For Brandon Case Special at the Tribune brandoncase98@gmail.com
Pioneers are those who take the first steps toward the unknown, paving the way for others to follow them.
Even in 2022, there are pioneers here in Pratt County, such as Mark Fincham, who is the first person to plant hemp as a legal commercial crop.
Fincham’s pioneering journey began last winter, when he visited the South Bend industrial hemp facility on the outskirts of Great Bend.
“I’m always looking for a rotating crop, basically just exploring the profitability of something new,” Fincham said.
Satisfied that it could be a good rotary crop, Fincham planted 72 acres of his land, south of Pratt, with hemp seeds in mid-April.
“When we bought the seed at South Bend Industrial, they helped us choose a variety of seeds that have a very low probability of containing THC. If the crop has too much of it, it has to be destroyed,” he said.
Fincham added that it cost him “several dollars per acre” to just get a license to grow the product.
“This is not an easy crop to grow, and the biggest problem is all the hoops you have to go through to get approval. In addition, there are many regulations that accompany its growth,” he added.
“I made sure to tell all the Pratt agencies that I was planting it. That way, if someone calls you are already aware of the harvest,” he said.
Fincham plans to harvest his hemp field in early September.
“We will try to harvest it just before it enters the reproductive cycle,” he said.
He will remove the crop with a sickle mower, but will have to hire someone to rake it in the rows and then pack it in round bales.
It will then be delivered to the South Bend facility for processing.
“There the barrier and the fiber will be separated. The obstacle will be used to make hemp concrete, a substitute for wood,” Fincham said.
The local farmer noted that hemp concrete blocks can be used to build houses, but this is not the only use of commercial hemp.
“If you can do it with wood, you can probably do it with hemp concrete,” he added.
None of its crops will be used for CBD oil, he noted.
“The hemp plant for CBD is processed differently and we should choose a different variety,” Fincham said.
In any case, South Bend does not process hemp in CBD oil.
“We can harvest CBD, but this is a completely different animal that I’m not ready to explore,” the hemp farmer said.
As of July 1, the Kansas Department of Agriculture website lists 61 people licensed to grow hemp in the state.
