WAKONDA, S.D. 鈥� Despite South Dakota being the third-to last state to legalize industrial hemp farming, the state now leads the nation in production.
Ken Meyer, president of the South Dakota Industrial Hemp Association, said there were around 1,900 acres of hemp planted the first year the crop was legal to grow in 2021. That number has expanded to around 4,000 acres in the ground for this year.
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Meyer said what helped set South Dakota on track to become the No. 1 producer of hemp was the access to seed from a locally-owned company, Horizon Hemp, based in Clark, South Dakota. Horizon Hemp had been selling hemp seed in North Dakota and Minnesota and were ready to hit the ground running when it became legal to grow in South Dakota.
The industry continues to boom and there is no lack of demand for hemp-based products, but that requires processing, something South Dakota aims to get ahead on.
鈥淲e only see more and more growth,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he bottleneck right now is getting processing in place. There are plenty of farmers that want to grow hemp on the one side and on the other side, there are lots of people that want the raw products and our effort now is to really get this processing going.鈥�
Currently, South Dakota only has one processing facility in the state, Complete Hemp Processing near Winfred, South Dakota, and is looking to add a second this fall with Dakota Hemp.
Dakota Hemp will have the capacity to process around one and a half tons of hemp per hour. The fiber processed from hemp can then be used for numerous products including plastics, textiles and animal bedding.
John Peterson is the owner of Dakota Hemp and a fifth-generation farmer near Wakonda, South Dakota, where along with hemp, he also raises corn and soybeans. In 2021, Peterson added 40 acres of industrial hemp to his 1,500 acre rotation.
This year, Peterson has expanded to 450 acres of industrial hemp and with his crop emerging from the ground as of June 28, he is looking forward to what he hopes will be another successful growing season.
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Due to wet field conditions, Peterson wasn鈥檛 able to get his hemp crop in the ground until June 10. He said adding a new crop has taken some willingness to learn and experiment with what works best.
鈥淲e're finding that the soil temperature around here was too hot at that time,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e're trying to back it down to a middle of May planting date, maybe early-May planting.鈥�
Although the majority of the hemp plants were able to get a good stand, there are some low spots in the field where seedlings sat in water for a length of time. Peterson said they are still considering whether or not to replant some of those patches.
鈥淲e had pretty wet field conditions around here for about a month prior to that, so by the time the soil dried out enough, it was a little lumpy. We didn't get the greatest seed to soil contact with that,鈥� Peterson said. 鈥淎 couple rains have come in and smoothed out a lot of those, got some seed to soil contact and started the germination process on a lot of that seed.鈥�
Peterson and other producers across the state are finding hemp to grow well in the state鈥檚 climate and soil type. He said it is a relatively low-maintenance crop to grow.
鈥淥nce we have this in the ground, that's about it,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e recommend starting with a clean field, tillage works really well or a burn-down with chemicals and a pre-emergent. For organic farmers, the no-till option is very good. We recommend getting it in earlier if you're going that route just to beat the weed pressure.鈥�
Peterson has been using hemp in his rotation following soybeans in order to help reduce debris and volunteer plants in order to make processing the hemp go smoother.
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鈥淲e like to follow soybeans with hemp just because there's less trash out here. As a fiber hurd processor, we can't separate weeds out from the hemp that are coming in our bale,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o we need these fields as clean as possible to start with. We also can't pull corn stalks out of hemp bales that come in either.鈥�
According to Peterson, hemp is the perfect crop for producers who are looking to diversify their rotation while offering many benefits to their soil.
鈥淲e're excited for what our microbes are going to do down in the soil 鈥� they've never had that food source of hemp crop before and these plants have all three types of roots,鈥� he said.
Along with growing hemp for industrial use, Dakota Hemp also raises around five acres of hemp to make and sell CBD products such as creams, lotions and oils.
Karll Lecher, chief operations officer for Dakota Hemp, said hemp-based products can provide an alternative form of relief to various pains and diseases.
Dakota Hemp currently places their line in 40 stores and customers can also purchase products directly from their website.
鈥淭he great thing about hemp is that it's all natural,鈥� Lecher said. 鈥淚t comes from the earth. It's been around for thousands of years and there's millions of uses for it and this just so happens to be a good one.鈥�
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