What has amounted to a yearslong experiment allowing industrial hemp farming in Sutter County may soon come to an end as county officials consider an outright ban of the crop. The newly proposed embargo comes after a year of heightened scrutiny over how to regulate and sustain the county's relatively small industry, followed in recent months by suspected marijuana-related crimes connected to each of the county's last two licensed growers.
"We had legitimate farmers who were interested in hemp," said Steve Smith, Sutter County administrator. "… Even the legitimate farmers who were involved, they were taken advantage of by folks who were wrapped up in marijuana instead of hemp."
Sutter County supervisors on Tuesday are poised to hold the first of two public hearings on the effective ban, which would set in motion an end to the county's hemp program by mid-January. The county planning commission last month approved the amended ordinance that would bar industrial hemp farming and processing throughout the county, ending the ag-centric community's trial with the crop whose controversy rivaled its actual production.
"We erred on the side of defending agriculture … it's just looking like it was not to be because there was criminal activity involved," Smith said.
Read more at The Sacramento Bee
