Thanks to passage of Amendment 64 several years ago, hemp is a growing market in Colorado, and also continues to gain traction nationwide.
United States Senator Cory Gardner of Yuma has been working diligently for years now, along with Sen. Michael Bennet, Colorado’s senior senator, in trying to bring hemp off the controlled substance list and into the mainstream.
Gardner visited the All Seeing Hemp location in Yuma, along with Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture Don Brown, also of Yuma, for a tour of the facility and discuss the growing hemp industry.
Hemp was grown in Yuma County decades ago, but has been lumped with marijuana as a listed controlled substance.
However, states have led the way in legalizing hemp. Colorado is the nation’s top producer, according to the Colorado Department of Agriculture, and Yuma County is at the forefront with 600 acres of industrial hemp, which produces fiber for a wide variety of uses.
Now legalization at the federal level is gaining traction, though slowly. An amendment to the Senate version of the 2018 Farm Bill would fully legalize industrial hemp in the United States. The “Hemp Farming Act of 2018 also legalizes all products made from industrial hemp, including CBD oil. It would officially remove hemp from the Drug Enforcement Administration’s list of controlled substances.
However, the Farm Bill is not a done deal yet as the Senate and House currently are in negotiations over their two versions. Also, those at last Friday’s tour of All Seeing Hemp noted that the amendment helps fix banking and crop insurance issues for hemp farmers and manufacturers, but might be a little weak in other hemp-related issues, such as currently not being able to use federal water on hemp plants — which is not an issue in Yuma County, but is elsewhere.
Gardner said he has drafted a proposed bill which is just three pages long that addresses all issues surrounding hemp, such as banking, water, crop insurance and transportation. Brown said the Colorado Department of Agriculture is working on language to support Gardner’s legislation.
Gardner and Bennet have cosponsored the bipartisan “Hemp Farming Act of 2018,” which would legalize and clearly define hemp as an agricultural commodity and remove it from the list of controlled substances. According to a press lease on Gardner’s website, the legislation wold also give states the opportunity to become the primary regulators of hemp, allow hemp researchers to apply for competitive federal grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, ensure growers in the West can access water, and make hemp farmers eligible to apply for crop insurance.
The senator said he is slowly but surely gaining co-sponsors for the legislation as he now has 10 fellow senators signed on. However, hemp continues to carry the stigma of being associated with its cousin, marijuana, even though Commissioner Brown joked last Friday that trying to smoke hemp “is like smoking a corn shuck.”
Canu Hansen shows Senator Cory Gardner a finished product from processing hemp at All Seeing Hemp’s Yuma textile facility. (Pioneer Photo)
“The education process is just incredible,” Gardner said. “…You still have that confusion among people.”
Gabriel Selko of All Seeing Hemp and Sweet Leaf Capital, said last Friday that Colorado’s hemp industry is hobbled at the moment by the fact capital infrastructure is not in place. He said access to banking and credit would really open things up. Noting that legalized marijuana is touted as a billion dollar industry, Selko said hemp could be a trillion dollar industry because of all the potential uses.
All Seeing Hemp has been able to get its foot in the door early thanks to innovating thinking by its partners.
Cuno Hansen has figured out a way to make a decorticator mobile. He created the machinery that separates hemp’s stringy outer layer, called the baste, from its woody core, known as the hurd.
That has allowed All Seeing Hemp to avoid having to find financing for a multi-million dollar processing facility.
Selko said such facilities can become a reality when the banking tools open up for the industry.
All Seeing Hemp has contracted with several area farmers to grow industrial hemp. The company is determining the best path to market, noting it cannot be everything for everyone involved with growing hemp. It was said that everyone currently is chasing the CDB oil produced by a certain strand of hemp, so All Seeing is focusing on industrial fiber.
All Seeing has set up what is essentially a textile operation inside its Yuma facility. The company has purchased textile machines that were used for cotton and have recalibrated them to handle hemp instead. Yuma’s own Rodney Terrell, who helps head up the Yuma operation, said Friday was the first time the plant was put into operation.
Though hemp in Colorado currently is a small sample size in the overall agricultural picture, Brown noted that the current tough farm economy likely will help push farmers toward hemp.
That led to discussion about water usage. It was noted hemp requires a “fraction” of the amount of water required by corn. It was said tests consistently show hemp uses less water, though it was pointed out the hemp strain used for CDB oil uses more water than other hemp strains. Hansen said some dryland fields are growing 13-foot tall plants
When asked why All Seeing Hemp has located in Yuma, Hansen said it is “because this is where our farmers are.”
Others attending last Friday’s tour included Yuma’s Bethleen McCall, who heads up the Colorado Hemp Industries Association, and is running for the District 65 State House seat in November’s election, along with Yuma County Economic Development Director Maggie Metzler, and Darlene Carpio, Gardner’s local representative.