West River Eagle

Hemp takes first step toward legalization



PIERRE, SD  — Gov. Kristi Noem wants legislators to put the brakes on legislation that would allow South Dakota farmers to grow hemp.

At her press conference on Friday, the governor noted that it would take time for the federal government to develop hemp guidelines and time for the state agriculture department to create a program and develop roadside testing.

“I would prefer that we wait on these bills,” Noem said.

The governor said she had a message for farmers interested in growing hemp: “I want them to know that they should not be making plans to plant in 2019.”

Prior to the governor’s announcement, the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee unanimously endorsed a bill, HB1191, that will “legalize the growth, production, and processing of industrial hemp and derivative products in the state.”

“At the end of the day, it’s good for South Dakota,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Oren Lesmeister, D-Parade. “There’s markets out there looking for this.”

Renewed interest in growing hemp was sparked by the passage late in 2018 of the Farm Bill. That legislation removed hemp from the federal Controlled Substance Act.

Lesmeister explained that the state Department of Agriculture would set up a program through which farmers would be licensed to grow hemp. They would need to pay up to $350 for the license as well as pay for a criminal background check. Applicants with a felony conviction linked to a controlled substance would not be eligible.

Crops would have to contain less than 3/10ths of 1 percent THC, the active ingredient in marijuana that allows users to get high. Crops that test higher would be destroyed, Lesmeister said.

Lesmeister listed an array of products, from ropes, nets and sails to food products and erosion control blankets that can be made from hemp. The U.S. Department of Agriculture lists 25,000 products made from hemp.

“This is what I call a value-added ag product,” Lesmeister said. “I think it could be huge for some people.”

The approval of the growth of hemp isn’t likely to save the family farm, Lesmeister said.

“It’s another tool in the toolbox for farmers to use in their crop rotation.”

Farmers who grow hemp have found that it increases the nutrients in their soil, a factor that helps with the production of the next crop to be grown on that field, Lesmeister said. He also noted that hemp requires no herbicides or pesticides.

“Wouldn’t it be great to plant something that’s environmentally healthy?” Lesmeister asked.

J.B. Meyer, an owner of A.H. Meyer & Sons of Winfred, told the committee that his company used supercritical CO2 on beeswax and could use the same process on hemp.

Passage of the bill would ensure that hemp “becomes an important product for us,” Meyer said.

Dick Tieszen, a lobbyist representing the South Dakota Sheriff’s Association, offered an amendment that would add felony marijuana charges to the criminal charges that would keep an applicant from getting a license to grow hemp.

Tieszen said there has been a great deal of confusion about the Farm Bill.

“It has been the subject to a lot of misunderstanding about what it did and did not do,” Tieszen said.

Asked when the first crop of hemp would be planted, Lesmeister said that without an emergency clause, the law would go into effect on July 1. The S.D Department of Agriculture would need to create its hemp program and have it approved by the USDA. He estimated that the first crop would be planted in the spring of 2020.

The only person to speak in opposition to the bill was Jenna Howell, director of legal and regulatory services at the Department of Public Safety.

Howell said her department would like to see the background checks expanded to the workers handling the hemp as well as the applicant. She also said the bill had no provisions for the way the Department of Agriculture would share its background check findings with her department.

Howell said her department’s greatest concerns was with the bill’s provisions for cannabidiol, an extract of the marijuana plant

“CBD has incredible potential for abuse,” Howell said, noting that the Farm Bill was signed on Dec. 20, 2018, and the government shut down the next day, delaying any direction states could get from the federal government on how to approach the legalization of hemp.

“The Farm Bill changed the landscape dramatically,” Howell said.

Justin Smith, a lobbyist for A.H. Meyer & Sons, said the bill’s backers would continue to work with the Department of Public Safety to address Howell’s concerns.

The committee passed the bill 13-0.

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