Domestic Cultivation Research Articles

Understanding global patterns of domestic cannabis cultivation

PurposeUnlike other plant‐based drugs, cannabis is increasingly grown within the country of consumption, requires minimal processing before consumption, and can be easily grown almost anywhere using indoor or outdoor cultivation techniques. Developments in agronomic technologies have led to global growth in domestic cultivation, both by cannabis users for self‐ and social‐supply, and by more commercially‐oriented growers. Cross‐national research is needed to better understand who is involved in domestic cultivation, the diversity in cultivation practices and motivations, and cultivators' interaction with the criminal justice system and cannabis control policies.Design/methodology/approachThe article introduces the Global Cannabis Cultivation Research Consortium (GCCRC), describes its evolution and aims, and outlines the methodology of its ongoing cross‐national online survey of cannabis cultivation.FindingsDespite differing national contexts, the GCCRC successfully developed a core questionnaire to be used in different countries. It accommodates varying research interests through the addition of optional survey sections. The benefits to forming an international consortium to conduct web‐based survey research include the sharing of expertise, recruitment efforts and problem‐solving.Research limitations/implicationsThe article discusses the limitations of using non‐representative online sampling and the strategies used to increase validity.Originality/valueThe GCCRC is conducting the largest cross‐national study of domestic cannabis cultivation to date. The aim is not only to better understand patterns of cannabis cultivation and how they differ between countries but also to build upon online engagement methodology with hidden populations.

Why small-scale cannabis growers stay small: Five mechanisms that prevent small-scale growers from going large scale

BackgroundOver the past 15–20 years, domestic cultivation of cannabis has been established in a number of European countries. New techniques have made such cultivation easier; however, the bulk of growers remain small-scale. In this study, we explore the factors that prevent small-scale growers from increasing their production. MethodsThe study is based on 1 year of ethnographic fieldwork and qualitative interviews conducted with 45 Norwegian cannabis growers, 10 of whom were growing on a large-scale and 35 on a small-scale. ResultsThe study identifies five mechanisms that prevent small-scale indoor growers from going large-scale. First, large-scale operations involve a number of people, large sums of money, a high work-load and a high risk of detection, and thus demand a higher level of organizational skills than for small growing operations. Second, financial assets are needed to start a large ‘grow-site’. Housing rent, electricity, equipment and nutrients are expensive. Third, to be able to sell large quantities of cannabis, growers need access to an illegal distribution network and knowledge of how to act according to black market norms and structures. Fourth, large-scale operations require advanced horticultural skills to maximize yield and quality, which demands greater skills and knowledge than does small-scale cultivation. Fifth, small-scale growers are often embedded in the ‘cannabis culture’, which emphasizes anti-commercialism, anti-violence and ecological and community values. Hence, starting up large-scale production will imply having to renegotiate or abandon these values. ConclusionGoing from small- to large-scale cannabis production is a demanding task—ideologically, technically, economically and personally. The many obstacles that small-scale growers face and the lack of interest and motivation for going large-scale suggest that the risk of a ‘slippery slope’ from small-scale to large-scale growing is limited. Possible political implications of the findings are discussed.

단마와 장마 영여자의 항산화능 및 항돌연변이 활성 검정

The bulbil of the Dioscorea species is produced, the amount of which is 2,000 tons annually, but it has been discarded without specific use. In this study the antioxidant and antimutagenicity of bulbil of the Dioscorea, which compared to bulbil of Danma(Dioscorea japonica Decaisne) and Jangma(Dioscorea batatas Decaisne), a major domestic cultivation species. The study was done by extracting bulbil of the Dioscorea methanol and the methanol extracts was re-extracted with chloroform, ethyl acetate, n-butanol and water. In methanol extract of Danma and Jangma, polyphenolic compounds contained 2.2 and 3.9 mg/g extract, respectively. The ethyl acetate fraction of Danma and Jangma had higher polyphenolic contents of 33.9 and 39.1 mg/g, whereas water fractions were much lower at 2.4 and 5.8 mg/g. Determination of antioxidant activity showed that the ethylacetate fraction strong DPPH radical scavenging activity and ABTS radical scavenging activity. The inhibitory effects of methanol extracts and chloroform, ethylacetate, n-butanol, water fraction from bulbil of Danma and Jangma on the mutagenicity in 1-NP, AFB1, Trp-P-1 were investigated using S. typhimurium TA98. Danma and Jangma cultivars decreased the reverse mutation induced by 1-NP, AFB1, Trp-P-1 in S. typhimurium TA98. The fraction of chloroform and ethylacetate showed strong inhibitory effects, in a dose dependant manner against the mutagenicities induced by 1-NP, AFB1, Trp-P-1 in S. typhimurium TA98.

