# Hemp Growers?



## azmike

We have been talking about alternative crops that would be capable of cross referencing our hay equipment. Hemp looks like it has tons of varied uses and markets, feed rope and cloths etc. It is not legal to grow in our state because of a 1971 law linking it closley to marijuana.

Do any of you grow or have knowledge of legal hemp production? We also heard of a plant in Texas that duplicates rubber as in rubber trees from the jungle?? Just thinkin'


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## Teslan

azmike said:


> We have been talking about alternative crops that would be capable of cross referencing our hay equipment. Hemp looks like it has tons of varied uses and markets, feed rope and cloths etc. It is not legal to grow in our state because of a 1971 law linking it closley to marijuana.
> 
> Do any of you grow or have knowledge of legal hemp production? We also heard of a plant in Texas that duplicates rubber as in rubber trees from the jungle?? Just thinkin'


I've looked into it also. And I'm in a state where it is legal. However at this time I don't think it is cost effective as there are no supporting businesses to support it. I don't feel inovative enough to do that. I think it's about half capable of cross referencing with hay equipment. I guess it is if you just plan on the fiber, but not if you want the seeds. Seeds is another thing. I think it is really tricky to even buy them. You can't just go to your local seed seller and order some hemp seeds. There was a guy in Southeastern Colorado that grew some a couple years ago. The pictures of his fields looked really bad. Like one plant every 4 sqft or so and the rest weeds. But man the hippies sure volunteered to help him harvest it.

Maybe some of our Canadian members have more knowledge of hemp growing.


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## azmike

https://www.leafly.com/news/cannabis-101/hemp-101-what-is-hemp-whats-it-used-for-and-why-is-it-illegal

A little googled info.

Under a pivot it should grow like weeds!


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## Teslan

azmike said:


> https://www.leafly.com/news/cannabis-101/hemp-101-what-is-hemp-whats-it-used-for-and-why-is-it-illegal
> 
> A little googled info.
> 
> Under a pivot it should grow like weeds!


No doubt it would. Years ago my dads cousin saw some people go into and come out of his corn field. He thought it was weird so after they left he went and found out why they were in his corn field. Marijuana plants growing very well. That was before he had a pivot even. He called the police then. But if marijuana grows well why wouldn't hemp?


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## stack em up

azmike said:


> Under a pivot it should grow like weeds!


Should be edited to say "grow like WEED"


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## Teslan

Here is an article about the challenges of raising hemp in Colorado. http://gazette.com/colorado-hemp-industry-poised-to-take-off-in-2015-growers-say/article/1543990. Maybe in 10 years the support businesses will be there.


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## luke strawwalker

Yeah, that's the main thing... gotta have the industries to buy and use the stuff, otherwise why grow it??

They were experimenting with some fiber stuff that grew like sorghum/sudan around here a few years ago... they'd let it grow like canes and go to seed then harvest it with some kind of chopper once it was dry and press it into modules like cotton. Then they ginned it in the cotton gin-- evidently the stalks would break up into fiber like cotton. Can't for the life of me remember what it was called...

I know they did some experiments "playing" with it for a couple years, then it disappeared-- never heard anything else about it.

I remember reading something years ago that PIGWEED was going to be the next big alternative crop-- pigweed of course produces seeds by the millions and they have more energy and protein content than most grains... In Africa they harvest and eat pigweed seed, treat it like any other grain...

Course I've never seen any commercially grown. So much for "the next big thing"...

Later! OL JR 

PS. What we need is more SISAL production... LOL


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## swmnhay

luke strawwalker said:


> Yeah, that's the main thing... gotta have the industries to buy and use the stuff, otherwise why grow it?)


Reminds me of the Artichokes that were grown here.Some were talked into growing them saying that if they are grown someone will buy them because there are many uses for them.One of the uses was seed for the next guy that grew them,well they ran out of suckers to buy seed after awhile and nothing was built to process the tubbers into anything else.Seed cost was around $800 acre IIRC.Some lost farms over this pyramid scheme.There is a book wrote about it. Forget the name of it but I'll see if I can find it.

There was a lot of other Value Added investments or schemes over the yrs around here,some worked some didn't.Most required buying shares.


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## swmnhay

Book about the Artichoke scheme.
http://www.amazon.com/Great-Jerusalem-Artichoke-Circus-American/dp/0816623457


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## IHCman

Cy, was that artichoke thing in the 80s? I know of one guy here who lost his farm trying to grow them. Seeded almost his whole farm into artichokes and then ended up disking em under.


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## IHCman

I'll have to buy that book, I think I'll find it an interesting read.


