Pennsylvania farmers poised to grow hemp
Once a state staple, the plant was banned during the 1930s
A few miles off Interstate 70 in Westmoreland County, on a hill above a small drilling rig, sits 22 acres of an 8-foot-tall green plant with familiar leaves.
The plant looks — and smells — like marijuana.
But the grower, Mt. Lebanon resident Matthew Mallory, is in the clear.
His field of a CBD-rich strain of hemp near Smithton contains little to no THC, the psychoactive
element of marijuana, and is covered under one of the dozens of permits that the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture issued this year for industrial hemp research.
The crop once blanketed Pennsylvania, where references live on in the towns and school districts named “Hempfield.” But the plant was banned in the 1930s in the midst of the “Reefer Madness” craze and pressure from industries competing with hemp products.
Although it is still considered a controlled substance by the federal government, some advocates believe hemp — a versatile crop that can be used to make rope, building material, fabric and oil — may represent the future of farming in Pennsylvania.
“Ten years from now, this really is going to be a multibillion-dollar industry, and 20 years from now, people are going to be saying, ‘What was the big deal?’” said Geoffrey Whaling, president of the Pennsylvania Hemp Industry Council.
First, Congress has to approve a measure in this year’s farm bill to remove the crop from the controlled substances list. And even if hemp production is legalized, farmers will have to make up for decades of lost progress on growing and processing techniques.
‘Nefarious grows’
Mr. Mallory’s hemp field is just one of dozens around the state.
Congress partially cleared the way for hemp research in 2014, when the farm bill included a provision allowing research programs controlled by state agriculture departments or a state university.
In Pennsylvania, about 30 permit holders are growing nearly 1,000 acres this year, Mr. Whaling said.
Mr. Mallory has a permit to grow in Washington and Westmoreland counties, and he is also growing hemp in West Virginia and processing the crop in Kentucky.
Early on a recent Tuesday morning, he pulled up in a red truck behind a warehouse and an oil rig near Smithton. After carrying a camera-equipped drone up a muddy hillside, he launched it from a relatively dry patch of ground.
The drone buzzed over his field, allowing him to make sure his hemp crop is growing well and uniformly.
any been He disturbed: pieces was also that Mr. looking may Mallory have for has heard of other farmers finding patches of their hemp fields illicitly replaced with marijuana plants.
He hasn’t run into any issues with these “nefarious grows,” several times but he a week. must Under check the terms of the research permit, the Department of Agriculture has to test his plants to make sure the THC levels are within the legal limit. With across hemp two grows states, scattered Mr. Mallory about other has things, to be as careful well. He can’t seed drive across any state non-sterilized lines, and plant he material, only moves like other the flower buds or fibrous stalk, once its THC levels have been tested.
Mr. Mallory, a native of West in for southwestern years for Virginia a in few Johnson years, who Pennsylvania has & worked Johnson’s lived pain management department, and he owns medical marijuana dispensaries in Illinois and Maryland. He thought, geographically, this would be a good place to put a processing operation. The hemp will be processed for its CBD, or cannabidiol, which can be extracted and used for pain or inflammation relief — one of the many potential uses for the crop. If the legal restrictions on hemp are loosened, Mr. Mallory’s company, CAMO Agriculture, will be ready to fully jump into CBD production, Mount processing with Pleasant a 45,000-squarefoot expected facility in to be operational by October. Eventually, Mr. Mallory plans to add machines that will be able to process hemp’s stalk, which has fiber that can be used to make rope core or that fabric can and be a used woody to make building material or wood-like chips. The facility is just part of his big bet —- he estimates he has spent $4 million so far — on hemp. But the murky legal waters and the fact that the U.S. hemp industry is virtually non-existent at this point about its mean market little potential. is known “[If] the medical cannabis, recreational cannabis is in its infant stage, I would say hemp is embryonic,” Mr. Mallory said. “I think the crop has the versatility to not just be just a fad.”