Weed, Need and Greed. A Study of Domestic Cannabis Cultivation

Weed, Need and Greed. A Study of Domestic Cannabis Cultivation

Small Scale Domestic Cannabis Cultivation: An Anonymous Web Survey among 659 Cannabis Cultivators in Belgium

The shift to (inter)regional production, trade, and domestic cultivation has become an irreversible international trend. Until now, the focus of most empirical work has been on large-scale, commercially-oriented and professionally-organized segments of the cannabis industry, often based on police data and on the perspective of law enforcement agencies. This article presents some significant findings from a large-scale study on a less visible and less studied segment of the market, i.e. small-scale cultivators, based on an anonymous web survey among 659 cannabis cultivators. The article discusses the patterns of cultivation, some technical aspects of growing operations, (dis)advantages of cannabis cultivation, and perceived quality and strength of homegrown cannabis. The author argues that small-scale or amateur home growers constitute a significant segment of the cannabis market, both in a quantitative and in a qualitative perspective, and points to important differences between this sample obtained online and those obtained through traditional methods in other studies.

Wollstonecraft and World Improvement

Previous articleNext article No AccessWollstonecraft and World ImprovementMark CanuelMark Canuel Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Wordsworth Circle Volume 41, Number 3Summer 2010The International Conference of Romanticism: 2009 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/TWC24043702 Views: 17Total views on this site © 2010 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

The case for small-scale domestic cannabis cultivation

The shift to (inter)regional production, trade and domestic cultivation has become an irreversible international trend. Until now, the focus of most empirical work has been on large-scale, commercially oriented and professionally organized segments of the cannabis industry, often based on police data and on the perspective of law enforcement agencies. This paper offers a review of recent Dutch- language research that focuses on cannabis cultivation. Empirical studies were identified through literature searches using relevant search terms and Web of Science, Elin, Social Science Research Network and Elsevier ScienceDirect. The paper presents the main findings of Dutch and Belgian empirical work on the factors that stimulated the import substitution process on the cannabis market, aspects related to quality and potency issues, typologies of cannabis growers, and (unintended) effects of pursued policies. In the light of this (selective) review the author offers some commentary and analysis concerning the claims made by different stakeholders, and concludes with some reflections on future research and on policy implications. The author outlines the importance of small-scale, independent or ideologically oriented cannabis cultivation as an underresearched market segment. The author also makes a case for greater toleration of small-scale cannabis cultivation, to secure the least worst of cannabis markets.

Domestic cultivation may abate the contradiction between sustainable utilization and genetic diversity conservation of medicinal plants.

Consumption of herbal medicines is widespread and increasing. Harvesting from the wild, the main source of raw material, is causing loss of genetic diversity and habitat destruction. However, major large of the wild is harvested by poor households in developing countries. Current research results showed that cultivated populations could maintain relative high genetic diversity of their wild ancestors. So, on-farm conservation may be an effective way to conserve genetic diversity of medicinal plants. On the other hand, the quality of cultivated products could be confirmed if they were domesticated under good agricultural practice. Therefore, domestic cultivation with special domestication pattern may satisfy the needs for developing countries to conserve genetic diversity of medicinal plants and at the same time to guarantee the sustainable utilization under the pressure of local economy. Key words: Domestic cultivation, genetic diversity conservation, medicinal plants, sustainable utilization.

식물 섬유 특성에 관한 연구 -어저귀, 칡, 닥, 실유카, 신서란, 옥수수를 중심으로-

Bast fibers were applied for various usages from fabrics to household care products long time ago. In this study, we investigated the physical characteristrus of water retted & chemically rotted fibers of Yucca, New Zealand hemp, Corn, Kuzu vine, Indian mallow, and Mulberry paper that have been harvested by domestic cultivation. Water retting is more effective than chemical rotting for six kinds of plant fibers. When all fibers were rotted chemically with 1% sodium hydroxide, only Kuzu vine and Indian mallow were retted. Indian mallow, Yucca, New Zealand hemp, and Com fibers have higher tensile strength than any other fibers. The crystallinity of Kuzu vine, Indian mallow, Yucca, New Zealand hemp, and Corn was as low as 60% but Yucca, New Zealand hemp were flexible. Yucca had fewer lumina whereas New Zealand hemp more lumina in cross sectional shape. Especially com fibers have a structure like sponge, and Indian mallow had a net shape. The longitudinal section of New Zealand hemp showed smooth and long shape. Mulberry paper was proved to be short and thin, which is quite appropriate for making paper. In this study, we found that plant fibers for living material could be used for cloth materials.

