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12 CapitalPress.com June 30, 2017 Washington farmers are legally planting hemp HEMP from Page 1 Cultivation peaked in 1943, but virtually ceased after the war. All that was left is the volunteer hemp that still grows along some Midwest ditches. Farm groups didn’t care when the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 classified all cannabis plants, including hemp, as a narcotic. Meanwhile, hemp products re- mained legal. According to the Con- gressional Research Service, the biggest supplier of hemp to the U.S. is China. In the 2014 Farm Bill, Congress approved government-supervised hemp “research.” But it has not tak- en the final leap and removed hemp plants and viable seeds from the list of controlled substances. Hemp remains subject to peri- odic rules, or “statements of prin- ciples” by the Drug Enforcement Administration, muddying what is and is not legal. Right now, the DEA and the hemp industry are battling in court over cannabidiol, commonly known as CBD and sold as a nutritional supplement. According to the hemp industry, CBD is a $100 million- a-year business as mainstream as Costco. According to the DEA, it’s “marijuana extract.” “Oh, it’s a dance, and I hate it,” said Colleen Keahey, executive di- rector of the Hemp Industries As- sociation, a national trade group. “We’re still just stumbling along.” Different paths Some 30 states have passed hemp laws, according to the Nation- al Conference of State Legislatures. The laws vary widely. Oregon and Washington, for example, have tak- en drastically different approaches. Hemp is just now being plant- ed in Washington by a handful of farmers, while Oregon is in its third year of hemp production and has more than 200 registered growers. Washington carefully followed the 2014 Farm Bill. Oregon start- ed working on hemp rules in 2013 under the assumption that the U.S. Justice Department’s hands-off approach to legalized recreational marijuana also applied to hemp. Washington controls the seed supply and bans the production of CBD, which is extracted from the flower. Oregon hemp farmers grow for the CBD market and obtain their seeds from wherever they can. “Who knows where it all came from, but it jump-started the pro- gram,” said Jerry Norton, a farmer in Oregon’s Willamette Valley who is in his third year of cultivating hemp. Asked where he got his first seeds, Norton said, “I’ll have to take the Fifth Amendment on that.” Oregon has not had run-ins with the federal government over hemp, said Lindsay Eng, the Oregon De- partment of Agriculture’s director of market access and certification. “We haven’t heard from the DEA at all, and we haven’t heard from growers saying they have,” she said. mand base” for hemp natural foods and body care products, according to the congressional report. “Given the existence of these small-scale, but profitable, niche markets for a wide array of industrial and con- sumer products, a commercial hemp industry in the United States could provide opportunities as an eco- nomically viable alternative crop for some U.S. growers.” Hemp advocates argue that de- mand for hemp products will soar if farmers are allowed to supply the raw material. “The farmers are the heroes here,” Beckerman said. “Without a crop being grown, we have no chance at all.” “Being a pioneer for industrial hemp in Washington state is definitely an adventure.” CORY SHARP former irrigation equipment salesman Crop with a cause Don Jenkins/Capital Press Cory Sharp talks about the ups and downs leading to the planting of hemp June 6 near Moses Lake in Central Washington. Sharp started a business, HempLogic, and developed partnerships with farmers to try the newly legal crop. Pioneer perils Under Washington state rules and DEA requirements, the seeds plant- ed in Moses Lake last month were delivered from Canada to the state Department of Agriculture in Spo- kane and locked up. The seeds then had to be planted within 24 hours of being picked up. “Being a pioneer for industrial hemp in Washington state is definite- ly an adventure,” said Sharp, a for- mer irrigation equipment salesman. A few years ago, Sharp was in Omak, Wash., had bought a sawmill and planned to build tiny houses. Wildfire swept through and burned him out. Last year, he saw on Face- book that Washington Gov. Jay Inslee had vetoed a bill legalizing state-supervised hemp farming. The veto was strictly a political statement to scold lawmakers for not passing a budget. Inslee vetoed 27 bills that day. The Legislature overrode many of the vetoes, includ- ing the hemp legislation. But Sharp interpreted the veto in a way that sparked his rebellious instincts, so he researched hemp and contacted farmers. “If I don’t see that Face- book post, maybe I’m not in hemp,” he said. Sharp’s plan took shape as WSDA spent a year writing rules for farming and processing hemp, and a certified seed program. According to the rules, farm- ers must pay a nonrefundable $450 application fee and $300 for a one- year license. Inspection and testing fees will total thousands of dollars more. Farmers are subject to crim- inal background checks and must provide WSDA with the GPS coor- dinates of their fields. Hemp fields must be at least 4 miles from any marijuana grow as a precaution against cross-pollina- tion. The requirement came from the state’s marijuana industry, a bil- lion-dollar business and tax-generat- ing machine. Furthermore, hemp grown in Washington must be processed there, but not in private homes, slowing for now the development of any cot- tage industry. Harvested hemp can’t leave the farm until WSDA issues a “fit for commerce” certificate. Hemp plants must be destroyed if they test too high in THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana. “Many people have complained Washington’s program is too conser- vative,” Keahey, the Hemp Indus- tries Association director, said. The rules are meant to appease federal authorities. The hope is that the rules will lead to high-quality hemp, access to banking services, USDA grants and no problems with the federal government. “I’m not sure I would agree with the term ‘conservative.’ I would say we’re ‘federally compliant’ — on purpose,” said Joy Beckerman, who founded the Washington chapter of the Hemp Industries Association. After WSDA spent a year care- fully crafting a federally compliant program, the Washington Legisla- ture in April inserted confusion. It passed a bill taking hemp off the state’s controlled substances list. Lawmakers said they were fol- lowing the lead of the federal gov- ernment. The problem is, the federal government hasn’t taken hemp off its list of controlled substances. To counteract that move, WSDA hastily had lawmakers give it the authority to penalize anyone grow- ing hemp without a state license, even though lawmakers one week earlier had declared hemp was not a state-controlled substance. Sharp said it’s easy go down the “rabbit hole.” “The important thing is we have hemp in the ground,” he said. “And if we had fought over every detail, that might not have happened.” WSDA began issuing licenses in May and so far has issued a handful, including one to Washington State University, which will try growing five dryland varieties of hemp. Sharp said he hopes to sell the grain (sterilized seeds) and bale the stalks in hopes of someday finding a processor for the fiber. “Being the first to do something is absolutely exciting, but there are pitfalls that come with it,” he said. “We’re trying to make a commercial product out of this, but as of now, we don’t have a market for it.” He said he has taken to repeating a line to describe the state of hemp in Washington: “Everybody wants to be in hemp, until it’s time to cut the check.” Market potential The Congressional Research Service in March released a report titled, “Hemp as an Agricultural Commodity.” According to the report, there are no official figures for the value of hemp imported into the U.S., though the Hemp Industries Association es- timates sales at nearly $600 million a year. Since little hemp is produced domestically, most of it used in the U.S. comes from China, Canada, India, Romania, Hungary and other European countries, according to the report. Overall, the congressional report was reserved about the immediate prospects for a robust U.S. hemp in- dustry. The industry must establish sup- ply chains, breed suitable variet- ies, upgrade harvesting equipment, modernize processing facilities and identify new markets, according to the report. A 2013 report by the University of Kentucky, the state with the most acres in hemp, concluded that in the short term the re-emergence of hemp would create “dozens of new jobs, not hundreds.” Then again, the U.S. market has a “highly dedicated and growing de- EPA plans to take another crack at defining waters of the U.S. under Clean Water Act EPA from Page 1 “Nobody understands the need for good stewardship and conservation better than America’s wheat farmers,” Chandler Goule, NAWG CEO, said. “We depend on clean water and healthy soils to make a living and feed the world. However, wheat farmers also need regulatory certainty so they know how to stay in compliance with the law.” Craig Uden, president of National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said rescinding the rule is another great step in the right direction. “The administration deserves a great deal of credit for injecting some much-needed common sense into our nation’s environ- mental policies. It’s import- ant to remember, though, that this rule isn’t dead yet,” he said. Public Lands Council President Dave Eliason said ranchers in the West are al- ready subject to an elevated level of regulatory overreach and the WOTUS rule as writ- ten would have only made the problem worse. “It is reassuring to see the steps that this administration is taking to relieve some of that regulatory burden and provide certainty for our pro- ducers,” he said. The WOTUS rule broad- ened EPA’s jurisdiction to in- clude such things as upstream waters and intermittent and ephemeral streams — such as the kind farmers use for drainage and irrigation — as well as lands adjacent to such waters, National Pork Pro- ducers Council stated. “The WOTUS rule was a dramatic government over- reach and an unprecedented expansion of federal author- ity over private lands, said Ken Maschoff, NPPC presi- dent. “It was the product of a flawed regulatory process that lacked transparency and likely would have been used by trial lawyers and envi- ronmental activists to attack farmers,” he said. The National Potato Council said the rule mas- sively expanded the scope of the Clean Water Act to ar- eas of the U.S. — including farms — that are unrelated to its original goals and thereby subjected growers to poten- tial regulatory jeopardy. “NPC has gone on record as a strong supporter of re- ducing regulatory burdens that inhibit growers’ ability to farm. Revoking this flawed WOTUS proposal is a posi- tive step toward that goal,” said John Keeling, CEO and EVP of NPC. Wesley Spurlock, pres- ident of the National Corn Growers Association, said the rule moved the country away from the goals of the Clean Water Act — restoring and maintaining the integrity of the nation’s waters. Draw- ing clear lines on what is and what isn’t jurisdictional will enable farmers to