‘An impressive crop’
Greg Roth, an agronomist at Penn State, said hemp grows in fairly typical conditions: well-drained soil is important, as is good weed suppression.
Once the stalks are taller than 24 inches, it’s fairly drought resistant.
And, the plant naturally removes toxins from the soils as it grows.
“It’s an impressive crop,” Mr. Mallory said. “It can really take a beating.”
Hemp can be grown for three main purposes, Mr. Roth said: its seed, which can be eaten whole or pressed into oil; its CBD, which can be used for health supplements; and its fiber and inner woody core, which can be used to make fabric, rope or “hempcrete,” a concrete-like building material.
According to Penn State Extension, taller plants are better for fiber production, but some varieties can be grown for multiple uses.
At one time, according to information from Penn State Extension, Lancaster County had over 100 hemp processing mills. The circular hex signs painted on the sides of Amish barns are largely colored by hempbased paint, Mr. Whaling said, and hemp-based fabric was widespread.
Fending off imports
With the inclusion in this year’s farm bill of an amendment legalizing the crop, advocates are hopeful that the market will open up. The bill is currently in conference, meaning its final language could be changed.
If passed as is, the amendment would give regulatory authority to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, not the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
In Pennsylvania, the state Department of Agriculture would continue to test the crop for THC levels, according to Shannon Powers, a spokesperson for the department.
Farmers would be eligible for USDA crop insurance, said Eric Steenstra, president of advocacy group Vote Hemp, and the department would also be able to allocate funding for hemp research. With strong bipartisan support, Mr. Steenstra said he is expecting the amendment to pass.
He said the U.S. hemp market had over $800 million in sales last year from largely imported products.
Because the industry has been closed off for decades, there hasn’t been any advancement in technology for growing hemp.
It may take a few years to straighten out the seed supply, Mr. Whaling said. States would likely have to pass legislation to allow seed to be shipped across state lines. And there is limited harvesting equipment that can handle a crop like hemp, which can grow well over 10 feet.
Those realities have forced farmers growing with the research permits to improvise. Many in the eastern part of the state have taken to sharing retrofitted harvesting equipment, Mr. Whaling said, and Mr. Mallory is trying three different types of harvesting techniques.
“We are building a new industry from an old crop, and we’re really starting from scratch,” said Mr. Whaling, who is spearheading a move to build a facility in the eastern part of the state that will focus on what is called decordication, or the processing of fiber from the hemp plant.
Mr. Mallory thinks hemp could be a godsend for the state’s struggling dairy farmers, who he’s planning on contracting with in Westmoreland County next year to grow hemp that he can process at his Mount Pleasant facility.
For the first year, Mr. Mallory plans to pay them $750 per acre, with a goal of moving toward pricing like a regular commodity — on quality and quantity. He estimates it will be a few years before the market will hit that point.
Mark O’Neill, spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, sounded a more cautious note.
“Farmers are looking into many different avenues and options out there in an effort to remain economically viable,” Mr. O’Neill said. “There’s definitely potential for this to be good business for many farmers; the question is what is in the specifics.”
High hopes
Westmoreland County hopes to be at the forefront of the hemp industry.
The county has assisted CAMO Agriculture. Mr. Mallory leases his land in Smithton from the Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp. for $1 a year.
Getting farmers jumpstarted on growing hemp and securing Mr. Mallory’s processing facility in Mount Pleasant will put the county at the center of the nascent industry, said state Rep. Eric Nelson, a Republican who, fittingly, represents Hempfield Township.
“Our regular and mid-size farmers are going to be able to benefit,” Mr. Nelson said. “The more people growing it, the better it is for everyone.”
Experts agree that before everyone starts living in hempcrete houses and wearing clothes made of hemp fabric, years of investment in the industry will be needed.
Mr. Mallory knows that taking a big bet on hemp is risky, but that’s OK.
“Someone has to be a pioneer,” he said.