Source: eaglefordtexas.com
After a rocky pilot year for legalized hemp in Colorado, the Department of Agriculture has taken on a program overhaul aimed at transforming marijuana’s non-intoxicating relative into a legitimate, commercial industry.
At the state’s Hemp Committee meeting this week, Division of Plant Industry authorities left a majority of the current rulebook marked in red and slated for tighter, clearer guidelines in 2015.
Although many of the revisions will seek to eliminate illicit activity and avoid conflict with the federal government, the state will also seek to get a better handle on its own management of this budding industry.
Lack of reporting requirements means Colorado has no available statistics on how much hemp was planted or harvested in the state this year. Growers were obligated to register their operations with the state ag department, but they were not asked to provide details on total acreage harvested.
If revisions submitted Dec. 1 are implemented, growers will need to report actual acreage planted, as well as varietal details beginning in March.
The state will also restrict research and development operations, with the goal of limiting such licensing to institutions of higher education, such as Colorado State University.
The ease of registering as an R&D operation this year provoked private businesses to file as researchers rather than commercial growers, explained Duane Sinning, assistant director of the state’s Division of Plant Industry.
“What we realized is that because it was written as loosely as it was, people called it development and for half the price got registration,” Sinning said.
R&D licensing cost $100 this year, in comparison to $200 for a commercial operation. As a result, the state ag department found many registered as researchers solely. Both R&D and commercial registration would now cost $500.
The state will also seek to clearly separate hemp growers from marijuana growers. The department encountered registered hemp operations attempting to breed in-house by crossing the plants with marijuana, Sinning said.
New guidelines would prevent industrial hemp operations from growing marijuana within 1 mile of an outdoor registered area or within one-fourth of a mile of indoor operations.
Although marijuana growers may bemoan the restriction, the idea is to protect hemp from producers attempting to manipulate the program, said Colorado Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture Ron Carleton.
“I did get some calls this summer, ‘Man, your hemp people are going to ruin our marijuana,’ and then we pointed out that their marijuana could ruin some people’s hemp,” Carleton said.
With both hemp and marijuana production illegal nationally, he said the new guidelines aim to avoid unnecessary conflict. Colorado’s effort to appease federal authorities has not been an enviable task.
“Guinea pig would be the right word. We’ve been bludgeoned and beat up,” Sinning said.
While states such as Kentucky have taken an aggressive approach, suing the federal government regarding hemp regulations, Colorado filed for a Schedule 1 drug import permit before purchasing hemp seeds.
Waiting on clear directions from federal authorities has meant both confusion and delays for institutions hoping to dive into the new industry.
At CSU, following the rules meant forgoing a season of varietal research. The university now has verbal approval from the Drug Enforcement Agency to proceed with testing.
“We have sent letters to DEA to get written confirmation of parameters but we have made the decision that verbal approval is sufficient for our needs,” said Mark Wdowik, CSU’s vice president of research.
Although he said the university feels confident it can rely on DEA’s word, commercial growers do not yet have the same level of assurance. Farmers who venture into the unknown world of hemp assume the risk of losing federal crop insurance or suffering legal implications.
“In Colorado, we don’t have the support of the federal government, so a lot of what we are doing is trailblazing through this knowing there are limitations with the feds,” said Chad Pfitzer, a member of the Hemp Committee and integrated solutions manager for Greeley’s 4Rivers Equipment.
“We don’t have a huge amount of market activity going on right now because of the limitations with the feds and particularly in banking and with crop insurance. I think we’re going to naturally run into a lot of reluctance at your typical grower level in places like Weld County.”
For ranchers such as Alfonzo Abeyta from Antonito, the risk of venturing into uncertain territory meant losing a shipment of 4,000 pounds of hemp at the port in San Diego. Seizures by DEA have prevented registered operations from importing certified seed and forced growers to rely on non-authorized distributors.
“We didn’t have any seed to plant. What was planted has been seed that has really not been certified,” Abeyta said.
“If we planted 30 pounds to the acre on 130 acres, we would have had enough to plant and even have had a little left over for other people.”
While entrepreneurs such as Abeyta have taken a gamble on hemp, Pfitzer said it is operations like his that could set Colorado ahead of the game nationally.
“We need those players to take the risk because they are the trailblazers. They are the 1 percent of the 1 percent really out there pushing the envelope and we’ve got to have some practical experience on the ground in order to get over some of these hurtles for all Colorado farmers,” Pfitzer said.
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