Source: journalpatriot.com
Stancil’s industrial hemp patch is for medicinal purposes
FIRST LEGAL HEMP in Wilkes County is being grown by North Wilkesboro's Andy Stancis, who also works for the OZ Realty Group in town. photo by Marty McGee
At the dead end of a rural dirt road just east of the Wilkesboros, beyond abandoned chicken houses that now store hay, there’s history coming out of the ground.
In a 75-foot-square plot of bottomland along a meandering creek, the first legal marijuana plants grown in Wilkes County are shooting out of rich soil, standing about a foot tall from seeds put in the ground just over a month ago.
The curator of the plants is Andy Stancil, a 69-year-old Realtor from North Wilkesboro whose eyes were opened to the benefits of cannabidiol (CBD) oil—extracted from a strain of medical marijuana made from genetically engineered plants—after he was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2016.
Stancil’s plants look the same as those illicitly grown and harvested in Wilkes for decades, resulting in Wilkes being called the marijuana capital of the state at one time.
But these plants are much different; the oil eventually to be harvested from them will have virtually no tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content, which causes the psychotropic effect (“high”) from marijuana.
Industrial hemp must have less than 0.3 percent THC. If higher it’s considered marijuana, which may contain from 1 to 35 percent THC.
If an industrial hemp crop tests for greater than 0.3 percent THC in North Carolina, the state will destroy the plants. The N.C. Department of Agriculture sends inspectors to take crop samples, which are then analyzed in the state drug lab.
“There’s numerous strands of marijuana, but the brand that we’ve got is specific to the production of intense CBD oil,” said Stancil. “If you don’t harvest your plant within a certain time frame, then the THC builds in your plant, and it has to be destroyed. We’re very aware of the fact that it has to be monitored and done with sophistication.”
“Everything is 100 percent legal,” continued Stancil. “We’re above board, and we’re going to do it right. We’re probably going to do it better than anybody else has ever done it in this area, legally.”
Stancil had chemotherapy and radiation treatment for his cancer in Georgia, where “I became real tight with my brother’s wife, who’s a pharmacist. I found out about CBD oil, and then I contacted some very knowledgeable people in Colorado.”
Stancil researched growing industrial hemp in North Carolina and learned that the state began licensing experimental or pilot program hemp farming in the spring of 2017. The 2014 U.S. Farm Bill, signed into law by President Obama, made this possible by ending the 40-year federal ban on growing industrial hemp.
He learned that the state granted licenses to well over 100 farmers in the first year, well above the handful of pilot farmers most states handle in their first year. There was industrial hemp growing all over the state, but none in his home county of Wilkes.
A farmer wishing to grow industrial hemp must apply to the N.C. Industrial Hemp Commission and receive a license. The applicant must list GPS coordinates of the place the industrial hemp will be grown and show income from farming on their tax returns.
“We felt like timing, the temperature, the climate—everything about Wilkes County—was just perfect,” said Stancil. “We felt like if we waited much longer, it’d be too late. We’re excited to be one of the first in Wilkes County to get involved in this.”
Stancil and his two business partners, whom he declined to identify for privacy reasons, got licensed and put 200 plants in the ground on June 20. Each plant is spaced a couple feet apart, neatly in about a dozen rows.
“I started putting out some feelers in the county, and all of a sudden I had people coming up to me saying they could give me anything I wanted—land, resources, labor” to start growing, said Stancil.
“I’ve got two incredible partners. Everybody does an equal amount of work, and I’ve been fortunate that we’ve got a network of people that we can trust in expanding the business.”
Stancil’s task is made considerably harder in that, by law, no pesticides or herbicides may be used on industrial hemp crops. Hemp pests are known to include caterpillars, Japanese beetles, grasshoppers, leaf miners, spider mites, aphids and more.
Industrial hemp can be certified as organic by the USDA like other crops. Stancil’s plants aren’t certified organic, but “we don’t bring in anything that’s not organic,” he said. “We could be (organic) in the future. We have people who know exactly what’s going on with the plants and how to care for them.”
He said the plants are monitored daily.
“We’ve got a feeding schedule, and we bring all of our water in. It’s all well water; we don’t take anything out of the creek. It’s been a long process, and there’s a lot of complexity to it, but we’ve had superior guidance, and that’s the reason for our success,” Stancil added.
There are more than 300 North Carolina farmers growing industrial hemp for its fibers, seeds or oil, according to the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service. Hemp is processed into food, beverages, fiber, textiles, paper, construction and insulation materials and cosmetic products. It can’t be used in commercial animal feed in North Carolina.
Stancil is focused on CBD oil, which has been shown to be effective in reducing anxiety, mood symptoms, pain, insomnia and the effects of epilepsy.
He plans to have Wilkes County branding on his products. “I think its introduction to the county will be 10 times bigger than tobacco ever was here,” he said. “We’re hoping Wilkes will become known for hemp products and CBD products.”
Bob Crumley of the state hemp commission told state lawmakers in July that industrial hemp should make a $100 million impact on the state’s economy in 2018. He predicted that the federal government will soon fully legalize the crop, and that state lawmakers would soon follow suit.
Industrial hemp has potential to be one of the state’s next big cash crops, he said, providing an alternative or addition to traditional crops such as tobacco, cotton, grains and ornamental plants.
Stancil agreed and said, “We know we’re going to expand. To grow outdoors is a lot cheaper than it is indoors. We just don’t know how big, but we’re going to be trying a lot of different things.”
He added, “We’re looking for something to bring people into Wilkes County, so we can really get this going. We’re raring to go.”
The N.C. Hemp Commission has nine members, two of which are law enforcement officers. Law enforcement personnel from across the state are receiving information and attending special training to learn more about hemp licensing, transportation and pilot program compliance. Two such training days were held in June in Salisbury and Waynesville.
“The sheriff’s department knows what we’re doing,” he said. “It’s been a pleasure to do business with Wilkes County government. Their help and assistance—and confidentiality—has really been shown.”
Industrial hemp has been grown in the United States for hundreds of years, but was banned in 1970. In North Carolina, hemp production flourished in the mid-1700s, cotton had surpassed hemp for clothing fiber by the late 1800s. Hemp production peaked in the early to mid 1940s, when the country began importing less hemp and growing more stateside for World War II-era military clothing.
Thirty-one states allow industrial hemp production for commercial, research or pilot programs. It has been legally grown in Canada and parts of Europe for years.
Stancil said he expects some opposition to his venture in Wilkes.
“Most people don’t want the stigmatism affiliated with it—I understand that,” he said. “But I can talk to somebody for 10 minutes and encourage them to change their mind in a positive manner, to be in acceptance of CBD.”
There is at least one other licensed grower of industrial hemp in Wilkes County—but no plants are in the ground yet—and a third is seeking licensure, but Stancil said he doesn’t consider them competitors.
“We can work together and create a local hemp association or something like that. It’s all in branding, doing things correctly, and ultimately showing success. Our intent is to make money while doing things in harmony with the Lord, and also in harmony with the legal aspect of the business,” he said.
“We’re not out to publicize ourselves. We just want to create an awareness that somebody’s doing it in the county. It’s been wonderful to know that you can do something like this.”
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