Page 29 - Harnett Life Winter 2020
P. 29

As one of the first hemp farmers in the state, and the first in   0.3 percent or less are hemp, while plants with THC levels of
       Harnett County, Keith Dunn discovered firsthand the complex-  more than 0.3 percent are marijuana, but there are no physi-
       ities and costs involved with stepping into the hemp industry.   cal attributes that immediately distinguish one from the other,
       Already an established farmer, Mr. Dunn said he saw a huge   which seems to be a major obstacle in regards to consumer
       potential within this burgeoning market that was new to the   acceptance.
       East Coast, but had been thriving on the West Coast since 2014.
       He created East Coast Hemp Supply in 2017, working to fulfill   The hemp industry still carries a stigma that stemmed from the
       the company vision of becoming a consolidated marketplace   1937 law that essentially kicked off prohibition of the plant
       opportunity for emerging hemp businesses and hemp products.  despite  its  description  differentiating  hemp  from  marijuana,
                                                                 and the subsequent 1970 Controlled Substance Act (CSA). The
       East Coast Hemp Supply was named with the goal of providing   CSA introduced the view that hemp and marijuana were no
       services up and down the East Coast, having the logistical ad-  longer recognized as two separate varieties of the same plant;
       vantage of existing in a centralized location between the inter-  the cannabis plant was then recognized as a Schedule 1 con-
       sections of interstates 95 and 40. The storefront location opened   trolled substance until the 2018 Farm Bill - passed in 2019 -
       downtown on Broad Street in June of 2019. Mr. Dunn said this   removed industrial hemp from the Schedule 1 list.
       location was chosen because Harnett County is a prominent
       farming area, and the city of Dunn is also his hometown. “I’d   There is a bit of a learning curve within the industrial hemp
       like to help support the local economy here, I’d like to help cre-  industry, as Mr. Dunn noted not all regulations are currently
       ate jobs for the community, and bring the hemp industry to my   set in stone, but for the guidelines that are present, they exist
       home, where I grew up.” He said the number of hemp farmers   for a reason. Due to the meticulous nature of the documenta-
       in Harnett County went from only one, being East Coast Hemp   tion process, East Coast Hemp Supply offers consultations to
       Supply, in 2017 to now 150+ in 2020. Through education, Mr.   mitigate the start-up process so the farmer can begin their new
       Dunn  and  his  partners  at  East  Coast  Hemp  Supply  want  to   business and do so at a fair cost. They discuss the necessary
       spread awareness of how beneficial and versatile hemp can be.  prerequisites and legal paperwork: a traditional farmer look-
                                                                 ing to become a hemp farmer must be able to prove, via tax
       “Education is very important”, Mr. Dunn said, because many   records, that they receive agricultural income, and must obtain
       people will see the plant and associate it with drug use. A can-  a license from the Department of Agriculture, paying the ap-
       nabis  plant  is  identified  as  either  hemp  or  marijuana  based   propriate fees as necessary per acre. The farmer must provide
       on  the  levels  of THC  (tetrahydrocannabinol),  the  psychoac-  the “GPS coordinates of the fields where they’re intending to
       tive element, contained within it. Plants with THC levels of   grow, as well as the GPS coordinates for where the harvest
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