Hemp Inc (HEMP)

[worldisfullofDerps]

Milton farmer to grow industrial hemp for Williamsport firm

By Marcia Moore The Daily Item May 23, 2017

A Milton farmer will be among the first in Pennsylvania in 80 years to grow industrial hemp for the Pennsylvania Hemp Co., of Williamsport.

The company is one of 16 research projects approved by the commonwealth to grow up to five acres of hemp — a non-psychotropic relative of marijuana — through its contracted organic farmer, Ziegler Farms in Milton, and test the production and marketing viability of hemp as a culinary oil and in cosmetics, soap and other uses.

The plan is to grow the hemp in Milton and extract the oil at the Susquehanna Mill Co. in Montoursville, where two other varieties of oil, sunflower and canola, are being produced for sale at retail stores and universities, Pennsylvania Hemp Co. co-owner Adam Thompson said.

"We're on the cusp of receiving the (hemp) seeds. This will give farmers another cash crop," he said.

About 30 states, including Kentucky, South Carolina, Oregon and Virginia, have been legally growing and harvesting industrial hemp.

It's been a bit of a hurdle for Thompson to get people to view hemp in a different light from marijuana and bring it back to its heyday in Pennsylvania, where during the 1600s, founder William Penn encouraged farmers to grow hemp. In 1937, hemp was outlawed in the U.S. due to its link to marijuana.

"Abram Ziegler is a respected, conservative farmer," said Thompson. "There was certainly a bit of education needed."

Ziegler said it didn't take too much convincing to get him involved in farming a potential new cash crop on an initial small scale.

"It's an opportunity for myself as a farmer and the processors to move ahead with something the public may be interested in," he said.

Susquehanna Mill Co. President Joshua Leidhecker had been producing sunflower and canola oil for about a decade when he was approached by Thompson to develop a hemp-based product amid the commonwealth's movement toward legalizing hemp harvesting.

"I like the idea of another crop that may be profitable. There's only so much sunflower and canola," Leidhecker said.

He and Thompson have been making culinary hemp oil using seeds from Canada that they've been selling on a small scale to universities and Wegman's.

"It's delicious and very healthy," Leidhecker said of the oil, which is high in Omega 3 fatty acids and can be used in salads or sauteeing.

Source: http://www.dailyitem.com/news/milton-farmer-to-grow-industrial-hemp-for-williamsport-firm/article_8795f6e1-5866-5bc1-a1da-e4ebd482a9b8.html