The strips of white plastic covering a field along Highway 70 east of Safford could be the start of something big in the Gila Valley. What was old in agriculture is new again, thanks to federal legislation legalizing industrial hemp and a state pilot program to grow the crop.
Once widely used, the versatile plant is seeing a resurgence that could revolutionize local agriculture and boost the economy — and at least one local grower is in on the action.
“I know of a couple of growers that are seriously looking at it,” said Randy Norton, resident director at the University of Arizona Safford Agricultural Center.
On the plastic-covered, 120-acre field east of town, one of those growers — Big Ranch Hemp — is getting set to plant its first crop. Formed in the Gila Valley, Big Ranch Hemp is among the growers in an Arizona Department of Agriculture (AZDA) pilot program.
That program was funded by Senate Bill 1098 (former State Representative Drew John was among its co-sponsors), signed into law on May 14, 2018. In December, President Donald Trump signed the 2018 Federal Farm Bill, which legalized industrial hemp by excluding it from the definition of marijuana. The Farm Bill also allowed commercialization and interstate shipment of hemp.
On June 1, 2019, AZDA issued licensing guidelines. “That’s kind of been the start date for being able to grow industrial hemp here,” Norton said.
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