What may be Vermont’s first private industrial hemp crop is being harvested, and, if all goes as hoped, it will lead to good things for local farmers and other entrepreneurs in the years to come.
The crop is on about 5 acres of land north of Airport Road, owned by the Sheldon family. It was being harvested Wednesday afternoon while the people responsible for it being grown looked on, having invited local media to come to see how it’s all going.
“We are extremely happy with the way it’s come out,” said Travis Samuels, co-owner of Zion Growers, a St. Johnsbury-based hemp company. “I think the only holdup for us has been the fact we didn’t get as much rain in this area as we’d hoped for, and I think given what we did get and how well this came out, to see how high it’s grown, to know how little rain we got, to see how well it’s come together, this is about as good as we can ask for.”
Samuels believes this is the only private, industrial hemp crop being grown in the state. Hemp has been grown for use in CBD products for a few years now, but industrial hemp works a bit differently. Each individual plant requires less care and attention. Planting and harvesting it isn’t much different than hay, and it can be turned into a wide range of products, from animal bedding to building material.
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