You reap what you sow unless you are without seed.<\/p>\n
The lack of available seed has left two Montezuma County farmers permitted to cultivate industrial hemp test plots this year holding their plows.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are having an impossible time getting seed,\u201d said Merle Root of Pleasant View.<\/p>\n
Root and Scott Perez of Mancos had both banked on obtaining hemp seeds from Chris Boucher, vice-president of U.S. Hemp Oil in California. In addition to seed, both farmers were also under the impression that Boucher would pay for water fees.<\/p>\n
\u201cU.S. Hemp will not contact us and won\u2019t return our calls,\u201d said Root. \u201cI\u2019m looking everywhere to find seed. I can\u2019t tell you how disappointed I am at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n
James McVaney, director of Industrial Hemp in Colorado, said he too had attempted to contact various seed suppliers, but to no avail.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe seed people are still incommunicado,\u201d said McVaney.<\/p>\n
Sharon Stewart, who has spearheaded a local industrial hemp advocacy group called Hemp Talks, is unsure if industrial hemp would be grown in Montezuma County this year, adding that the crop\u2019s planting window would close soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are trying to source seed from all over Colorado and Canada,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Last fall, McVaney told area farmers that they would be forced to \u201ccross a gray legal line\u201d to obtain hemp seeds, saying industrial hemp remains classified as a controlled substance under federal guidelines.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, fears of breaking the law were dampened when the U.S. House of Representatives blocked the Drug Enforcement Administration from using funds to interfere in state-legal industrial hemp research. Colorado legalized industrial hemp production last year.<\/p>\n
Paying a $100 fee, Root and Perez both applied with state agriculture officials to grow industrial hemp test plots. Perez had planned to grow a one-acre plot, and Root intended to grow 10 acres.<\/p>\n
Stewart said other farmers had expressed interests in growing industrial hemp, but they decided to \u201cwait and see\u201d because of concerns over seed availability, water issues and federal laws.<\/p>\n
Some 100 Colorado farmers were approved to grow close to 1,300 acres of industrial hemp this year.<\/p>\n
Historical data from the Mt. Lookout Grange in Mancos reveals industrial hemp was once a big agricultural product locally.<\/p>\n
Attempts to reach Boucher for comment were unsuccessful.<\/p>\n