Ron Strider
Well-Known Member
Terry Skelton, a beef farmer in Erie County, was curious about adding hemp to his grazing rotation.
"I would like to rotational graze the hemp, to see if that would be a way to put fat on my animals – a feasible way to build fat on my animals," he said.
There is quite a bit farmers don't know about growing hemp, mostly because it's been illegal to grow for the past 80 years and the growing know-how has been lost to the ages.
That could explain why the Ag Progress Days bus tour to the industrial hemp trials was packed with curious farmers.
They all wanted to know if this new state hemp initiative will bear fruit, or in this case, seeds and fiber.
Greg Roth, a professor of agronomy at Penn State, stood in the sun with his back to several acres of industrial hemp.
The trials at Penn State are focusing on seed production, growing varieties that are much shorter than the varieties used for fiber.
Roth passed around a stalk of hemp that was bursting with seeds that can be pressed into oil or crushed into meal.
Most farmers were curious about the market – how is anybody going to make money growing this crop?
"My main market is probably going to be mourning doves," Roth said, commenting on the lack of a market for Pennsylvania-grown hemp due to the legal restrictions on the plant and the pest pressure from birds.
Penn State's license from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture allows the university to grow it, not to sell it.
A market cannot develop until there is substantial acreage in the state. But farmers won't grow it – even if legally allowed to – if there's no market.
The state would also need better infrastructure for processing the hemp, which can be used for fiber, fuel, food – more than 25,000 different uses, according to the PDA's website.
In the 80 years that hemp hasn't been grown in Pennsylvania, a stigma has developed because of hemp's association with marijuana. But industrial hemp is not marijuana.
By law, industrial hemp must contain no more than 0.3 percent of the psychoactive ingredient THC, which gives marijuana its mind-altering effects.
Jason Buck, a farmer and math teacher from Myerstown, Pennsylvania, is like most farmers – always looking for new methods and innovations to bring back to the farm.
He is generally excited about the prospect of bringing hemp back into production, but he has his doubts.
"I see the biggest problem in trying to get the hemp industry going is regulation – the government interfering with free markets and what the individual citizen wants to do," Buck said.
Roth and his team have learned a great deal about hemp production even in the few short months of the project.
Roth said his big takeaways are earlier planting, denser seeding, more nitrogen, better weed control and planting a taller variety.
His seeds arrived later in the spring than expected, due to a mix-up at the Canadian border, and he didn't get them in ground until the beginning of June.
Planting the seeds more densely should cut down on competition from weeds.
Roth said insects were not an issue at all. Some Japanese beetles were seen on the male plants, but they did no damage.
He also experimented with different nitrogen levels, from zero to 200 pounds per acre. Roth said 150 pounds per acre seemed to be the ideal for robust growth.
Roth would also recommend planting a taller variety than what he planted here.
His seeds were developed for the growing season in Manitoba, not Pennsylvania.
Because hemp is affected by length of day, the plants here have not gotten as tall as expected.
As for whether hemp could be added to a grazing rotation, Roth is speculative.
"I think it might be down the road," he said. "One of the things we're going to do is test the forage value of it.
"My thought is right now there might be better and cheaper alternatives than hemp," Roth said, "especially given the regulations to grow it.
"But then I think it might be marginal because it's a very fibrous plant," he said.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Hemp a Crowd Pleaser at Ag Progress Days | Farming | lancasterfarming.com
Author: Eric Hurlock
Contact: Contact Us | Site | lancasterfarming.com
Photo Credit: Eric Hurlock
Website: lancasterfarming.com | The Farmer's Choice
"I would like to rotational graze the hemp, to see if that would be a way to put fat on my animals – a feasible way to build fat on my animals," he said.
There is quite a bit farmers don't know about growing hemp, mostly because it's been illegal to grow for the past 80 years and the growing know-how has been lost to the ages.
That could explain why the Ag Progress Days bus tour to the industrial hemp trials was packed with curious farmers.
They all wanted to know if this new state hemp initiative will bear fruit, or in this case, seeds and fiber.
Greg Roth, a professor of agronomy at Penn State, stood in the sun with his back to several acres of industrial hemp.
The trials at Penn State are focusing on seed production, growing varieties that are much shorter than the varieties used for fiber.
Roth passed around a stalk of hemp that was bursting with seeds that can be pressed into oil or crushed into meal.
Most farmers were curious about the market – how is anybody going to make money growing this crop?
"My main market is probably going to be mourning doves," Roth said, commenting on the lack of a market for Pennsylvania-grown hemp due to the legal restrictions on the plant and the pest pressure from birds.
Penn State's license from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture allows the university to grow it, not to sell it.
A market cannot develop until there is substantial acreage in the state. But farmers won't grow it – even if legally allowed to – if there's no market.
The state would also need better infrastructure for processing the hemp, which can be used for fiber, fuel, food – more than 25,000 different uses, according to the PDA's website.
In the 80 years that hemp hasn't been grown in Pennsylvania, a stigma has developed because of hemp's association with marijuana. But industrial hemp is not marijuana.
By law, industrial hemp must contain no more than 0.3 percent of the psychoactive ingredient THC, which gives marijuana its mind-altering effects.
Jason Buck, a farmer and math teacher from Myerstown, Pennsylvania, is like most farmers – always looking for new methods and innovations to bring back to the farm.
He is generally excited about the prospect of bringing hemp back into production, but he has his doubts.
"I see the biggest problem in trying to get the hemp industry going is regulation – the government interfering with free markets and what the individual citizen wants to do," Buck said.
Roth and his team have learned a great deal about hemp production even in the few short months of the project.
Roth said his big takeaways are earlier planting, denser seeding, more nitrogen, better weed control and planting a taller variety.
His seeds arrived later in the spring than expected, due to a mix-up at the Canadian border, and he didn't get them in ground until the beginning of June.
Planting the seeds more densely should cut down on competition from weeds.
Roth said insects were not an issue at all. Some Japanese beetles were seen on the male plants, but they did no damage.
He also experimented with different nitrogen levels, from zero to 200 pounds per acre. Roth said 150 pounds per acre seemed to be the ideal for robust growth.
Roth would also recommend planting a taller variety than what he planted here.
His seeds were developed for the growing season in Manitoba, not Pennsylvania.
Because hemp is affected by length of day, the plants here have not gotten as tall as expected.
As for whether hemp could be added to a grazing rotation, Roth is speculative.
"I think it might be down the road," he said. "One of the things we're going to do is test the forage value of it.
"My thought is right now there might be better and cheaper alternatives than hemp," Roth said, "especially given the regulations to grow it.
"But then I think it might be marginal because it's a very fibrous plant," he said.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Hemp a Crowd Pleaser at Ag Progress Days | Farming | lancasterfarming.com
Author: Eric Hurlock
Contact: Contact Us | Site | lancasterfarming.com
Photo Credit: Eric Hurlock
Website: lancasterfarming.com | The Farmer's Choice
