Hemp Road Trip comes to the LCC campus

On Saturday, February 25, Lamar Community College was the host to the Hemp Road Trip, a three-hour event to educate area agriculture producers on the cultivation of industrial hemp.

The event was held by the National Hemp Association along with the Colorado Department of Agriculture and The Hemp Road Trip.

First to address the packed room was Mitch Yergbert of the Colorado Department of Agriculture.  Yergbert, who serves as the Director of the Division of Plant Industry, detailed the regulations on hemp cultivation in the state, how hemp farming complies with the current farm bill, and what area farmers could expect to happen in the future.

Yergbert explained that the Industrial Hemp Act was passed in 2013, a separate regulation from Amendment 64 which allowed the use of recreational marijuana in 2012.  Through the Industrial Hemp Act, hemp has been defined as plants with a THC content level below 0.3% and any plants with a higher content are considered marijuana.

He went on to explain that several states are working to regulate hemp on a national, uniform level, specifically so that hemp can be viewed as a commodity crop such as corn or wheat.  If hemp were to be considered a commodity crop, it would ease some of the regulations on financing a crop, crop insurance, and the availability to develop a commodity market.

Then came Rick Trojan, a hemp farmer and advocate for the legalization of industrial hemp as well as sustainable farming practices and agricultural education.  He addressed the crowd on cultivating and harvesting hemp plants.  Trojan is part of a group of farmers who grow hemp on about 300 acres of land in northern Colorado, which is nearly one-fifth of all acreage in the state dedicated to growing hemp for commercial use.

Through his Hemp Road Trip, Trojan has driven his bio-diesel hemp bus from coast to coast educating legislators and students on industrial hemp farming.

John Finamore, the Executive Director of the National Hemp Association, was the last speaker of the afternoon.  He also stressed the importance of nationwide recognition and regulation of the crop, stating that the first step would be to obtain national legislation that would de-schedule hemp as an illegal drug.  If this were to happen, Finamore said the market value of industrial hemp could match that of marijuana.

He stressed that hemp could be a valuable addition to several different industries, from medicine to construction materials and the food industry.

To learn more about the cultivation of industrial hemp as well as the regulations currently in place, visit www.nationalhempassociation.org.

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