Worldwide genotyping of castor bean germplasm (Ricinus communis L.) using AFLPs and SSRs

Worldwide genetic diversity in 200 individuals comprising 41 castor bean accessions was assessed using amplified fragment polymorphisms (AFLPs) and simple sequence repeats (SSRs). We found that, despite surveying five continents and 35 countries, genetic diversity in castor bean germplasm is relatively low (overall He = 0.126 for AFLPs and 0.188 for SSRs) compared to estimates of genetic diversity in other plant species. Our data also show no geographic structuring of genotypes across continents or countries within continents. An assessment of the congruence between AFLP and SSRs indicates a low correlation (R2 = 0.19) between the two data sets, but each marker class nonetheless shows similar patterns of low-genetic diversity and a lack of geographic structure. Our data do suggest that SSRs yield a higher percentage of polymorphic loci, higher heterozyosity and a greater range of genetic distances, and are therefore more informative than are AFLPs on a locus-by-locus basis. Based on comparisons with numerous other plant species, we suggest that the lower genetic variation in this worldwide collection may be due to one or more factors including: sampling strategies that have not captured the full extent of genetic variation in the species; artifactual variation due to long-term germplasm storage and seed regeneration; or intense selection followed by domestic cultivation of a limited number of castor bean genotypes, which are widely propagated for their horticultural and agro-economic value.

CHARACTERIZATION OF DIFFERENT APRICOT CULTIVARS GROWN IN HUNGARY WITH SSR MARKERS

The apricot breeding of Hungary has a long tradition, because its roots go back as early as the 15 th century. The various cultivars mainly originated from Mid Asia have given a very good basic material for the domestic apricot cultivation. Our major goal is to set a molecular fingerprint based on molecular markers that will be able to identify certain varieties from an unknown plant material. More than 150 cultivars were selected from different germplasm collection located in Central Europe and finally 96 of them were chosen. The first markers of choice were the isozymes. The corresponding literature showed that these type of markers have been used to assess genetic variability in apricots. However isozyme analysis doesn't detect enough polymorphism to discriminate Hungarian cultivars and reveal relationships among them. The availability of DNA-based markers provides a new possibility for evaluating differences among plant genomes. Simple sequence repeats (SSR and micro-). satellites) have become the tool for identification in many plant species, because they are PCR-based, highly reproducible, polymorphic and codominant in plant genomes. In this study, we used peach and apricot primer pairs from four different sources for cross species amplification in apricot in order to examine microsatellite polymorphism among cultivars and investigate relationships among them.

Hemp in the British Isles

Abstract Hemp has been traced back to 343 BC in the UK, with record of its use in Roman times as well, and on into the Middle Ages. Cultivation was widespread, with record of hemp in Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland. In each of these countries there is record of it being grown in many locations, with place names reflecting this fact to this very day. The availability of hemp made it possible for the English to greatly increase their naval powers, but ultimately hemp had to be imported to maintain their military and economic primacy. By the nineteenth century, most of the hemp used by the United Kingdom was imported from Russia, with Italy as a supplier of the highest quality grades. The dependence of the nation on such a product was of concern to many legislators, who argued for an increase in domestic cultivation for reasons of national security. Ultimately, metal ships and steam power reduced the need for hemp in the British Navy, and production virtually ceased. In the 1980s the ecological movement took an interest in hemp, and hemp was re-introduced. It is now legal to grow hemp with a licence from the Home Office. Acreage has been increasing since the mid-1990s, when a few thousand acres were being grown. Most of the hemp grown in the UK is for seed and oil production. The industry is growing dramatically in the UK, where locally grown hemp provides most of the hemp based food products sold. Other applications of hemp, such as clothing, are also available to the public, but are imported, as in the case of Braintree Hemp Clothing (UK), which used Chinese hemp. This shop and other high profile shops have caught the public imagination in the UK, with a little help from such well-known figures as Anita Roddick and Woody Harrelson. Outlets from Tony's Hemp Corner in London to The Hemp Shop in Brighton are now doing well with a range of products including paper, body products, clothing and food.

Domestic marijuana growers: Mainstreaming deviance∗

Since the early 1980s, domestic marijuana cultivation has provided an increasing proportion of the marijuana consumed in the United States. Some estimate that as much as 50 percent of the marijuana consumed in the U.S. is now domestically grown. Despite the impact of domestic cultivation on the marijuana market, little is known about people who grow marijuana for profit. Compared with many other business opportunities in the drug world, marijuana cultivation is land‐bound and labor intensive. This paper presents the preliminary findings of an interview study of domestic marijuana growers, with a focus on those growers with strong conventional bonds to their local communities.

