be handed out 28 days after they have been awarded, so MMJ production could begin in early January, according to the Alabama Daily News.
That means MMJ products could be available for patients around early March, an AMCC spokesperson told the media outlet.
Regulators initially awarded 21 business licenses in June, only to void them after applicants alleged inconsistencies with how the applications were scored.
Then, in August, the state awarded 24 different licenses – 19 went to June recipients – only to reverse themselves again and scratch those licenses after spurned applicants filed lawsuits.
A state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Chicago-based MSO Verano Holdings Corp., but another lawsuit is pending.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/alabama-plans-to-award-medical-cannabis-licenses-dec-1/
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