Industrial hemp farm coming to Carson Valley

GARDNERVILLE — Although Douglas County residents overwhelmingly shot down Question 2 on the November ballot, a similar form of green is soon coming to Carson Valley.

Las Vegas-based Positively Green Organics LLC in late December was approved by the Nevada Department of Agriculture to grow industrial hemp on a 50-acre site in northwest Douglas County.

“The number one mistake people [make] is they think CBD (cannabidiol oil) people are out getting high and growing marijuana,” Positively Green co-owner Jason Taylor said in a phone interview. “You can roll up all 50 acres of our field and smoke it and not get high. You’ll just go to the hospital with a headache.”

The Nevada Department of Agriculture describes industrial hemp as “derived from the plant Cannabis sativa L and is among the same species as marijuana. It contains a low concentration of the psychoactive constituent known as tetrahydrocannabino, which means it cannot be used as a drug. The hemp plant is limited for use in textiles, fiber, forage, cosmetics, etc.”

Industrial hemp has a THC concentration of not more than .3 percent on a dry weight basis.

Last year Positively Green farmed industrial hemp on a 4-acre plot outside of Pahrump, Taylor said. This year the company plans to expand to about 60 acres outside Pahrump, in addition to its site in Douglas County.

He said he found the Genoa-area property, located off Chula Vista Lane, on a planned trip to Tahoe.

“I saw the land and fell in love with it,” he said. “The soil was some of the best I’ve ever seen.”

Taylor said he first became interested in growing industrial hemp to help his wife recover from injuries she sustained in a vehicle accident. He found that cannabidiol oil, derived from industrial hemp, helped her. CBD hemp oil is made from plants with low levels of THC and does not cause a user to feel “high.”

“I’m not a get-high kind of guy,” he said. “For me it was a personal mission to try to help my wife.”

Taylor is anticipating a May 10 planting date at the Genoa property. He is planting the varietal “Cherry Wine,” which has a 120-day growing cycle and should be ready for harvest around the end of August or early September, he said.

The hemp will be dried and sold to end-manufacturers. Any extraction of CBD from the plant would happen outside Douglas County, he said.

“I’m not here to get people excited or get people angry,” he said.