New legislation in Australia recently legalized the cultivation of industrial hemp in the province of New South Wales. Farmers in NSW are now being encouraged to take up the crop. Although it still remain illegal for humans to consume hemp product in Australia, it seems that dogs are exempt. That’s right, farmers are being to encouraged to grow hemp that will be used in everything from bio-diesel to dog food. And it looks like farmers are keen on playing ball. As ABC.net.au reports:

New South Wales farmers are being encouraged to start growing industrial hemp.

The Government recently passed legislation allowing the plant to be grown for use in products ranging from bio-fuel to dog food.

The Primary Industries Minister, Ian Macdonald, says measures have been put in place to prevent hemp crops being used to camouflage marijuana plantations.

[...]

“It’ll require farmers who wish to grow industrial hemp to register to get a licence.

[...]

“Already we’ve had over 200 farmers express interest in growing hemp across the state,” he said.

Well, I guess that dogs really are man’s best friend down under — to the point of receiving preferential treatment. I wonder if hemp-based food products will also be made available to dingos… it just might keep them well-nourished enough to keep them away from all the babies.

It’s been a pretty slow day in the world of hemp news, but I never thoughts it’d be a dog’s day. In my surfing around the world wide interwebs, the only <i>hemps-up</i> I’ve been able to find was one mention of a hemp-based dog bed, and another of hemp-based dog toys. First, one North Shore News reporter had this tale to tell of her adventure out shopping for a dog bed:

One particular bed caught my eye, it was a basic fleece bed, but the fleece covering was made from recycled plastic water bottles. The sales gal tried to explain how this was possible but I must have looked like a deer caught in the head lights as she stopped mid sentence and said… “Maybe we should look at the hemp beds instead.”

Yes there are beds made of hemp fibre that are durable and eco-friendly, as well as a completely organic cotton bed that is filled with some sort of cotton fibre from an ancient tree in Botswana. A portion of the proceeds of the sale of these beds apparently goes back to the villagers who pick this cotton-like substance. (Where have I been for so many years? . . . Oh right, shopping in Costco!)

So it seems that (wo)man’s bestfriend is also able to reap the benefits of one of the most sustainable natural resources in existence. But it doesn’t stop here. There are also these hemp dog toys from Uncommongoods.com:

Just because your dog doesn’t care what he puts in his mouth doesn’t mean you shouldn’t! Let your pup sink his teeth into these eco-friendly squeaky chew toys made with naturally durable hemp plant fiber and natural dyes from plants and minerals. Made with a low-eco impact, the owl and elephant are certified non-toxic, chemical-free, saliva resistant and have a reduced allergy level.

So it looks like you don’t have to be a bi-ped to benefit from the, er, benefits of industrial hemp. In fact, this is just the kind diverse consumer portfolio that hemp needs to help push it into both mainstream production and cultivation. If more people were made aware of its many uses, then there’d be sufficient incentive (i.e. investment) to get it out of the periphery of commercialization and into the mainstream where it can do the planet and the economy the good that it has the potential do to.