State gears up for hemp

By Sarah Pridgeon

Changes to Wyoming law have introduced a potential new crop to Wyoming. Producers will legally be able to grow industrial hemp, which is believed to have thousands of uses, once the Wyoming Department of Agriculture has finalized the regulations and licensing procedure.

Often confused with its psychoactive sibling, marijuana, industrial hemp is a different product used for fabric, food products and more. So soon after the law change, however, there is work to be done to figure out how exactly what will be needed to become an industrial hemp farmer.

“There are a lot of things that need to happen before people can start growing hemp, but it is exciting and encouraging that, maybe in the future, it could be a viable cash crop in Wyoming,” says Blake Hauptman, UW Extension.

“At this point I would encourage people to be reading and learning as much as they can about this crop and then have a good plan and consider the economics.”

What can hemp be used for?

It is claimed that there are more than 25,000 different uses for industrial hemp fiber, seeds and plant tissue in the industrial, food or feed categories. The long outer fibers of hemp can be used for fabric, rope, paper, carpeting, construction and composites, while the short inner fibers are highly absorbent and can be used for animal bedding, oil spill clean-up and insulation.

The seeds are high in protein and used in many different food products, such as oil, flour and milk. The oil is used as a health supplement and in personal care items such as soaps and lotions, as well as in wood finishes, lubricants, paints and plastics. Cultivars that produce high levels of CBD are grown for the health benefits and used for tinctures, supplements, lotions and salves.

The market for hemp products in the U.S. opened up in 2005, when a legal dispute over imports was resolved, and is growing every year. The Hemp Industries Association reports total retail sales of $573 million in 2015 and $688 million in 2016.

The highest value part of the crop is the flower, primarily grown for CBD, followed by the seed and fiber.

Is hemp the same as marijuana?

To prepare for the pending legislation, Caitlin Youngquist, UW Extension in Worland, and LeAnn Baker, Washakie Development Association, compiled information on growing industrial hemp. The document’s first order of business was to differentiate between the industrial hemp that is now allowable as a crop in Wyoming and other varieties of the Cannabis sativa plant.

This annual herbaceous flowering crop has many different cultivars that fall into four categories: fiber; seed for food, feed or oil; health products (CBD); and the most commonly known variety, marijuana.

Only the marijuana category contains high levels of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the compound responsible for the psychoactive properties of the plant. In the other three categories, levels of THC are very low; the federal 2014 Farm Bill classifies THC levels below 0.3 percent as industrial hemp.

To understand how the same plant can produce such different crops, Youngquist and Baker give the example of sugar beets and table beets. These, too, come from the same species, but are cultivars with very different uses.

The official state website for Montana, where Hauptman says there has been a pilot program for hemp running for the last couple of years, states that hemp cannot get you “high”. Though the plant looks very similar no matter what type of cultivar, the website points out that the THC levels in industrial varieties are lower than 0.3 percent, compared to the ten to 30 percent levels in marijuana.

“That’s why there is a need for the regulation: to make sure that people are growing the industrial hemp,” Hauptman says.

How is hemp grown?

It is not yet known how well hemp might grow in Crook County’s soils, says Hauptman, though it’s known that soil that drains easily is preferable to heavy clay soil. Research is just beginning, he says.

According to Youngquist and Baker, industrial hemp grows best in well-drained, medium-textured soil. It requires adequate water, good fertility and high organic matter and maximum production requires inputs similar to a high-yielding grain.

The quality of the hemp fiber can be reduced by high levels of available nitrogen. Hemp Genetics International recommends managing soil fertility similar to canola.

Oilseed and fiber cultivars are grown as field crops, while CBD cultivars are produced in greenhouses. Seed varieties require a longer and warmer growning period; Hemp Genetics International suggests that crops in Canada mature at between 100 and 115 days, while Youngquist and Baker note that some Colorado growers have claimed maturity within 85 to 100 days. Seedlings are able to tolerate some frost exposure and in most areas can be planted after spring grain and before corn.

“It seems like it’s a crop that needs a decent amount of precipitation and a good growing season to see some good production out of it,” says Hauptman.

Probably because industrial hemp is not widely grown, Youngquist and Baker note that many diseases and insect pests exist, but few cause damage beyond the economic theshold. There are no pesticides for use on this plant currently available in the U.S.

Information regarding approved seeds for Wyoming is not yet available. In Montana, where seed distributers must be licensed under the Montana Seed Act, there are five certified companies.

What’s happening with licensing?

“Growers must obtain a permit from either the USDA or their respective Department of Agriculture in order to grow the crop. This is to ensure that the cannabis sativa is verified to remain under the definition of hemp (<0.3% THC),” confirms Scott McDonald, Wyoming Department of Agriculture.

The details of what stipulations and requirements may be included in the license application are currently being finalized, McDonald says.

“According to the 2018 farm bill each grower/processor will need to report their growing locations and obtain a license to grow. The state and/or the USDA may require additional information but those details are still in the process of being developed.”

HB-171 gave the department 30 days to submit a plan to the USDA to receive regulatory authority to run the program, McDonald continues.

“We intend to submit that plan once all the details are finalized at the state level. Beyond that, the farm bill outlines that USDA has 60 days to review and either accept or reject a state plan,” he says.

“However, we have been informed by USDA that they will not be reviewing any plans until they have their rules and program in place which at its earliest will be sometime this fall. We are not yet sure how this will all play out once the WDA submits the plan.”

Until the regulations and license are in place, Wyomingites will not be permitted to start planting hemp.

“Because this is considered a permitted crop that must be regulated by either the USDA or the State Department of Agriculture a grower must obtain a license (when available) to legally grow hemp,” McDonald says.

“Processing of hemp product is also covered by the 2018 Farm Bill and HB00171. A processor must also obtain a license to process hemp products.” 

What’s next?

“I think there are a lot of unknowns out there from a grower’s standpoint,” says Hauptman. Among those yet-unanswered questions, he mentions considerations such as the best way to harvest the crop, how and where to process it or extract the oil and where the best markets will be.

“Those types of things I think are big challenges. It’s been illegal for such a long time, it seems we’re at a point where we just don’t have the infrastructure or market, so it’s a bit of a wait-and-see game and see if there will be any players who can provide some of these services.”

The hard thing, he says, is that there are no experts yet on how to grow, produce or sell it in Wyoming.

“I would like to think that our research centers in Wyoming would look at doing more research on the crop as things progress and try to help answer some of the questions for producers,” he says.

“It’s understandable people are excited for a potential new cash crop, but there’s a long way to go.”

The Crook County UW Extension Office is available to provide current information and research on hemp production in Wyoming, though Hauptman stresses that information is limited at this time.

If you are interested in growing, processing or manufacturing hemp, Hauptman recommends attending the Wyoming Agriculture Diversification Summit on April 11 in Casper, which will focus on hemp. For information, contact [email protected] or call 760-3319.