Ron Strider
Well-Known Member
The marijuana crop stands 7-feet-tall in the field, ready for harvesting.
Experimental plots of industrial hemp, the non-potent marijuana plant, are more than a month ahead of schedule. Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding checked out the local fields on Monday.
Dell Riley of Destiny's Agro Farm said harvesting the five acres near Mercersburg will begin this week. The plants, just 75 days into an expected 120-day growing season, towered over Redding. Seeds were maturing.
Riley couldn't pull a plant out by the roots and had a tough time stripping out the fibers from a broken stem. Hemp was once used to make sailing ships' ropes. Grower Shase Hollenshead said it's 10 times stronger that steel. Combine blades will need to be sharpened often, according to Riley.
Pennsylvania hemp growers are tackling their first harvest without specialized equipment and without an established market.
Destiny's Argo is one of 14 industrial hemp research projects that the Department of Agriculture is financing this year, the first of a three-year research project. Argo is analyzing four varieties of hemp plants for fiber content and seed yields. The plantings are limited to 5 acres.
The federal Drug Enforcement Agency knows the GPS coordinates of each plot and did a background check on the growers, according to Redding. Pennsylvania State Police also were notified of the plantings, just in case something landed on their door step.
"The DEA still looks at this as marijuana," Redding said.
Hemp is cannabis, but unlike recreational marijuana hemp lacks the active ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol.
"Our own government believes it's legal to import, then why not give our producers and industries the chance to capitalize on the market," Redding said. "We don't have any performance knowledge about hemp generally, or a variety in particular, other than what its performance has been in other countries."
Questions need to be answered, he said: What's the production? What's the harvest? What's the market? What's the margin?
Riley guesses at an estimated margin of more than $1,000 an acre for hemp.
"If you're saying a $500 margin, everybody will be doing it," Redding said. If you're growing corn, "you're trading dollars at this point."
Redding said his department will get the growers together and debrief them, then announce decisions next year.
Riley hopes to find out if a hemp cake, similar to corn silage, could serve as livestock feed. Does the plant's protein and Omega 3 oils pass into the milk? Hemp flour holds promise as a food stuff.
"It's gluten free," Riley said. "Organic. It has some sizzle to it."
For now, hemp is mundane and limited by the federal government to "industrial uses."
And growers are learning the strange harvest.
The plantings near Mercersburg look like more like weeds than crops. People have walked through them, and a vehicle churned up a field.
But the plants have crowded out nearly all weeds. Hollenshead said he did not apply herbicides or pesticides. He fertilized with cow manure.
"I don't think you could ask for a better year," he said. "We didn't have a drought. You can see the growth when the sun comes out. It's like alfalfa. Alfalfa takes the heat."
Redding said Pennsylvania is re-establishing hemp as a crop after losing the authority to grow hemp 70 years ago.
"From everything we've looked at so far, all varieties seem to work here," he said. "We'll figure out the harvest piece as most farms will. The issue is marketing."
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Sec. Russell Redding: Pa's experiment with hemp holds promise.
Author: Jim Hook
Contact: Contact Us | Public Opinion Chambersburg
Photo Credit: Jim Hook
Website: Chambersburg Public Opinion - Breaking News, Sports, Weather, Traffic
Experimental plots of industrial hemp, the non-potent marijuana plant, are more than a month ahead of schedule. Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding checked out the local fields on Monday.
Dell Riley of Destiny's Agro Farm said harvesting the five acres near Mercersburg will begin this week. The plants, just 75 days into an expected 120-day growing season, towered over Redding. Seeds were maturing.
Riley couldn't pull a plant out by the roots and had a tough time stripping out the fibers from a broken stem. Hemp was once used to make sailing ships' ropes. Grower Shase Hollenshead said it's 10 times stronger that steel. Combine blades will need to be sharpened often, according to Riley.
Pennsylvania hemp growers are tackling their first harvest without specialized equipment and without an established market.
Destiny's Argo is one of 14 industrial hemp research projects that the Department of Agriculture is financing this year, the first of a three-year research project. Argo is analyzing four varieties of hemp plants for fiber content and seed yields. The plantings are limited to 5 acres.
The federal Drug Enforcement Agency knows the GPS coordinates of each plot and did a background check on the growers, according to Redding. Pennsylvania State Police also were notified of the plantings, just in case something landed on their door step.
"The DEA still looks at this as marijuana," Redding said.
Hemp is cannabis, but unlike recreational marijuana hemp lacks the active ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol.
"Our own government believes it's legal to import, then why not give our producers and industries the chance to capitalize on the market," Redding said. "We don't have any performance knowledge about hemp generally, or a variety in particular, other than what its performance has been in other countries."
Questions need to be answered, he said: What's the production? What's the harvest? What's the market? What's the margin?
Riley guesses at an estimated margin of more than $1,000 an acre for hemp.
"If you're saying a $500 margin, everybody will be doing it," Redding said. If you're growing corn, "you're trading dollars at this point."
Redding said his department will get the growers together and debrief them, then announce decisions next year.
Riley hopes to find out if a hemp cake, similar to corn silage, could serve as livestock feed. Does the plant's protein and Omega 3 oils pass into the milk? Hemp flour holds promise as a food stuff.
"It's gluten free," Riley said. "Organic. It has some sizzle to it."
For now, hemp is mundane and limited by the federal government to "industrial uses."
And growers are learning the strange harvest.
The plantings near Mercersburg look like more like weeds than crops. People have walked through them, and a vehicle churned up a field.
But the plants have crowded out nearly all weeds. Hollenshead said he did not apply herbicides or pesticides. He fertilized with cow manure.
"I don't think you could ask for a better year," he said. "We didn't have a drought. You can see the growth when the sun comes out. It's like alfalfa. Alfalfa takes the heat."
Redding said Pennsylvania is re-establishing hemp as a crop after losing the authority to grow hemp 70 years ago.
"From everything we've looked at so far, all varieties seem to work here," he said. "We'll figure out the harvest piece as most farms will. The issue is marketing."
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Sec. Russell Redding: Pa's experiment with hemp holds promise.
Author: Jim Hook
Contact: Contact Us | Public Opinion Chambersburg
Photo Credit: Jim Hook
Website: Chambersburg Public Opinion - Breaking News, Sports, Weather, Traffic