implement best management practices, such as grass waterways and buffer strips, without the bur- den of bureaucratic red tape, he said. “These types of land im- provements have enormous water-quality benefits, such as reducing sediment and nutrient runoff – a win for farmers and the environment. Government should be mak- ing these actions easier, not more difficult,” he said. Michael Strain, president of the National Association of State Departments of Ag- riculture, said EPA has sided with state and local govern- ments, farmers, landowners, and small businesses in its decision to rescind the bur- densome regulation. “The 2015 rule lacked clarity and was fraught with procedural concerns and vi- olations of congressional intent, making it necessary to start over with a new rule that protects clean water and respects state regulatory au- thority,” he said. Others groups were not supportive of the action, however. “This proposal strikes di- rectly at public health,” said Rhea Suh, president of the National Resources Defense Council. “The Clean Water Rule provides the clarity we need to protect clean water. Its re- peal would make it easier for irresponsible developers and others to contaminate our waters and send the pollution downstream,” she said. Bob Irvin, president of American Rivers, said Roll- ing back the rule is another major blow to clean drink- ing water and the health of American families. “Without the Clean Water Rule’s critical protections, innumerable small streams and wetlands that are essen- tial for drinking water sup- plies, flood protection and fish and wildlife habitat will be vulnerable to unregulated pollution, dredging and fill- ing,” he said. Beckerman emerged as an effec- tive advocate for hemp in the state capitol in Olympia, where the crop has been embraced by both parties for its economic potential. “She got our attention and made us aware of what it’s all about,” said Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Judy Warnick, a Moses Lake Republican. Beckerman traces her activism to a flier handed to her at a 1990 Grate- ful Dead concert. Four years later, she opened a hemp-products store in Woodstock, N.Y. “Cannabis wants to serve humanity,” she said. Beckerman is on the national board of directors of NORML, the National Organization for the Re- form of Marijuana Laws, but her task in Olympia has been to stress the differences between hemp and marijuana. “We’re having to get through the taboo,” she said. Hemp and marijuana are un- avoidably intertwined, though. Moscow, Idaho, farmer Tom Trail, who retired in 2012 after 16 years in the state House of Representatives, introduced bills to legalize hemp farming in Idaho several times. The crop remains one of Trail’s favorite subjects, but also illegal to cultivate in Idaho. “It just seemed like a majority of folks simply could not break out the difference between industrial hemp and marijuana,” he said. “Even though you would have to smoke a hemp cigar as big as a telephone pole to get even a slight kick.” Hemp sold for its purported health benefits — as opposed to paper, textiles and construction ma- terials made from it — complicates matters, at least with the DEA. In 2004, the DEA lost a battle in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals over regulating hemp food products. The DEA and the Hemp Industries Association are back in the same court litigating over CBD, a major market for Oregon hemp. “Above all, I want to heal peo- ple,” said Norton, the Willamette Valley farmer. “In my estimation, this will be bigger than Vitamin C.” In Washington, hemp flowers, from which CBD is extracted, may yet find a use. The Legislature has authorized a study into whether hemp farmers should be able to sell the material to marijuana processors. Issue brought unwanted attention on social media CONTROL from Page 1 farm can maintain organic certification. “This looks fine,” farm manager Nathan Stelzer said in a late-night email follow- ing a June 21 meeting with the county court. “Thanks for the good interactive commu- nication and discussion today. I think we can have a very good working relationship, now that we know each other better and have a clearer un- derstanding of the meaning of ‘control.’” Commissioner Tom Mc- Coy said he’s optimistic the farm, its neighbors and the county have reached an agreement that will work for all three. That wasn’t the case earlier this spring. The farm’s weeds have been an irritant to other farmers for several years, es- pecially those who grow cer- tified wheat seed. This year, the weeds were described as “rampant.” Sherman County officials warned Azure they would ask the state Department of Agri- culture to quarantine the farm, and said they would spray weeds with herbicide if the farm didn’t get a handle on the problem. But using convention- al week killers would cause Eric Mortenson/Capital Press File Nathan Stelzer, center, manag- er of the Azure Farms organic operation on the outskirts of Moro, Ore., at a May meeting with Sherman County commis- sioners. The farm has reached an agreement with the county to control its weeds. Azure to lose organic certifi- cation for three years after the last application. Azure Farms appealed to its fans and followers on so- cial media, and county offi- cials received an estimated 59,000 emails critical of their stance on the issue. At a county court meet- ing in May, held in a high school gym to accommodate the crowd, residents said they were angry about being vili- fied on Facebook and called names by people they’d never met. Nathan Stelzer and his brother, David, who is pres- ident of Azure Standard in nearby Dufur, apologized for the social media outburst.
