CaseyJones
01-27-2014, 12:27 PM
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/161027
A Glenwood Springs entrepreneur with big dreams for the Western Slope’s hemp industry is warning that few Colorado farmers will plant hemp this spring if a federal ban on shipping hemp seeds across state and national lines isn’t lifted soon.
Barbara Filippone, whose Glenwood Springs-based company EnviroTextiles imports and sells hemp and other natural fibers, said hundreds of Colorado farmers have contacted her in recent months asking where to get hemp for the coming growing season.
“I have notebook with contact for at least 100 interested farmers, and three to five more calling me every day,” Filippone said.
Few growers can source seed from within Colorado, since only one rogue farmer — Ryan Loflin of Springfield — harvested a major hemp crop in 2013. Under federal law, which classifies hemp as a controlled substance alongside its psychoactive cousin marijuana, shipping non-sterile hemp seed in from neighboring countries like Canada is also illegal.
A Glenwood Springs entrepreneur with big dreams for the Western Slope’s hemp industry is warning that few Colorado farmers will plant hemp this spring if a federal ban on shipping hemp seeds across state and national lines isn’t lifted soon.
Barbara Filippone, whose Glenwood Springs-based company EnviroTextiles imports and sells hemp and other natural fibers, said hundreds of Colorado farmers have contacted her in recent months asking where to get hemp for the coming growing season.
“I have notebook with contact for at least 100 interested farmers, and three to five more calling me every day,” Filippone said.
Few growers can source seed from within Colorado, since only one rogue farmer — Ryan Loflin of Springfield — harvested a major hemp crop in 2013. Under federal law, which classifies hemp as a controlled substance alongside its psychoactive cousin marijuana, shipping non-sterile hemp seed in from neighboring countries like Canada is also illegal.