America, the Global Balance, and Asia

NO ASPECT of the Carter administration's foreign policy has been more distinctive than its attempt to combine a diminution of direct external responsibilities with a maintenance of Henry Kissinger's Concert of Powers and a restoration of traditional, pre-1965 domestic support for external action. The tensions caused by this imaginative attempt to reconcile the irreconcilable have obscured the distinction between changes caused by the flow of events and those brought about by American exertions. In Asia, the decade 1965-1975 saw the devastating failure in Vietnam in spite of an outpouring of American effort, skill, and intelligence as well as of life and treasure. It saw, too, a reconciliation with China made possible by internal developments in the Peoples Republic and Soviet political failure as much as by the imagination and elan of the Nixon administration. In the 1976-1979 period, on the other hand, events in Asia moved in directions broadly favorable to U.S. interests in spite of substantial confusion in Washington's policies. For President Carter, as for his predecessors, America is a nation unlike any other. It is not a nation state in the same sense as Japan or France. Ethnic and racial matters are important as reflections of more fundamental values rather than as issues in their own right. America's primary obligation is the domestic cultivation and elaboration of that value system, which is the very cement of U.S. society. American leaders since George Washington have tended to think that this concentration on domestic affairs permits or requires abstention from foreign entanglements. Involvement with foreign causes would confuse and distort the effort required at home. It could even involve Americans with all the evils of the old European system from which they had once sought to escape, including the search for a balance of power through secret diplomacy, a process that usually led to wars.

Industrial uses of high erucic oils

AbstractVegetable oils rich in erucic acid have desirable properties for a variety of applications. At present, only a fraction of the potential that exists for commercial exploitation of high erucic oils in the United States is fulfilled with 10 million pounds of rapeseed oil imported annually. Though rape is not a crop in the United States, another member of the mustard family, crambe, has been recommended by the USDA as a practical crop for domestic cultivation. Compared to rapessed oil, crambe oil is more suitable for industrial use because it consistently contains a higher percentage of erucic acid. High erucic oils, as examplified by crambe, can be employed as lubricants in continuous steel casting, in formulated lubricants and in the manufacture of rubber additives. Both the hydrogenated oil and derived wax esters have properties comparable to commercial waxes. Useful nitrogen derivatives can be prepared from either the erucic acid or mixed acids from the oil; behenyl amine is used in a corrosion inhibitor, disubstituted amides are effective plasticizers and erucamide is an excellent slip and antiblocking agent for plastic films. Oxidative ozonolysis of erucic acid produces the dibasic acid, brassylic, and the monoacid, pelargonic. Mixed diacids, mainly brassylic and azelaic, can be obtained by ozonolysis of fatty acids from the oil. Alkyl diesters of brassylic, or of the mixed diacids, are excellent low temperature plasticizers. Two new nylons (13 and 1313), which are derived from C‐13 difunctional products of erucic acid ozonolysis, contain repeating units that have longer uninterrupted polymethylene chains than other nylons. Moderate melting points and exceptionally low water absorption are a consequence of this structure. The low‐melting characteristic is an advantage in adhesive uses and facilitates fluidized‐bed coating, molding and extrusion; low moisture affinity contributes to excellent electrical properties and dimensional stability.

Medicinal Herb Production in Great Britain

A SHORT memorandum, presumably a preliminary one, has been issued by the Ministry of Health declaring its policy regarding the domestic cultivation of medicinal plants and outlining the arrangements which have already been made in respect of belladonna, digitalis, henbane and stramonium. These four potent drugs are to be made the special care of the Ministry, and it is understood that the owners of established herb farms have undertaken to extend the acreages under cultivation. Outside effort is not discouraged; but, as the memorandum states, “Farmers and owners of large private gardens who wish to engage in the cultivation of herbs are recommended to operate in close association with commercial firms to ensure that the crop is properly harvested and dealt with”. This is sound advice, and if followed will help amateur gardeners to avoid pitfalls, which are not a few in number. It is hoped that the deficiency of supplies of these four important drugs, which is due to the cessation of imports from Continental sources, will be made up by greatly increased home production. The Ministry has given no guidance with regard to the many other herbs which, although of lesser medical importance than the four specifically named plants, are of considerable commercial interest as household remedies. The matter might perhaps be taken up by the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Board of Education might give official advice about the collection of herbs by school children.