Hopes, Fears, and the Future of Hemp Farming in San Diego County

According to Dr. Allison Justice, vice president of Cultivation for OutCo, would-be hemp growers in San Diego County can hope for more clarity on licensing by the end of 2018, though the legalization for cultivation is far from certain.

Justice explains that the road has been a long and winding one for San Diego’s hopeful hemp farmers.

“Oh, everybody is ready,” Justice says, referring to the farmers. “They show up at the [California Industrial Hemp Advisory] Board meetings and they let us know that they are ready. Hemp is another agricultural commodity that has a much better dollar-per-pound than any other agricultural product.”

So what’s the snag?

Unsurprisingly, because this is a brand-new industry in California, there are a lot of logistical and legal hoops to jump through before anything can become legal.

“We have to figure out everything from regulations to testing,” Justice explains. “So, for example, with testing, who actually comes out and tests? Is it the agricultural commissioner? Is it the testing laboratory, like with cannabis? We have to make those decisions. And then we have to put a price on those services,” she says, emphasizing again that this is a brand-new industry.

“That brings up a whole host of other issues,” she continues. “To get started, we have to ask agricultural or government authorities to find out how they price things, and then we have to come back to the board to report and make a decision, which takes time. It’s a big responsibility—if you do it wrong, the farmer or the government itself could lose a lot of money.”

Justice adds that after a lengthy process, which applies to just one segment of the industry—testing—only then is a 45-day wait period initiated where the public is invited to comment on the impending decision.

The good news? The fee structure has been more or less worked out, along with the testing procedures, Justice says.

Also in place is the structure whereby only certified seeds will be allowed to be cultivated in California, something that the USDA required prior to the California Industrial Hemp Advisory Board’s adoption of the procedure, which is in line with state and 2018 farm bill regulations.

Certification is determined by an independent third-party analysis of the seeds to ensure that the plant mixture is consistent.

Most of the people interested in entering hemp production are already farmers, Justice says. She explains that there are unique challenges in San Diego, owing to a general dearth of water supply, but she estimates that the greatest number of people interested are present-day cut-flower farmers, particularly in North County.

Originally these farmers wanted in on cannabis production, but once that was shut down in San Diego County, all eyes turned towards hemp.

The possibility of hemp cultivation comes at a particularly interesting time for the cut-flower industry. Justice details how most of the industry is moving abroad, particularly to Mexico and countries in Africa, for cheaper land, labor, and other resources.

“Most of those farmers were looking for a replacement crop anyway, or at least something else to supplement, because many are struggling to stay afloat, especially in a market like San Diego’s. So hemp provides a beautiful substitution, whereas maybe they’d move into broccoli, for example, or something else entirely. Hemp is the perfect solution because it is expensive enough per pound that it could float labor costs, among other expenses,” Justice says.

Despite all of the work already done to get San Diego’s hemp cultivation in motion, the jury is still out on whether or not it will come to fruition. Though the state may approve it, the county is still able to reject it. Opposition is fierce, with community activists claiming that growing any kind of cannabis product in the county would lead to easier access for children.

Another consideration is environmental—Justice refers to it as the “fright” that industrial hemp presents to the cannabis community.

She explains that if a certain farmer is growing for seed production, male plants will be present, which isn’t a concern. But pollen can travel by air up to 30 miles, mix with personal female plants cultivated for THC harvesting, and, as Justice puts it, the fear is that hemp could produce a well-seeded wild cannabis plant takeover of San Diego County’s flora.

That fear is overblown, but it understates the reality: The future of hemp cultivation in San Diego County is far from concrete and is fraught with contentious debate. While the potential economic and agricultural benefits are numerous, the future remains bright but uncertain.