local
matters
Hemp Rising: Farmers Gear Up to Cultivate a New Crop — If They Can Get the Seeds b y K ATh Ryn F L A g g
SEVENDAYSVt.com 04.09.14-04.16.14 SEVEN DAYS 18 LOCAL MATTERS
j Eb w ALLACE-bROdEu R
l
ast year, activists pushing f or the legal cultivation of hemp scored a big victory in Vermont: In June, Gov. Peter Shumlin signed into law a bill that legalizes the cultivation of cannabis sativa, a relative of marijuana that proponents say could be a lucrative valueadded crop for Vermont farmers. The only trouble? State law doesn’t match up with f ederal regulations, which still classify hemp as an illegal, controlled substance — despite the fact that industrial hemp lacks tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, in the concentrations necessary to produce a high. The disconnect between state and f ederal rules isn’t scaring off many farmers, who say the feds have bigger fish to fry, but it is making it difficult to legally obtain seeds for cultivation. Farmers’ options are limited: Some are considering smuggling seeds in f rom Canada, where hemp has been cultivated legally since 1998. Others are looking to online retailers to import seeds. A few have said they plan to harvest and store seeds from feral hemp plants in Vermont. “Right now, getting seeds is nearly impossible,” said Heidi Mahoney, a garlic f armer and homesteader in Panton who once owned Fat Hen Market in Vergennes. “[Smuggling is] not my f orte,” joked Mahoney’s husband, sculptor Eben Markowski. But if seeds “magically” ap peared on their doorstep, he said, “There’s no question. We would absolutely plant it.” Why? Hemp, one of the oldest culti vated crops in the world, can be used f or f ood, fuel and fiber. The farm advocacy group Rural Vermont and the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund estimate the crop could bring in between $2,000 and $3,000 an acre for farmers. Last year’s net returns in Canada were lower — $433 and $522 for conventional and organic hemp, respec tively — but still brought in more than corn ($273 per acre) and soybeans ($332). It’s a good crop to use in rotation with corn, which dairy f armers grow extensively f or f eed, and it can help kill weeds in fields without the use of herbicides. But hemp is still sometimes mistaken f or its psychotropic relative, marijuana. That misconception is less common in Vermont, says Rural Vermont organizer Robb Kidd, but he still gets the occasional “Oh, you want to smoke it!” comment. In f act, industrial hemp contains only between 0.3 and 1.5 percent THC, the mind-altering ingredient in marijuana. Nowadays pot has much higher concen trations of THC — 13 percent on aver age, according to the Marijuana Potency Monitoring Project at the University of
Johnny Vitko
Mississippi. (That’s significantly stronger than the strains smoked in the 1970s.) It might not get you high, but hemp has many other uses. It can be woven into fabric, or used to make paper. The fibers are used f or animal bedding and can be mixed into a building product called “hempcrete.” Hemp was grown extensively in the U.S. during World War II; the U.S. Department of Agriculture even rolled out a Hemp f or Victory campaign to encourage f armers to plant hemp af ter war with Japan cut off Asian imports of the crop. But the last hemp processing plant in the U.S. closed in the mid-1950s, as a result of hemp regulations Kidd says were based on “fear tactics” and misinformation perpetuated during the 1940s and ’50s that equated hemp with marijuana. Twelve farmers have already registered with the Agency of Agriculture to grow hemp during the 2014 growing season. It’s a fairly painless process; farmers must send in $25 and a one-page registration form in which they acknowledge that cultivating and possessing hemp in Vermont is a violation of the f ederal Controlled Substances Act; applicants agree to “hold harmless”
the state should they find themselves in legal trouble. The new U.S. Farm Bill, passed in February, does carve out one exception for hemp cultivation at the f ederal level; the bill gives the go-ahead to research institutions and universities to grow hemp f or pilot projects and research. There’s still some legal confusion around the prospect, but at least one state — Kentucky — is set to put seeds in the ground this spring. The Bluegrass State’s attorney general weighed in with a f avorable interpretation of the Farm Bill provision. Even so, “We’re having a whale of a time getting seeds in here,” Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer told the Lexington Herald-Leader, noting that customs officials turned some seeds back at the border. Comer told the paper that his department has obtained about 500 pounds of seed, but that is only enough for about 10 cultivated acres. With hundreds of potential growers signaling interest via the ag department’s website, demand far exceeds supply. Scientists and agronomists at the University of Vermont are just as eager
AGRICULTURE
to plant this year, but seeds have to be in the ground by the end of next month. Vote Hemp’s cof ounder and director Eric Lineback, who lives in Dummerston, isn’t holding his breath. But within a year, Lineback predicted, the confusion over seed sourcing and legal questions will be “all be worked out, and you’ll see a ton of studies going next year.” Lineback admits that his predictions about hemp aren’t always accurate; he once guessed that hemp cultivation would be legal in the U.S. by 2000, a benchmark that came and went. Now, though, he’s starting to f eel cautiously optimistic that federal rules will fall into line behind states like Vermont that are exploring hemp cultivation. Federal hemp legislation has been slowly gaining steam — and spon sors — during its recurrent appearances in the U.S. House of Representatives, and last year saw the first industrial hemp bill introduced in the Senate. “I’ve been in this issue f or coming up on 20 years, and I can confidently say we are at a tipping point,” Lineback said. “It’s food, fuel, fiber, clothing, shelter. It’s really an amazing plant. It’s not going to save the world, but it’s certainly part of the solution.”