In mid-July, the hemp industry is moving steadily toward harvest. Temperatures are soaring, and farmers are keeping a watchful eye on their crops, soil, water and nutrients. We recently shared our feature on how to prevent your hemp harvest from going hot, and contributor Paul Barbagallo’s tips are going to be helpful between now and that final moment when your plants come out of the ground.
But beyond the season itself, this past week saw several important stories.
Here at Hemp Grower, we featured the Mojave Desert cultivation work at SoCal Hemp Co., a new venture between California licensed cannabis producer Glass House Farms and water supplier Cadiz Inc. The company hopes to harvest its first major hemp crop in August or September, teeing up a better understanding of how develop unique cannabinoid products in the years to come. Read more
Senior Editor Brian MacIver wrote about the Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies (AOSCA) and what you need to know when sourcing seed. “Nearly every kind of agricultural crop that's grown has seed certification standards,” Chet Boruff, CEO of AOSCA, told Hemp Grower in an interview. “And those standards are always meant to make sure that seed is produced in a manner to maintain varietal purity.” Read more
In another feature that will come in handy, Editorial Director Noelle Skodzinski shined a light on Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences Extension and the staff’s draft budgets for hemp production. The Penn State team drew up budgets for the three main types of cultivation: grain, fiber and cannabinoid extraction. Read more
And here’s what we’re following elsewhere:
Georgia law enforcement is having its moment of conflict: the state’s hemp bill has made it difficult for the state to go after marijuana prosecution. Legislators pointed out the need to jumpstart the Georgia hemp industry; for now, police officers are left with little recourse when dealing with potential marijuana cases. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the story.
A federal appeals court in Indiana has pushed back on an earlier court ruling that halted a ban on smokable hemp in the state. As in Georgia and other states, Indiana argued that allowing smokable hemp flower in the market would make it more difficult to distinguish between hemp and THC-rich cannabis. This week, the federal appeals court sided with Indiana and insisted that state legislatures do indeed have the ability to write laws that restrict the scope of the 2018 Farm Bill. Read more in the Indy Star.
And in Illinois, Red White and Bloom Brands Inc., operating under the name High Times, is hoping that its newfound hemp operations will give the company a shot at the THC-rich cannabis market. Red White and Bloom Brands employs 300 people at its 80-acre greenhouse. The company harvest 60 tons of hemp last fall, netting 12-16% CBD content, according to the Chicago Tribune. “[The cannabis industry is] definitely a huge opportunity,” Rogers said. “This isn’t going away. This is the end of prohibition. These jobs are going to stay, solid, well-paying jobs.”
