A week after the summer solstice, a Mancos farmer planted an acre of hemp, outlawed in Colorado until 2014. Under ideal conditions, an acre of industrial hemp could equal paper production from two to four acres of trees.
"The things we learn this year will help as we move forward," Scott Perez recently posted on Hemp Talks/Western Slope. "I believe that we can have a thriving local industry."
On Hemp Talk's Facebook page, Perez offered the encouragement to his Pleasant View peer, Merle Root. She germinated hemp seeds inside an egg incubator, and planted a 50-by-30-foot plot in late June.
"Hemp growing project here is not going too well," Root posted over the weekend.
With 150 visible plants, some up to 8 inches tall, Root watered the crop twice a day.
"I have many more weeds than hemp," she said.
According to Perez, controlled tests revealed a 15-to-20 percent germination rate from the seeds he planted. In the field, rates were closer to 10 percent, he said.
"Some is already getting tall, and some is just germinating," Perez posted.
Perez and Root agreed that seeds should have been planted in May, when there was more moisture in the ground. They are the only Montezuma County farmers among more than 100 in Colorado that the state approved to grow research and development plots of industrial hemp this year.
Perez indicated securing different varieties of industrial hemp seed would also be beneficial next year. He predicted it could take five years or more to find the best strain for the region.
"There is a lot of public support in this area for our work," he said. "And finally, even though we don't have bumper crops, we have hemp growing where it hasn't grown for decades."
Root intended to grow 10 acres of hemp this year on her 1,200-acre family farm. She was only able to secure a single pound of seed from a secondary source, due in part to seizures from U.S. Customs.
Chris Boucher, a hemp seed importer based in San Diego, explained only sterile hemp seeds could be received under the nation's current tariff codes. He reported two 1,000-kilogram pallets of hemp seeds remained stuck in customs.
In addition to seed issues, advocate James McVaney cautions that the verdict remains whether industrial hemp could be a viable product in Southwest Colorado, adding that alfalfa grown on irrigated land earned approximately $1,000 per acre.
To compete, a certified and registered high yielding hemp cultivar capable of producing more than a ton of seed per acre would be required, McVaney said.
"Because of the inability and uncertainty in procuring seed, most of these farmer's fields turned into fields of dreams, or if they were lucky enough to find a few seeds - rows of hope," he posted on Hemp Talks.
tbaker@cortezjournal.com