Pubdate: Sun, 21 Apr 2013
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2013 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Steve Raabe

THE DIRT ON HEMP

The New Crop, With Its Financial and Legal Hurdles, Is Making
History

Ryan Loflin plans to make history, becoming the nation's first
commercial-scale hemp grower in almost 60 years. In a few days, he
will plant his hemp crop on a farm in the far southeastern corner of
Colorado. Loflin and a handful of other growers are set to capitalize
on hemp's new legal status in Colorado.

Plenty of financial, operational and legal challenges lie ahead. But
cultivating the marijuana look-alike is no novelty pursuit for Loflin,
who owns a company called Colorado Hemp. He sees it as a commodity
that one day could help reverse the sagging fortunes of rural Colorado.

"I believe this is really going to revitalize and strengthen farm
communities," said Loflin, 40, who grew up on a farm in Springfield
but left after high school for a career in construction.

Now he returns, leasing 60 acres of his father's alfalfa farm to plant
the crop and install a press to squeeze the oil from hemp seeds. He'll
have a jump on other farmers, with 400 starter plants already growing
at an indoor facility prior to transplanting them in the field.

Hemp is genetically related to marijuana but contains little or no
THC, the psychoactive substance in marijuana.

The sale of hemp products in the U.S. - including food, cosmetics,
clothing and industrial materials - reached an estimated $500 million
last year, according to the Hemp Industries Association.

Yet because of a federal prohibition on growing, all hemp used in U.S.
products is imported from foreign countries.

With the November passage of Amendment 64, which legalized hemp in
addition to small amounts of marijuana, Colorado becomes a test case
on the issue of how much muscle the federal government will flex
against states with legal cannabis.

"Once this market is really able to develop - when the feds get out of
the way and eliminate the regulatory hurdles - there is definitely
potential for measurable economic impact," said Eric Steenstra,
executive director of the Hemp Industries Association.

Springfield banker Jay Suhler allows that there could be economic
impact eventually, but don't count him among the boosters yet. He
remains circumspect - even with the drought-induced depression that
has afflicted southeast Colorado for much of the past decade.

"We're a conservative bunch around here," said Suhler, manager of
Frontier Bank.

"I imagine we'd probably stick with our core crops of corn and milo
and wheat," he said. "The first few years you try a new crop, it can
be pretty iffy. But in a few years, who knows what might happen?"

Two hundred miles north of Springfield, Yuma County corn farmer Mike
Bowman also is preparing to plant hemp this year.

Bowman has been a frequent visitor to Washington, D.C., seeking to
persuade federal officials to end the hemp prohibition that makes
prospective Colorado growers technically criminals.

A hemp-legalization bill is pending this year in Congress, with
bipartisan support.

Until the federal-state legal disconnect is resolved, growers face the
challenge of starting an industry without the benefits held by
conventional farmers, such as federal crop insurance.

Colorado State University, the state's premier agricultural research
institution, is not studying hemp because of the fear of losing
federal contracts.

"The law is clear on this matter, and we do not want to do anything
that would unintentionally result in personal criminal liability for
CSU employees or that would disqualify the institution from obtaining
future government funding," said Joseph Zimlich, CSU system board of
governors chairman, in a recent letter to U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo.

However, Zimlich said the board "will look more closely at the issue
of industrial hemp research at its May meeting."

Another practical challenge for farmers is acquiring hemp seed for
cultivation. Federal law does not permit the sale or import of
non-sterilized seed suitable for growing.

It's the hemp farmer's equivalent of what recreational-marijuana
activists call "the year of the magical ounce" - a reference to the
unanswered question of how people can obtain marijuana for current
legal use before state-permitted retail facilities open in 2014.

Bowman said he has friends who have sent him seed from feral hemp
plants that are survivors from decades ago, before hemp was ruled
illegal in the U.S.

A benefit of the feral plants is that they carry natural genetic
resistance to drought - a desirable quality especially for farmers who
hope to grow their crops without irrigation.

Like other prospective farmers, Bowman and Loflin plan to experiment
with different seed varieties to determine their traits, especially
the ability to produce oil.

Seed oil is viewed as the hemp product in highest demand from food and
cosmetics manufacturers. Fiber from hemp stalks is a smaller market.

Loflin and business partner Chris Thompson said that with their own
oil press, they plan to become buyers or processors of seed from other
growers.

Based on data from Canada's legal hemp industry, hemp seed generates
revenue for farmers of $390 an acre, according to Erik Hunter,
director of research and development for HempCleans, a Colorado-based
advocacy group.

That makes hemp lucrative compared with most other conventional
crops.

"I think that once people see the value of hemp," said Loflin, "it'll
become a no-brainer." 
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