Colorado’s hemp industry has been growing a bit over 2015 due to the relationship between state and federal laws on cannabis working themselves out. As a result, more of the plants and seeds are becoming available. Overall, the industry has been reporting successful reports and companies are becoming more inclined towards developing and manufacturing hemp products.
“We’re still continuing to do testing,” stated Duane Sinning, the program manager for the Colorado Department of Agriculture. “There is a better outlook as this industry continues to test varieties and ways of handling the product.”
Colorado has registered 164 growers this year and 3,512 outdoor acres of land. Not all of those acres have been planted yet since multiple growers have multiple plots that they have yet to tend to. Both hemp and marijuana re-derived from the same source, but hemp contains no more than 0.3% THC, the psychoactive ingredient that can get you high. 91% of the tested hemp samples in 2015 were below this quota, but the others “were only marginally higher,” according to Sinning.
“We did not find anyone who is a true, hard-core marijuana grower,” Sinning added. “They are not using (the state licensing process) to do anything other than trying to grow hemp.”
CBD oil is the biggest product in Colorado, though. Hemp plants are grown almost in bundles and the leaves are dried then crushed in order to seep out the CBD oil. The other parts of the plan may be used for the fiber. A processing building was opened by Whole Hemp Co. in a Walmart. By using grow lights, the company has begun cultivating cloned plants and now grows it on over 107 acres of farmland.
“Each day we are harvesting several acres and have been since mid-September,” stated Whole Hemp spokeswoman, Tisha Casida. “These plants are harvested by hand, then taken to our processing facility there in La Junta, where the leaves and stems are separated from the stalks.”
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