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## azmike

Just east of Yuma, AZ are acres of Jojoba plants- many still surviving the desert conditions without any supporting irrigation. The oil is prized for something, but didn't work for the investor. Here we also had lots of ostrich farmers come in from Cali. They sold birds to each other for 40K a pair till someone ran out of $! But remember Apple had a hard time selling stock as "the next new thing"! Really rich guys are generally pretty OPEN minded about new stuff!


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## Teslan

azmike said:


> Just east of Yuma, AZ are acres of Jojoba plants- many still surviving the desert conditions without any supporting irrigation. The oil is prized for something, but didn't work for the investor. Here we also had lots of ostrich farmers come in from Cali. They sold birds to each other for 40K a pair till someone ran out of $! But remember Apple had a hard time selling stock as "the next new thing"! Really rich guys are generally pretty OPEN minded about new stuff!


Kinda the same thing with Alpacas. Though much bigger group of people then the ostriches. With more money. They are cuter and won't attack you. They sell alpacas to each other for little to a lot of money and then get $100 worth of wool a year from them. A guy I know raised ostriches for awhile. Then they decided to try and kill him one day.

I think hemp could be a different thing though. If the federal government would make it legal to grow then it would have more of a chance to take off. Or it could be like growing sunflowers. There is a market. Although just not that big.


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## swmnhay

IHCman said:


> Cy, was that artichoke thing in the 80s? I know of one guy here who lost his farm trying to grow them. Seeded almost his whole farm into artichokes and then ended up disking em under.


Yes it is.Had a nieghbor lost his farm also.There was even a banker that got suckered into it.

IIRC it cost about $800 to plant them.It was like planting potatos.The first that planted were pd about $1600 per acre after it was harvested and then that was resold as seed.There never was another market developed besides selling it for seed.


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## swmnhay

Teslan said:


> I think hemp could be a different thing though. If the federal government would make it legal to grow then it would have more of a chance to take off. Or it could be like growing sunflowers. There is a market. Although just not that big.


There was a group thinking about growing industrial hemp a few yrs back but they couldn't get the gubberment to OK it with the current laws.I'm thinking it was in ND.


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## swmnhay

This thread is reminding me of some other ventures some worked some were just scams.Some are subsidised by the gubberment.

Phoenix?make wood out of straw,like paticle board.

Mn Auqua,raise Talipia,I happened to drive by it the other day it was boarded up.

Mn VAP ,seperate the leaves and stems of alfalfa hay,sell the leaf meal as high protien feed and the stems were supposed to go to a gasification plant to produce electricity.The gasification process was never completed that was supposed to be done at a retro fitted coal plant that is just sitting there now.

The breeding stock scams.Emus,Alpacas,rabbits,pigeons,etc

Ethanol,Biodiesel,Corn fructose,Sugar beets,Soybean processors.All have been a roller coaster ride make money and loose money.


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## luke strawwalker

azmike said:


> Just east of Yuma, AZ are acres of Jojoba plants- many still surviving the desert conditions without any supporting irrigation. The oil is prized for something, but didn't work for the investor. Here we also had lots of ostrich farmers come in from Cali. They sold birds to each other for 40K a pair till someone ran out of $! But remember Apple had a hard time selling stock as "the next new thing"! Really rich guys are generally pretty OPEN minded about new stuff!


Reminds me of one of Jerry Clower's stories...

Uncle Versey bought this old broken down nag mule for $1... took it home and brushed it out and cleaned it up and put it in the barn. A neighbor came over and saw it and said, "Uncle Versey, that's a good lookin' mule you got there... I'll give you $2 for it... "SOLD!" Uncle Versey said. SO the neighbor takes the mule home and puts an old straw hat on it... a day or two later Uncle Versey is over there and sees it and says, "That sure is a good lookin' mule-- I'll give you $3 for it!" "SOLD!", says the neighbor. Uncle Versey takes it home, and decides to re-shoe it... The next day, the neighbor comes over and says, "Wow, that sure is a good lookin' mule-- I'll give you five dollars for it!" "SOLD!" says Uncle Versey... A few days later, Uncle Versey is over at the neighbor's... he looks around the barn, and no mule... "What happened to your mule?", he asks... "Oh, I sold him to that new guy that moved in from the city... he paid me $10 for it, so I couldn't turn it down..." Uncle Versey got upset... "DON'T TELL ME YOU SOLD OUR MULE!!! YOU AND I BOTH WERE MAKING A GOOD LIVING OFF THAT MULE!!!"

LOL

Later! OL JR


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## azmike

Guar, tons of this legume imported for the fracking of oil....

http://geology.com/stories/13/guar-beans-and-hydraulic-fracturing/


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## aawhite

Hemp is a tropical based plant, so definitely needs the sunshine and water. Saw some equipment used in Europe made by Claas, had an elevated cutter that harvested seed at the same time it cut and swathed the stalks. Can't even imagine how much that thing cost.

