Missouri Governor Awards Ford Motor Company But Misses Multi-Million Dollar Opportunity
By Amber Iris Langston
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, who is running for a second term this November, presented Ford Motor Company with the 2012 Governor’s Economic Development Project of the Year Award earlier this week at a local Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Clay County, Missouri.
While that’s nice and all, if Henry Ford were alive and present to receive that award, he would probably be bringing in millions of dollars MORE to Missourians.
Why? Because 120 years ago during the most robust parts of Ford’s life, Clay County, Missouri, along with close neighbor Platte County were two of the largest hemp-producing counties in the entire country. And very early on, the iconic and important American visionary Henry Ford, envisionedthe car of the future built with and running on vegetable biofuel made from cannabis hemp, the industrial strain of marijuana, among others.
If Henry Ford were alive today, no doubt he would be putting pressure on our legislators to end this insane prohibition of cannabis hemp. While it would appear that Ford Motor Company is indeed dabbling into hempproducts, it seems our Canadian and European counterparts are much further along in the process.
While there are no clear estimates as to how much money is spent on hemp for car parts, the Hemp Industries Association estimates that US retail sales of hemp products topped out at $419 million in 2010. Giving Missouri a part of that pie is something politicians, farmers and local manufacturing businesses should all be able to agree upon.
Oh and did I mention that hemp does well in a drought?
