Some South Dakota farmers are watching closely as North Dakota brings in its second industrial hemp crop.
It’s a pilot program that South Dakota lawmakers have eyed in the past.
There was even a bill to create a hemp pilot program that stalled in the statehouse last year.
When the Ag economy started to dip a few years ago, Jamie Edwards and his father started looking for a different crop to toss into their rotation.
“With the way the markets have sort of tapered off, the corn and soybean markets are kind of stale,” Edwards says. “So, we were looking for something to supplement in there.”
So, the father and son team signed on to plant hemp. This year they’ve got a total of 30 acres planted, as allowed by North Dakota regulation.
When Congress passed the 2014 Farm Bill, it opened an exemption for states to experiment and research industrial hemp production. The state of North Dakota was already there legislatively, hoping to compete with Canadian farmers who already grow industrial hemp.
“So, when North Dakota opened up the hemp we decided we’re going to take a step out of the normal realm, I guess, and try it,” Edwards says.
It’s been a dry year on the Edwards farm. Drought is a condition that hemp can tolerate. They’re in southeastern North Dakota, about 70 miles north of Aberdeen. So far, Jamie Edwards says the crop from this second year has been good, but not as good as last year.
“The hemp, actually, is pretty good on the ground. It likes fertilizer, so you have to fertilize it. But after that you can pretty much walk away from it," Edwards says. "There’s no chemicals you need to spray on it. It chokes out all the weeds in a short amount of time. It’ll, like, double every week.”
The North Dakota state legislature and governor passed industrial hemp legislation in 1999, fifteen years before the federal government carved out the exemption in the last farm bill.
Rachel Seifert-Spilde coordinates North Dakota’s industrial hemp program. She works for the Department of Agriculture. She says the state’s attitude about hemp has been largely informed by their proximity to Canada.
“We have been seeing them grow industrial hemp, for the past decade or more, successfully, not 50 miles from our border in some instances,” Seifert-Spilde says.
Seifert-Spilde says the two years of the hemp program have been very different. Last year, North Dakota farmers only planted 70 acres total. This year, there are 3,000 acres.
Hemp is faring well in this year’s drought, but Seifert-Spilde says the yield will likely be lower in the hardest hit areas.
She says most producers are interested in processing the grain into food products.
“Hemp oil that you can put on your salad, or protein powder that you could bake with and put in your smoothie, or hemp hearts that you could sprinkle on top of your salad or your oatmeal," Seifert-Spilde says. "Much like how people use flax.”
The federal exemption in the last farm bill carves out space for states to explore the viability of the crop and conduct marketing research. Hemp is versatile, and in addition to food can be used for fibers and textiles.
Seifert-Spilde says finding buyers for their product is the most interesting part of the program.
Despite the farm bill exemption, the Drug Enforcement Agency still considers industrial hemp a controlled
substance.
It’s that federal designation which keeps the South Dakota Department of Agriculture opposed to an industrial hemp pilot program.
Kyle Holt is deputy secretary with South Dakota Department of Agriculture.
During public testimony in the state senate earlier this year, Holt said there’s been a lack of clarity from federal officials industrial hemp production.
“We know this was administered by the last administration. The current administration has recently made comments that they will begin to regulate controlled substances more directly," Holt said. "Hemp was not directly been mentioned in there, but we do have some concerns about how that would be moved forward.”
Holt said the department wants to protect South Dakota producers
“The last thing that we really want to do is begin an industrial hemp program, only to be visited by the DEA to inform them that they’re out of compliance with federal law because of a change in guidance that is not passed in law,” Holt continued.
Industrial hemp is a cousin to the marijuana plant and contains trace amounts of THC—the intoxicant in cannabis. The two plants look a lot alike.
Erica McBride is with the National Hemp Association in Washington D.C. She says there are many different theories as to why hemp is illegal.
“Back in the thirties there was no way to tell by a simple test whether or not a plant was hemp or marijuana," McBride says. "So, they just banned the whole plant.”
In North Dakota, hemp farmer Jamie Edwards’ crop is subject to routine testing for THC levels. The hemp plant has to register less than .3 percent THC.
Edward’s says he’s not worried about the DEA coming to his farm.
“The DEA, from what they’ve actually told me, is they’ve got too many other things to worry about without having to worry about industrial hemp," Edwards says. "As far as anybody coming out and stealing plants and smoking them, or anything—they’re not going to get any high.”
South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard has said in the past he doesn’t support an industrial hemp program. He says he doesn’t see much of a market for the crop.
Despite that, state lawmakers who’ve proposed hemp programs in the past say they’re going to try again.