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Farmer hopes hemp industry can blossom

PORTALES - His grow is only in its baby stages now, but one Roosevelt County farmer hopes hemp can blossom into a thriving industry for eastern New Mexico in the coming years.

You may say he's a dreamer, but he's not the only one, not by far. Heath Grider, a farmer and carpenter in Portales, has one of 11 current licenses this year to grow hemp in Roosevelt County. In Curry County there are three, and statewide there are a total of 356 as of Friday, according to the New Mexico Department of Agriculture.

That follows the federal 2018 Farm Bill which as of late December permits the regulated production of the non-intoxicating variety of cannabis known as hemp, and more recent action from the state legislature to regulate the industry. More precisely the state defines hemp as cannabis with less than 0.3% of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the primary psychoactive component of marijuana.

That means the kids sneaking into Grider's garden at night to swipe some leaves probably won't get where they want to go, unless they're simply seeking the therapeutic qualities of cannabidiol. Known better as CBD, that's the component used in treating afflictions like pain, insomnia and anxiety, and extracting it could be big business for the state. Hemp has a yet broader array of commercial and industrial applications for textiles, biofuel, bioplastics and more.

Grider's hemp garden is out front of his Portales residence, not on Copperhead Road but rather North Avenue Q. He's invited law enforcement to come out and see it, and part of the licensing process entails providing GPS coordinates of the operation and submitting to a federal background check.

"Everything's legal, everything's above board," Grider told The News on Friday. It may seem a bit much to belabor that point, but Grider noted concerns with misconceptions on the plant and a stigma against anything that smells of marijuana. He knows because he's been there himself.

"I was completely and totally against it my entire life," he said, until about 10 years ago when one of his children put him on a path toward examining the plan's benefits and its potential. Grider's wife Ginger, the Libertarian Party candidate for Secretary of State in the 2018 election, told The News a similar story last year concerning her own ideological shift.

This year Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law House Bill 581, the Hemp Manufacturing Act, intending to "catalyze the hemp business in New Mexico, a clean agricultural industry poised for rapid growth." According to a news release from Grisham's office, the act authorizes NMAD, the Dept. of Health and the Environment Department to regulate hemp while "encouraging collaboration" with tribes.

"Right now we're kind of in the middle of that process," NMAD spokesperson Kristie Garcia told The News. Legal hemp production is one thing, but the devil's in the details.

In this case, "there was no protocol for manufacturing or extracting hemp," Garcia said, but the Hemp Manufacturing Act empowers state agencies to develop exactly that. Last month NMAD hosted hearings in Albuquerque and Las Cruces toward formulating rules on the testing of raw hemp and plant breeding. Part of that is in the interest of those "seeking security in the development of the extracting, processing, and manufacturing components of this new industry," according to NMAD documents.

That will be important for Grider, who has a little over 90 plants on a quarter-acre plot, some planted in December and others in March. This first year's harvest will be something of an experiment, as it will be for many others across the state.

Grider advises against entering into hemp production without some advance know-how, since it's a non-trivial investment and still somewhat uncertain terrain for the moment. He maintains however that hemp is a prime potential product for the state, requiring less water than corn or alfalfa.

"We will end up warring with Colorado over hemp like we do with green chile," Grider said. He believes New Mexico can come out on top, too, with more sunlight and a longer growing season than those Rocky Mountain farmers.

Plenty more in the state seem to have the same idea, joining what some have likened to a gold rush industry for New Mexico.

"Most of our hemp people are gone today because they're out inspecting," Garcia said on Friday.

In this case the state really wants to know how your garden grows.

 
 
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