Processing is the big issue outside of the legal problems. Equipment to process is old design and very inefficient. After fiber is harvested, the inner core can be used for a few different things: particle board, ethanol feedstock, pelleted for burning. Figure out how to use every bit of it efficiently and I think its got real potential...at least for the processor anyway.

Talking about alternative, a project came to NC Kansas to process sweet corn. Got a bunch of farmers to invest (thinnk the minimum was $20,000) and pledge acres, harvest came, they backed and froze the corn. The manager was targeting commerical institutes to buy the corn. They packageds it in the wrong size containters, never sold a pound of corn, sat in the freezers for months. Company went broke, farmers lsot all their money.

If getting into an alternative market, make sure your processors/buyers actually know what they are doing!


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## swmnhay

aawhite said:


> If getting into an alternative market, make sure your processors/buyers actually know what they are doing!


Well said,Alot get the cart in front of the horse.Don't have the market for the product before hand.


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## luke strawwalker

azmike said:


> Guar, tons of this legume imported for the fracking of oil....
> 
> http://geology.com/stories/13/guar-beans-and-hydraulic-fracturing/


My old man grew guar one year about the time I was born... said it was about like growing soybeans...

Think he did alright on it but marketing it was a b!tch... Probly why he quit....

Later! OL JR


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## azmike

Thanks for the input. I am sure success and failure has very many components to factor in. We like hay and cows but I also enjoy innovation and opportunities that may be out of the box. I have also heard of bamboo as lots of new products are based on this plant.

Haytalk is fun to throw BS out to, LOTS of experience out there just waiting to type in an opine!!


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## GOOD HAY

It has been legal to grow in Ontario under license for some time now. However, it has never really taken off. I think the problem is that the main part of the crop is the fibre and we all know how that industry has gone in North America. Between synthetic fibres and industry going to Asia there is not much left here. There was a nice field of hemp a few years ago near here, It was on the best corn or bean ground and looked like a good crop but I have not seen any since then. I believe that some small acreages are grown organically for the seed, not sure the exact use, but definitely not on a commercial scale. Certainly not a main stream crop and not one I would bet the farm on., yet.


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## Teslan

I'm going to attend a seminar about the future of growing hemp at the Colorado farm show next Tuesday. I guess the Colorado Dept of Ag even has Program manager of Industrial Hemp. He's going to speak. Be interesting on what might be presented.


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## azmike

Teslan, please let us know highlights of the seminar. I would enjoy attending even though in AZ it is still illegal to grow.


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## somedevildawg

Teslan said:


> I'm going to attend a seminar about the future of growing hemp at the Colorado farm show next Tuesday. I guess the Colorado Dept of Ag even has Program manager of Industrial Hemp. He's going to speak. Be interesting on what might be presented.


That may not be the same type of hemp they're growin out in Colorado . Think that one gives one a buzz......


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## swmnhay

somedevildawg said:


> That may not be the same type of hemp they're growin out in Colorado . Think that one gives one a buzz......


there is some industrial hemp being grown in Colorado also besides the wacky weed.Have a friend that has to bale some with a lg sq baler after they combined the seed off the top useing a straight head and taking the top 1/2 of the plant.Sounds like the seed has various uses and the plant portion will be used for the fibers.


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## Teslan

swmnhay said:


> there is some industrial hemp being grown in Colorado also besides the wacky weed.Have a friend that has to bale some with a lg sq baler after they combined the seed off the top useing a straight head and taking the top 1/2 of the plant.Sounds like the seed has various uses and the plant portion will be used for the fibers.


Yes. The little synopsis of the presentation suggested there have been some trial fields done. It also mentioned there are some bills in congress to remove growing restrictions at the federal level. It said it might be a great crop to add into rotations as more acreage is planted and the supporting industry is established. I'm half way there with the equipment I guess. Just need a combine.


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## azmike

Teslan, Well, did you get an education on industrial hemp production? Inquiring minds want to know...


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## Teslan

azmike said:


> Teslan, Well, did you get an education on industrial hemp production? Inquiring minds want to know...


Well I found out that it is quite difficult to get seed into the U.S. Colorado State University had several varieties confiscated at the airport. One farmer that grew about 20 acres last year said there is a coop that sells it, but the price is $25 a pound and he planted about 10 pounds an acre. In Canada it's about $4'lb. This guy might have been Cy's friend that he mentions above as he said he combined it then swathed/baled it later. However when he combined it that thrashed the leaves fairly bad that it didn't make good bales.

They have found out that birds love love love the seed and wrecked havoc on a field near the four corners so much that they couldn't really see what the production would be like.

I got the impression though they never said it that when growing hemp you should either be going for the fiber or the seed. Maybe not both. There are variety of seeds that are meant for either fiber or seeds.

To grow in Colorado you have to get certified to grow it and then they have to come test it and it must be lower then .3% THC or it will be considered marijuana. If it is above .3% you will have to dispose of it on site (not sure how?) If you move it then you could be charged with trafficking drugs. The Colorado Ag director of industrial hemp has been harrassed by the DEA in the last year about Colorado's program. For example they harrassed them to find 4 grains of hemp that were missing from the confiscated bags of seed at the airport.

98% of the hemp they tested fell under .3% and none over 1%.

The director said the supporting businesses are coming to support the hemp industry as he gets calls every week from companies and venture capitalists asking questions. He even said a yacht builder called to know if there were any hemp carpet manufacturers in CO as on boats you have to replace carpet every 2 years or so. At least on Luxury yachts anyways.

So there are tons and tons of uses for hemp.

They are working on a certified seed variety program so there would be less required inspections and tests for THC.

The industrial hemp director said 18 months ago he didn't know a thing about hemp. Now that is 100% what he deals with every day. So it's changing fast. And they've hired a couple other people to help out in the department.

The farmer that raised the hemp said that the plants he had that got stressed had higher levels of THC then the fields that didn't. He planted the hemp with a wheat drill in one field and a hay drill in another. Both came up fairly well.

I'm not well versed on marijuana, but I found out the marijuana that people used in the 60s and 70s was only around 1-5% THC. Now marijuana is around 20% THC. So I guess one can argue that it's a different drug now then in the past.

I had to leave early as I had a doctor appointment so I didn't get to hear any question and answer session with the ag department guy. But all in all this was basically an introduction to growing it. They said there really is no infrastructure of where to sell it or anything, but it's coming soon.

I wish I could have heard more from the guy that actually farmed it.

The room was packed. With both typical looking farmers and also some that I would say didn't have the look of a farmer at all......


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## azmike

Thank you, sounds exciting and quite difficult with regulators. I will keep an ear to the tracks for more information. I suppose it is a perennial plant? If you could just big bale and load trucks maybe that is a long ways off. The tax aspect involved with pot growing/marketing might just keep industrial hemp out of touch as an agricultural alternative.


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## swmnhay

My friend in Colo is just a custom baler.He did attend one of the meetings alsne thing that he mentioned if you were to plant it it had to be on ground you owned not something you rented.

They still haven't baled it and only combined it a few weeks ago.

Some of this is reminding of the Artichoke fiasco in SW Mn about 30 yrs ago.The first few that planted made a fortune on the seed.Then there was more seed then needed the price crashed and they still didn't have a market for the tubers.


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## Teslan

azmike said:


> Thank you, sounds exciting and quite difficult with regulators. I will keep an ear to the tracks for more information. I suppose it is a perennial plant? If you could just big bale and load trucks maybe that is a long ways off. The tax aspect involved with pot growing/marketing might just keep industrial hemp out of touch as an agricultural alternative.


I'm not sure it's hard with the regulators. The guy seemed to be willing to work with farmers. And the Colorado regulator is really just one or two people. The hard part I see is the very thin line between illegal and legal.

I think for baling you want the fiber and the flower for what I gathered. I had been hoping for more info on how to actually grow the stuff and harvest it. Maybe that will happen next year. Like you I'm just interested in baling and loading trucks and selling it. Not being a pioneer innovator.

I guess 4 CO universities have started programs on industrial hemp. Colorado State is farther ahead then anyone. That's who we heard from yesterday and it is a very small program without much funding.


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## aawhite

Here is a picture of a Claas hemp harvester. The top deck cuts the top for seed harvest, that cross conveyor loads trucks, I think it is actually a hydraulic dump. The bottom deck windrows the remaining stalks for baling for the fiber. Couldn't even imaging how much that thing costs.


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## Teslan

aawhite said:


> Here is a picture of a Claas hemp harvester. The top deck cuts the top for seed harvest, that cross conveyor loads trucks, I think it is actually a hydraulic dump. The bottom deck windrows the remaining stalks for baling for the fiber. Couldn't even imaging how much that thing costs.


I just went and ordered one at the Claas dealer. Gotta be prepared. That is quite the machine.


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## deadmoose

Teslan said:


> I just went and ordered one at the Claas dealer. Gotta be prepared. That is quite the machine.


Did you opt for 1/64, 1/32, or pony up for 1/16 scale?


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## swmnhay

Teslan said:


> I just went and ordered one at the Claas dealer. Gotta be prepared. That is quite the machine.


wonder if it can be bought for 1M


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## Lewis Ranch




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