Florida college students from grades 4-12 are being invited to brainstorm new makes use of for hemp as a part of an annual “Agricultural Historical past and Creativity” contest being overseen by the state agriculture division.
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried (D), who’s working for governor, introduced the brand new contest on Tuesday. A complete of 9 college students from totally different grade ranges may very well be chosen to win a $1,000 scholarship and be honored at subsequent yr’s Florida Cupboard assembly on the state Capitol.
An outline of the essay necessities explains that hemp was federally legalized beneath the 2018 Farm Invoice and the crop is a “various commodity, and it may be refined into a wide range of business gadgets comparable to paper, rope, paint, and many others.”
Our third annual Florida Agriculture Historical past & Creativity Award essay contest is now open!
Hemp is a various commodity in our state. We’re difficult 4th-Twelfth grade college students to write down about what hemp innovations they might create to foster a extra sustainable future for Florida👇 pic.twitter.com/P2TCYRJnvX
— Commissioner Nikki Fried (@NikkiFriedFL) April 19, 2022
“Simply as hi-tech improvements have modified the very basis of how we conceive of every thing from telephones to computer systems to family home equipment; the identical is true of hemp,” it says. “A number of the most notable innovations fabricated from hemp embrace planes, automobiles, batteries, eyeglasses, hempcrete (concrete constructing materials), plastics and a lot extra. The probabilities are countless.”
To that finish, college students are being inspired to showcase their hashish creativity with a 500-word essay on innovations that they provide you with which are made with a minimum of 50 p.c hemp.
The immediate goes into element about how the crop is presently being utilized—as an environmentally sustainable various to concrete, textiles and plastics. The guidelines from the Division of Agriculture and Shopper Providers are totally different for every of the three grade teams that may submit essays, however all submissions have to be primarily based on a “product that you’ve got invented that might be created with a minimum of 50 p.c hemp supplies.”
Listed here are the descriptions of the scholarship assignments for every grade degree:
Elementary (Grades 4-5) – Contemplating the knowledge above, write a few product that you’ve got invented that might be created with a minimum of 50% hemp supplies.
Center College (Grades 6-8) – Contemplating the knowledge above, write a few product that you’ve got invented that might be created with a minimum of 50% hemp supplies. Moreover, clarify the significance of this invention and why it’s helpful.
Excessive College (Grades 9-12) – Contemplating the knowledge above, write a few product that you’ve got invented that might be created with a minimum of 50% hemp supplies. Moreover, clarify the significance of this invention and why it’s helpful. Lastly, you’ll want to share how this invention will positively affect your neighborhood and create a extra sustainable future.
Fried has been a vocal advocate for the hemp business and marijuana reform generally, so it’s not particularly shocking that she’d helm the hemp-focused contest, even when the concept of encouraging elementary faculty college students to write down about hashish—albeit in its nonintoxicating type—might doubtlessly ruffle some conservative feathers.
Fried has publicly said that she’s a medical hashish cardholder within the state, and she or he beforehand lobbied on behalf of a plant farm that was later purchased out by a significant hashish firm earlier than she turned the Florida’s high agriculture regulator.
She regularly talks about her advocacy for hashish coverage reform on social media, and she or he has investments in a marijuana firm.
Regulators in her workplace have criticized Oregon hemp companies over hemp merchandise that they are saying include rocks and sticks and have failed to fulfill regulatory pointers on allowable THC content material. As an alternative, shoppers can purchase native merchandise made in Florida, Fried’s division mentioned.
In 2018, the nationwide financial institution Wells Fargo fired Fried as a consumer as a result of her marketing campaign has obtained donations from “lobbyists from the medical marijuana business.”