Minnesota Hemp Growers Association members John Quincy (middle) and Leili Fatehi (right) explain hemp to an attendee using a field of it grown for the event at FarmFest Wednesday. Food and nutrition, building materials, and fibers are the main applications for industrial hemp.

GILFILLAN ESTATE– With cannabis legalization passed, farmers and organizations discussed the potential capabilities of growing hemp at Farmfest Wednesday.

While legalization paves the way for growth of cannabis plants for recreational marijuana, it also assists cannabis growers who farm the plant for it’s hemp capabilities. The Minnesota Hemp Growers Cooperative (MHGC) appeared at the event to educate farmers on potential uses and the history of cannabis.

President Shawn Weber said industrial applications for hemp generally fall into three categories.

“You have food and nutrition, you have construction building materials, and you have textile,” he said. “From a food and nutrition standpoint, anything you can do with soy you can do with hemp. We’re talking about protein, oils, and general nutritional supplements. The oil and the seed combined make a complete protein. For building materials, we have hempcrete blocks. The Lower Sioux down the road are building hempcrete houses. They just built a 1400 square foot house you can see for yourself. They’re going to be building 200 hempcrete houses over the next five years. And from a fiber standpoint, you can make rope, textile, and clothing.”

Items from each category were on display under their tent at the event, and a field of hemp grew behind the tent so attendees could see the plant in it’s full form. Weber said the legalization of recreational marijuana helps the crop in one key way.

“The most prominent change I would expect is a federal exemption through the farm bill to where we don’t have to track and trace an industrial crop anymore just because it’s cannabis,” he said. “Outside of that, I see it just continuing on its on its slow, steady curve upwards to being readily accepted as a third crop rotation.”

Weber hopes legalization will help to destigmatize cannabis among the farming community, but reception to cannabis legalization was lukewarm. John Weckman is a corn, soybean, and rye farmer from Shakopee. He has farmed for around 60 years and been attendee of Farmfest for 15 years. He believes cannabis legalization is a step in the wrong direction.

“I don’t agree with it at all,” Weckman said. “I don’t care for the marijuana out there. I saw it when I was in the Army and I still remember that. Too many young kids are getting into it.”

Mike Werk is a corn and soybean farmer from Herman. With the legalization of cannabis, he is worried about potential issues that would make farming it more difficult to manage and find help for.

“The last I heard they don’t have any chemical or anything authorized to spray on it,” Werk said. “Everything is considered organic. You have to weed it all by hand. To find labor to do the job is a big challenge.”

Weber said an influx of farmers or cannabis fields for the growth of recreational or medicinal marijuana is not expected due to widely accepted growing practices. Recreational marijuana is usually grown in smaller, indoor greenhouses and not large outdoor fields. “There may be farmers interested, but once you understand the needs and the concept of the supply chain, it’s not going to be of interest to your traditional farmer,” Weber said.