Taryn and Ben Marcus had hoped hemp was going to be the cash crop of their dreams, bringing in enough money so they would no longer have to borrow against their Whitefield farm each spring to tide them over until the strawberry crop was ready to pick.
Instead, their hemp harvest – which garnered national headlines as Maine’s first pick-your-own hemp operation – is turning into a nightmare as the couple’s bank and insurance agency have canceled the Marcuses’ accounts, putting the 180-acre farm, farm store and family home at risk.
This, even though hemp cannot get you high and is legal under state and federal law.
“We tiptoed out of the dark woods of prohibition, guided by our elected officials, and wham, we got run over by everyone’s other favorite institutions – banks and insurance companies,” Taryn Marcus said. “We were completely blindsided … what’s the point of legalizing hemp if we can’t actually farm it?”
Read more at centralmaine.com