Test plots needed for industrial hemp

Growers need to breed for seed

By Dan Barker
Source: fortmorgantimes.com

Commercial farmers will have to wait before they can cultivate hemp in Colorado — but they might make money off creating new varieties of hemp plants.

It is legal to grow hemp, but they need the seed of varieties that have market value, and there is no seed made for the specific conditions in Colorado and the markets that are available, said James McVaney of Industrial Hemp in Colorado.

He was speaking in Fort Morgan on Saturday to a number of agricultural producers who came from all over Northeast Colorado.

The big job right now is to breed varieties of hemp that can thrive in Colorado's ecology and produce crops that can be sold, McVaney said.

He was asking growers to set aside test plots in order to begin the process of creating those varieties.

One of the difficulties in the past was that there was no definition of hemp that separated it from marijuana, but that has changed, McVaney said.

The United States Agricultural Act of 2014 — known as the most recent Farm Bill — gives a definition, and this was an act of Congress, and overrules the old arguments for not allowing hemp farming, he said.

The Farm Bill defined industrial hemp as any cannabis sativa plant that has not more than 0.3 percent THC (tetrahydrocannabinol). THC is the substance that produces the "high" from marijuana, and this level of THC could not create that high.

Colorado state law uses the same standard, McVaney said.

There are hemp seeds used for crops in other countries, such as Canada, but no one knows if those seeds will grow in Colorado, he stressed.

And different varieties of seeds will produce different crops.

Hemp was long used for its fiber, to make ropes and sails for ships, McVaney noted. In fact, there are some who have retained the old ropes because of their excellent utility, but hemp ropes were largely replaced when nylon ropes were created.

That fiber can be used in a number of ways.

One hectare of hemp will provide more material for paper than 10 acres of lumber, and that's just in one year, said Lloyd Crews of Fort Morgan, CEO of Infinity Industrial Hemp Seeds, who hosted the presentation.

The fiber can also be used for making clothing or particle board for construction, he said.

Hemp seeds can be used for food for both humans and animals, Crews said. In fact, this is one of the most profitable uses.

Hemp plants also contain oils that could be used for a bio-diesel type fuel, and might be used for cellulosic ethanol refineries once those are working, he said.

Crews grew an experimental plot of hemp near Wiggins last year.

One of the advantages of hemp is that it does not need as much water as most crops, Crews said. Also, hemp plants put nitrogen into the soil, which makes it a good rotational crop. Growers also do not have to use herbicides because hemp is planted very close together, crowding out other plants.

In fact, Canada grows most of its hemp in dryland areas, McVaney said.

McVaney said that the purpose of his talk was to bring farmers together so that they could start their own groups that work on hemp production.

Currently, hemp varieties are not competitive, and a high-yield variety is needed, he said.

Research and development plots are needed, and both state and federal law allows research, McVaney explained.

There are no hemp seeds in federal collections of natural seeds, like the one in Fort Collins, but the "feral" marijuana plants that grow in places like Colorado and Kansas would be good stock to begin with for breeding, he said.

He urged farmers to keep an eye out for those wild marijuana plants.

This is a potential avenue of profit. Growers could get in on the ground level of creating the new seed that is needed, McVaney said.

He said he is looking for growers who are willing to cultivate 10 to 100 acre test plots.

The goal for now is to have growers see how hemp production is done and to establish relationships between producers, McVaney said.

Once viable hemp seed is created, it can legally be transferred to commercial users, he said.

McVaney cautioned farmers to make identifying markets for their hemp crops to be the first step in their plans once seed is available.

They need to find markets and tailor their production to meet those needs, he said.

Another potential market is testing hemp for its THC levels, to make sure that it meets the criteria of hemp, said Karen Crews.

That is because the state will be watching hemp crops carefully to make sure the THC levels stay under 0.3 percent.

While that kind of testing would not be counted as an official test, it would help growers to breed that they want, Karen Crews said.

The state will have its own testers to establish legality.