The Florida Agriculture Division on Tuesday introduced eight winners from college students grades 5-11 who submitted essays on progressive makes use of for hemp as a part of an annual “Agricultural Historical past and Creativity” contest.
This yr’s contest stood out for its concentrate on the hashish plant’s different, sustainable makes use of. The division has labored to assist the burgeoning hemp trade, particularly following the crop’s federal legalization beneath the 2018 Farm Invoice.
It invited college students grades 4-11 to submit 500-word essays to be eligible for $1,000 scholarships and be honored at subsequent yr’s Florida Cupboard assembly on the state Capitol. These college students have now been chosen, although the division didn’t element what hemp-related subjects the profitable essays coated.
All through the months of April and Could, college students from all throughout our state submitted essays about hemp innovation — we’re so excited to announce the eight winners of the @FDACS Agricultural Historical past and Creativity Award Competitors! pic.twitter.com/H8RuKpeuxF
— Commissioner Nikki Fried (@NikkiFriedFL) June 28, 2022
“I’m impressed by all the college students who participated on this yr’s contest, and I need to congratulate the winners whose essays actually stood out,” Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who can also be a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, mentioned in a press release. “Their progressive approaches to creating new merchandise out of such a flexible commodity like hemp leaves me with little doubt that the way forward for Florida agriculture is vivid!”
Listed here are the winners:
- Anvita Devulapalli, Grade 5
- Charlotte Sikes, Grade 5
- Mahalia Louissaint, Grade 6
- Lena Bent, Grade 7
- Isaiah Gabriel, Grade 7
- Aylin Osorio, Grade 10
- Makayla Guilbeau, Grade 11
- Tessa Mullis, Grade 11
An outline of the essay necessities defined that hemp was federally legalized, and the crop represents a “numerous commodity, and it may be refined into a wide range of industrial objects comparable to paper, rope, paint, and many others.”
“Simply as hi-tech improvements have modified the very basis of how we conceive of every little thing from telephones to computer systems to family home equipment; the identical is true of hemp,” it mentioned. “A few of the most notable innovations fabricated from hemp embody planes, automobiles, batteries, eyeglasses, hempcrete (concrete constructing materials), plastics and a lot extra. The chances are infinite.”
The five hundred-word essays had been imagined to concentrate on innovations that the scholars got here up with that could possibly be made with not less than 50 % hemp.
The competition immediate went on to element how the crop is at present being utilized—as an environmentally sustainable different to concrete, textiles and plastics. The rules from the Division of Agriculture and Shopper Companies had been totally different for every of the three grade teams that would submit essays, however all submissions wanted be primarily based on a “product that you’ve invented that will likely be created with not less than 50 % hemp supplies.”
Fried has been a vocal advocate for the hemp trade and marijuana reform typically, so it’s not particularly stunning that she’d helm the hemp-focused contest, even when the concept of encouraging elementary college college students to write down about hashish—albeit in its nonintoxicating kind—may have doubtlessly ruffled some conservative feathers.
Fried has publicly acknowledged that she’s a medical hashish cardholder within the state, and he or she beforehand lobbied on behalf of a plant farm that was later purchased out by a serious hashish firm earlier than she turned the Florida’s high agriculture regulator.
She continuously talks about her advocacy for hashish coverage reform on social media, and he or she has investments in a marijuana firm.
The commissioner additionally not too long ago spoke with Marijuana Second a couple of lawsuit she filed in opposition to the Biden administration about gun rights for medical hashish sufferers, who’re present barred for buying or possessing firearms merely for admitting to marijuana use, even when such exercise is lawful beneath state legislation.
Regulators in Fried’s workplace have criticized Oregon hemp companies over hemp merchandise that they are saying comprise rocks and sticks and have failed to fulfill regulatory tips on allowable THC content material. As an alternative, shoppers should purchase native merchandise made in Florida, Fried’s division mentioned.
In 2018, the nationwide financial institution Wells Fargo fired Fried as a shopper as a result of her marketing campaign has acquired donations from “lobbyists from the medical marijuana trade.”
Picture courtesy of Brendan Cleak.