Pubdate: Sun, 28 Dec 2014
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2014 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Steve Raabe

UPSTART COLORADO HEMP INDUSTRY LAUNCHES, BUT STILL CONSTRAINED

Ask farmers where they procured hemp seeds to plant last spring, and 
youmay get an answer like this one from Bill Billings: "I got them 
from Mother Nature and God. That's all I can say."

Don't-ask, don't-tell characterizes Colorado's newest cash crop. Like 
its genetic cousin marijuana, hemp is legal under state law. But 
conflicts with federal law leave the future uncertain for the state's 
hemp industry.

The plant looks like marijuana but has little or no THC, the 
psychoactive ingredient that makes pot smokers high.

The federal government's prohibition on hemp was partially eased in 
the Farm Bill passed by Congress this year. Still, Colorado growers 
have no legal means to buy starter seed from out of state, nor to 
sell their harvested raw seed outside of Colorado.

Some growers are using Colorado's hemp laws to cultivate ultralow-THC 
cannabis for use in medical marijuana extracts, only adding to the confusion.

Legal hurdles aside, advocates are passionate about hemp's commercial 
potential. The most common uses are food products and cosmetics 
derived from seeds and seed oil. Fiber from the stalks of hemp plants 
are used in clothing and industrial applications, including as a 
strengthening agent in concrete.

2014 marked the first year of state-authorized hemp cultivation in 
Colorado. About 30 growers filed applications to plant a total of 
1,811 acres. But because state law does not yet require detailed 
reporting, no statistics exist on how much actually was planted and 
subsequently harvested.

Several farmers are planning to save seed from this year's harvest to 
sow the 2015 crop.

On a former alfalfa field near Sterling, Billings, his daughter 
Danielle and business partner Jim Brammer planted 2 acres of hemp. 
Their harvest brought in nearly a ton of seed and flowers.

"It came up just amazing," Billings said. "We irrigated three times, 
compared to six or seven times for (nearby) corn crops."

Billings said he's planning to make his own lines of hemp oils, 
lotions and mints, and he's talking with retailers including Walmart 
and Whole Foods to carry the products.

But the same federal legal constraints that make it hard to buy seed 
also inhibit the creation of a large-scale Colorado hemp industry 
with interstate trade. Like marijuana entrepreneurs, hemp growers 
have limited or no access to banking services, said Lynda Parker, 
vice president of the Rocky Mountain Hemp Association.

"To have a real industry with manufacturing and processing of hemp 
products, you can't do that unless there's a steady market for hemp," 
Parker said. "And that can't happen until we can access the banking system."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom