High Times covers Humboldt’s ‘bold’ industrial hemp ban, county official answers a couple questions
In the latest episode of Humboldt Last Week
I’ve been meaning to delve into Humboldt County’s permanent industrial hemp ban, covered well by the Times-Standard here.
Hemp is like marijuana’s more sober sibling that can make stuff like paper, rope, and clothing, plus of course the medicinal CBD side to it. Hemp is very low in THC so it doesn’t get you high.
Outlets such as High Times have called the ban a “bold” move. And on a surface level, it really looks that way. Humboldt County, cannabis royalty, nixing a possibly economically-boosting side of the industry?
Well, a big part of why this happened is the fear of cross-pollination. I won’t get into the science of it too much but basically, if THC-heavy plants and hemp plants are sharing the same air, it could seriously screw with those crops. And of course, Humboldt wants to maintain its THC cannabis royalty status.
So I reached out to Humboldt County Agricultural Commissioner Jeff Dolf about this. In short, he clarified a point that there actually has historically been some notable hemp interest in Humboldt County. In 2019 before our temporary hemp ban there were 19 registrants for the crop.
But then Humboldt County’s temporary ban happened, plus, Dolf added, an oversupply of hemp occurred along with other changes in the market which really tamped things down in terms of local interest.
He told me that Humboldt County folks interested in industrial hemp on a smaller scale can utilize the county’s Small Cultivator Ordinance program, but Dolf says since that passed in October nobody has yet signed up.
Also, it should be noted that industrial hemp operations are allowed in jurisdictions such as Arcata and Rio Dell not within the County of Humboldt’s purview. Right now there are two industrial hemp registrants in Arcata and one in Rio Dell.
Initially, when I started covering this I’d wondered if methods to prevent cross-pollination could be considered in the future such as encouraging hemp production indoors or creating buffer zones for the different crops, but it seems like that’ll be a bridge crossed if we ever get to it.
Finally, when asked of other possible impacts hemp could have on Humboldt’s THC-heavy plants besides cross-pollination, Dolf mentioned the possibility of more pest infestations, potential conflicts between growers of the two separate crops, and the difficulty of separately regulating two very visibly similar plants.
Episode Description:
A closer look at Humboldt County’s industrial hemp ban, HSU’s first black police chief, the brink of a less restrictive COVID tier, the carousel between Eureka and Arcata finds a new home in Loleta, a horrible logging incident, more about Guy Fieri saving a Ferndale staple, Eureka export Sara Bareilles is stoked on her new gig, new music soon for Mr. Bungle fans, the return of more high school sports, Eureka Schools will offer in-person learning soon, a bill encouraging more North Coast fishing, a basketball star, and more.
Humboldt Last Week is Humboldt County’s news podcast brought to you in collaboration with Kristjana Graham Massage Therapy, North Coast Co-op, Bongo Boy Studio, Photography by Shi, the Candis Danielson recovery fund, NCJ, RHBB, and KJNY.
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I was one of the people who filed for an early hemp permit and I’m pretty sure there were well over a hundred of us that filed not 19
I think Jeff was referring to 19 *accepted* registrants at that time, not the number of applicants. His full quote: “In 2019 when industrial hemp cultivation was approved by the State of California and my office became responsible for local administration of the State Industrial Hemp Program, we registered 19 individuals who intended to cultivate industrial hemp in the County. With the exception of one registrant (at that time) located in the City of Arcata where the moratorium does not apply, the other registrations were invalidated by the Urgency Ordinance which was passed by the Board of Supervisors the following week.”
Pretty sure only 19 made it through the narrow window and then it slammed shut.
There were plenty more trying behind them.
I think there was more the 530 acres applied for between all the aplicants.
Filing paperwork and being a viable applicant are 2 entirely different things…..
Why are people trying to grow hemp here anyway? What types of products would be grown and sold? Is growing small amounts or “boutique” hemp even financially viable?
If I wanted to grow hemp, I would want to grow at least 100 acres on very flat ground. I’d sow the seeds across the whole thing and let the plants grow where they wanted, ideally about 12″ apart. I would let the males grow in there too, the pollen would blow around freely. It would be a sea of green with 12’+ plants. Phototropism and a dense top canopy would make the plants very tall with hardly any branches or leaves, making the stalks long and skinny like bamboo. Id harvest it with a combine, taking the heavily seeded tops for hemp seed oil and planting the next seasons crop. Then taking the 10′ stalks for fiber. Utilizing as much heavy machinery as i could and as little human labor as possible to cut costs. But that’s just my 2 cents.
Why? Probably because it is worth more than, say sorghum or alfalfa. There is some flat ranch land in the fog belt that would be good for hemp. Think, lower eel river valley.
According to medical research, Hemp CBD is useless as a tiny amount of THC is necessary to activate it’s beneficial properties.
http://www.bonnigoldsteinmd.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Understanding_Cannabidiol.pdf
I like to make sure mine is fully activated.
Me too 😝😝😝 Y’all keep that hemp well away from my THC laden product please !
I’m so perplexed by this. They are concerned about cross breeding yet every cannabis cultivation license allows a nursery area in which there is no regulation on pollination. Lmao
I was one of the applicants for hemp. I dont believe hemp farmers should be held to the same standard even as small scale cannabis farmers. So no hemp can be grown on any property less than 5 acres?
I’ll be contacting the ag dept in the morning. I’m pretty sure it was never really made public about the small cultivator ordinance loophole for hemp. If so, no one was talking loudly about it.
However, I can grow corn, tomatoes without regulation. I could grow an acre of tomatoes and no one would say a thing. I can fill my whole yard with potatoes. But grow hemp…nope, guess not.
Interestingly enough, I spoke to the Ag department back in November about having to import hemp, the moratorium, etc, and was never told about being able to apply to grow under the small scale cultivation. I was asking everything about hemp and it was never mentioned. Perhaps that’s why there haven’t been any takers. They aren’t being forthcoming with the information.
Problem is: most applicants wanted to grow flower for CBD extraction, not fiber hemp. So it’s just growing low THC flower, with the same techniques or issues as regular THC bud.
Also, hemp is only low THC because low THC strains were the only ones allowed to be grown in recent decades. When George Washington was growing, and up until WW2 all weed was hemp,all hemp was weed. Low THC “hemp” is a recent creation of our weed hysterical society of the last century. It is quite possible that a high THC strain might make superior fiber. Typical “hemp” strains would likely be terrible yielders of “hemp” seed.
I 100% understand the “hemp” game. High THC as far as I know is not as high quality fiber. A few years back I believe HSU or CR was running programs to utilize all parts of the plant and it didn’t work quite like they were thinking. Seeds could be created exactly the same way. There is a difference in seed for sure. Typical fibrous or hemp seeds are smaller than typical high THC seeds, on average. May contain different compounds. There are definitely exceptions to the rule. However, one could likely produce way more seed in a thc like bud structure vs a fibrous hemp flower structure. (Not tested, but probably pretty likely because of size).
The cannabis market is so greatly over regulated. Hemp should not be, regardless of if one is growing it for fiber, cbd extraction, seed production. No one is paying 1600 a pound for hemp. The market is different. If we eased into allowing true fiber hemp cultivation, with regular agricultural regulations, we could do wonders for our local economy instead of these companies importing. The suggestion of indoor growing of hemp is just outrageous.
Also, there is no mention of hemp in the small cultivator ordinance. Unless I am missing some updated issued document.
There’s nothing stopping you from planting your permitted footage with low THC Abacus or WillieG’s Lebanese, and growing flower with it in METRC. Growing fiber hemp needs more area to be economically viable, and works fine with male or female plants’ fiber. Hemp seed production likewise would require large area, and obviously requires male plants, or at least pollen dispersal at some point, but after that males would get in the way.
There is field hemp being grown along Hwy 20 near Sutter Buttes.(or they’re planning on it at least! Big sign: ” it’s hemp don’t steal it”)