Increasing Number of Hemp Farmers Going Organic

As cannabis sheds its cloak of secrecy and moves into the realm of legalization, hemp farmers are getting into gear. A number of agricultural operations working to cultivate and make hemp available for industrial uses are turning to organic farming methods, rather than factory farming procedures.

The distinction is fairly basic at the moment. Organically grown hemp indicates the plant has been raised without the use of chemicals, including fertilizer or pesticide. This is generally seen as a more sustainable way to farm, and produces a product that should have fewer issues when it’s processed for later use. But there don’t yet exist any broadly applicable specific regulations, official ones, that decide which farmers can use the organic label and which might be trying to sneak in under that consumer friendly banner without truly adhering to the organic farming practices that most think of when they see such a label. Some farmers are hopeful some clarity can be brought into the laws governing the cultivation of hemp, so the playing field stays even across different operations.

One of the benefits of organic hemp would be in crop rotation. While this practice is no new thing to farmers, hemp is especially useful since hemp has the ability to clear toxins and previously deposited chemicals from the soil it’s grown in. This could make future crops planted in those fields thrive more, and benefit more than just hemp production.