Wichita Sarah Stephens stands over a brightly lit table in a detached garage-turned-grow shed as she trims away unnecessary leaves from a recently harvested hemp plant.
When shes finished, only the floral material of the plant will be left. The flowers will eventually be processed into CBD oil.
We started out with not a ton of knowledge about it, Michael Stephens, Sarahs brother and partner at Tallgrass Hemp and Cannabis, said. Its been a learning experience.
Their outfit is one of the first growers in Kansas fledgling industrial hemp industry to begin harvesting.
While the harvest is a major milestone for the states hemp pilot program, the industry still faces many challenges before its deemed a profitable alternative to corn, wheat, soybeans and the other crops that dominate Kansas farming.
Most hemp growers who planted outside in fields wont begin harvesting until early September. Sarah Stephens is harvesting so early because she grew a relatively small number of plants indoors.
Before she could begin her harvest, she had to contact the Kansas Department of Agriculture to schedule a pre-harvest inspection. Its part of a mountain of red tape required to participate in the program including filing planting and harvest reports.
At the pre-harvest inspection, KDA officials take samples of the hemp plants to send to a state laboratory in Topeka. The lab tests the hemp for its THC levels. THC is a psychoactive chemical that gets you high. If a hemp plant has more than 0.3% THC it is by definition no longer hemp instead it would be considered marijuana and would have to be destroyed.
Stephens had to wait a week for her results. It was the most nervous shed been since shed started growing hemp.
She ultimately got the news she was hoping for. Her sample came back with 0.19% THC.
As part of the industrial hemp research program, each licensee had to come up with some kind of research proposal. Stephens experimented with growing hemp hydroponically or suspended in water versus growing it in dirt.
I did screw them up a little bit, she said. I had a whole nother container of the hydroponics and I killed them.
Its a relatively small operation. Shell only end up harvesting around 50 plants. But shes already got plans for growth next year.
Besides growing floral material, shes also begun cloning her plants. That means trimming off stems to create new, genetically identical sprouts for other people interested in growing hemp.
But that kind of growth will cost more money. Stephens said shell need to invest in more lights, make changes to the growing space, and set aside money for increased electric bills.
