Michael Carus is founder and managing director of nova-Institut GmbH, and Managing Director of the European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA), which will hold its annual conference May 20-21.
HempToday: Take us back to 12 years ago. What was that first EIHA conference like?
Michael Carus: It took place in a small conference room with maximum 40 participants.
HT: Who were the key people and companies that worked to get the annual EIHA conference going?
MC: It was the board of EIHA and the nova-Institute as executive office of EIHA. The last kick was the CBD topic, so we have now 200 participants or even more.
HT: Give us a sneak preview — one or two key or surprising findings — that EIHA will present in its report to the conference this year?
MC: We have new life-cycle assessment (LCA) data on hemp and other natural fibres – very important for the automotive industry! We propose new guidelines for THC in food in Europe, and we have a huge topic on CBD too.
HT: How many countries are represented among the participants signed up so far?
MC: They’ve registered from 31 countries! You can find all registered participants here: http://eiha-conference.org/tnlist
HT: What are the EIHA’s key goals for 2015?
MC: Stay strong in the automotive fibre business and find fair guidelines for THC in food.
