US hemp farmers battle tough market, thieves
STANLEY, United States: When she planted hemp to make extra money for her family farm, Susan Corbett did not imagine thieves would find their way to her rural plot in Virginia to steal the plants.
And yet they did-one of many bends in the wild and sometimes bumpy ride hemp farmers have had since the crop was legalized in the United States in 2018. Two security cameras now watch over a portion of Corbett’s crop, which looks and smells like marijuana but contains very little tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is what gets users high.
Also warning would-be pilferers is a sign whose bold black letters read: “This is not marijuana.”
“I don’t know what they were doing with it,” Corbett said of her looted plants. “There’s no THC in it.”
Hemp is in demand for its seeds, fiber and oil containing the relaxing cannabinoid CBD-but it’s also the same plant as marijuana, which remains illegal federally and under varying restrictions in most American states. Besides an oversaturated market and laborious cultivation process, hemp
farmers hoping to profit from the newly legitimized plant say they have had to navigate suspicious police, a legal mandate to burn crops that exceed THC limits and the problem of theft.
“Everybody plants it and goes ‘This is wonderful,’” said Corbett. “I said ‘Just wait.’”
It’s not easy
One of the world’s oldest cultivated plants, the US banned hemp during the 20th century before allowing its growing for research starting in 2014, then legalizing it nationwide four years later. Fortysix states have since passed laws regulating its cultivation, with hemp licenses in 34 states growing 455 percent last year over 2018, according to Vote Hemp, an advocacy group.
CBD, whether sold as a supplement or mixed into food or drinks, has also grown popular, and financial services firm Canaccord Genuity predicts CBD sales will jump 45 percent to $18 billion by 2024. Those who grow hemp describe a demanding crop that must be harvested by hand, maintained with a rigorous spraying schedule to keep away pests then dried out before it can be sold. With so much of the plant hitting the market, and a shortage of processors, many farmers are seeing buyers back out of agreements. “When we go to the CBD market, it’s ‘We’ll pay you when we get paid,’ which puts us in a problem with our creditors,” said David Turner of DC Hemp, who farms in rural Dinwiddie county, Virginia. Another peculiarity is the presence of THC in the plant. Farmers must constantly test hemp to ensure the level doesn’t get too high, otherwise they have to burn it. “If I get the wrong situation where I have a crop out there, I’m a drug lord,” Turner said.
Local media has reported cases of police around the United States seizing hemp shipments on suspicion of being marijuana, so growers have started carrying around a pile of documentation when transporting their harvest.